Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute announced that FCS Chief Financial Officer Nathan H. Walcker has been named Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2020. Walcker will succeed current Chief Executive Officer Brad Prechtl, MBA, who will retire from FCS, effective July 30, 2020, but continue to serve as a consultant through April 2021.

Walcker joined FCS in August 2019, bringing more than a decade of healthcare, physician services and corporate finance expertise with him to Fort Myers. During his time at FCS, he’s made significant contributions across finance, strategy and operations.
 
After earning his undergraduate degree in Economics from Columbia University in the City of New York, Walcker started his career on the trading floor at Merrill Lynch in New York. He later received his MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and has since held senior positions as an investment banker focused on M&A and strategic advisory for healthcare clients across the globe.


Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney welcomes Jerry Fedele as of counsel to its Healthcare section. Fedele, a healthcare executive and lawyer who served as president and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital from 2008 to 2019, will work with Buchanan’s healthcare and healthcare-related clients to help bridge the gap between their legal and operational needs.

Fedele began his career as a corporate lawyer and also served as counsel for Bayer Corporation at its Pittsburgh-based U.S. headquarters. He subsequently became general counsel for the West Penn Allegheny Health System (WPAHS). Fedele became WPAHS’s CEO in 2003 and served until 2007. In 2008, he took charge of the Boca Raton Regional Hospital and transformed and expanded its services, introduced graduate medical education, and grew community confidence and revenue from $350 million to $550 million as he led the transformation of the hospital to an academic tertiary regional referral medical center.
 
Fedele holds the positions of Executive in Residence and faculty member at Lynn University and serves on the Board of Visitors at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration. He earned a bachelor’s in mathematics and a master’s in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh, and a juris doctor from Duquesne University, where he was class valedictorian.


Broward Health has expanded its Graduate Medical Education (GME) to provide additional training programs for physicians and further enhance care for the community. In late June, Broward Health welcomed about 60 residents representing 10 specialties into its GME program.

“Over the next five years, we are developing multiple physician training programs that will allow our residents to rotate to all four hospitals and through Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital,” said Patricia Rowe-King, M.D., a pediatrician and director of Broward Health’s residency program.
 
Broward Health Medical Center was the first statutory teaching hospital in Broward County. Fast forward almost 30 years to today and Broward Health’s accredited GME program includes rotations at Broward Health North, Broward Health Imperial Point, Broward Health Coral Springs and Salah Foundation Children’s Hospital. The additional primary training programs will be at Broward Health North for emergency medicine and internal medicine and Broward Health Imperial Point, where a psychiatry program will be developed.
 
“As a safety net healthcare system, our charter is to take care of the community,” said Rowe-King. “In order to care for our community appropriately, we need to train physicians to not only deliver evidence-based comprehensive care, but to also help patients have increased access to specialty care.”
 
Broward Health’s bolstered GME program is part of preparations being made by system leaders for the physician deficit that is projected to happen in about 10 to 15 years.
 
“As we transition to an academic hospital at Broward Health North, Broward Health’s Graduate Medical Education general surgery residency allows us to help fill the physician shortage and the critical need that we have for doctors in the state and locally,” said Keith Foster, M.D., Broward Health North’s chief medical officer. “We are teaching a new generation of physicians how to provide world-class healthcare.”
 
“Our residents are paired with highly trained physicians who then instruct and mentor them,” said Rowe-King. “The resident physicians work alongside our faculty members and participate in workshops and other professional development.”
 
Since joining the system on July 1, the residents have received extensive experience.
 
“My first week was amazing,” said Eric Tong, M.D., a first-year postgraduate resident at Broward Health North. “Not only do I get to work with such dedicated and kind co-workers, but I also get to learn with the best surgeons. It has been a dream to watch patients’ lives improve after their surgeries.” 


To better reflect an expanded footprint and holistic approach to community health, Holy Cross Hospital, Broward County’s only Catholic hospital, announced it will rebrand as Holy Cross Health.

Holy Cross Hospital, dba Holy Cross Health, has been serving the community since 1955 as a compassionate and transforming healing presence. The 557-bed, non-profit, teaching hospital in Fort Lauderdale operates in the spirit of the Sisters of Mercy and is a member of Trinity Health.
 
"Holy Cross has grown well beyond the four walls of our hospital over the past 65 years. We have urgent care centers, a robust outpatient HealthPlex, Home Health Services, Clinical Research and more than 50 Holy Cross Medical Group physician practices aligned across our community. In short, Holy Cross is so much more than just a hospital," said President and CEO Mark Doyle. "The all-encompassing word, ‘Health,’ better demonstrates our brand promise to be your trusted health partner for life."
 
While the name has changed, the mission, vision and core values remain the same. As a mission-driven innovative health organization, Holy Cross Health is a national leader in improving the health of local communities and each person it serves.
 
The Holy Cross Health name will be transitioned gradually, first on digital platforms and on signage across satellite locations and at the main campus in Fort Lauderdale.


Elizabeth Justen and Steven Harvey were recently appointed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to the Board of Commissioners of the South Broward Hospital District, which oversees all actions of the Memorial Healthcare System. Justen and Harvey are serving alongside Chairman Douglas A. Harrison, Vice Chair Dr. Luis E. Orta, and Commissioners Jose Basulto, Brad Friedman and Laura Raybin Miller. Justen is also serving as secretary/treasurer on the board. Both of these appointments are for a four-year term.

Justen is the assistant executive director of the Sheriff’s Foundation of Broward County, a nonprofit organization which funds community programs and initiatives. She is also the key account manager at OFB Marketing and a principal at The Marketing Experience.
 
Harvey is the assistant dean of operations and administration at Nova Southeastern University, where he previously earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration.