Drex DeFord, the current chair of the board for the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), is leaving his current role as CIO of Seattle’s Children Hospital and is moving onto the same role at the Boston-based Steward Health Care. DeFord will join Steward, a 10-hospital system, in July. Previously before his four year stint at Seattle Children’s, DeFord was the corporate vice president and CIO at Scripps Health in San Diego, the CTO of the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General, and the CIO of David Grant U.S. Air Force Medical Center.
At our recent HCI Executive Summit, DeFord was a keynote speaker where he told health IT leaders that they should be “less Superman, more Clark Kent.” Here’s a look at his speech.
AMA Names President-Elect
In other healthcare association executive news, the American Medical Association has named Lexington, Ky.-based physician, Ardis Dee Hoven, M.D., as its president-elect. Dr. Hoven will assume the office of AMA President in June 2013.
"It is a tremendous honor and privilege to be named president-elect of an organization that is dedicated to helping the medical profession and the patients we serve," Hoven said in a statement. "This is an important time for health care in our nation, and as AMA president-elect I am dedicated to being a strong voice for America's physicians and patients."
Hoven has been a member of the AMA's Group Practice Advisory Committee and currently serves on the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Quality Forum and the Commission on Office Laboratory Accreditation Board of Directors.
