Summa Health System
12/14/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/14/2021 13:05
Summa Health Adds New Members to Senior Leadership Team
Date: 12/14/2021
AKRON, Ohio, December 14, 2021 - Summa Health announced today the addition of three new executives to the leadership team. Dr. Vivek Bhalla was recently promoted to President of Summa Health Medical Group. Penelope Gorsuch was named Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive and Dawn Ahner was named Chief Financial Officer.
Dr. Vivek Bhalla Named President of Summa Health Medical Group
Vivek Bhalla, M.D. was promoted to President of Summa Health Medical Group. Dr. Bhalla is responsible for Summa Health Medical Group's strategic management, operations and recruitment. He replaced Dr. Lydia Cook, who previously announced her retirement.
Dr. Bhalla was most recently the Chief Medical Officer of Summa Health Medical Group, a position he has held since 2018. He also has been a practicing family medicine physician since his graduation from residency at Summa Health - Akron Campus in 2009. Dr. Bhalla has demonstrated his leadership as a physician champion who has led the transformation of healthcare in our community. He was instrumental with the rapid transition to telehealth across the Summa Health Medical Group at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His role began on October 24.
Penelope Gorsuch Named Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive
Penelope Gorsuch, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FACHE, USAF Col (retired) was named to the newly created position of Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive. Penelope provides leadership for all of nursing and ensures nursing practice and quality standards for all areas of the health system.
Penelope is a seasoned healthcare professional with more than 30 years of experience, including 23 years of progressive leadership. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated success in creating organizational cultures of inquiry to deliver high-quality, value-based and reliable care in nationally ranked healthcare systems. She joins Summa Health from The Ohio State University College of Nursing where she led and designed the development of numerous nursing executive leadership courses. Penelope also served as the chief nurse executive at the Dayton VA Medical Center for two years where she had success with a number of quality initiatives. Prior to that, Penelope served in the United States Air Force Medical Service for 28 years within a number of nursing roles.
Her role began on November 29.
Dawn Ahner Named Chief Financial Officer
Dawn Ahner has been named Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Dawn is responsible for oversight of the organization's finances, leading revenue cycle and supply chain. She replaced Keith Coleman, who previously announced his retirement.
Dawn comes to Summa Health from Renown Health in Reno. She is an accomplished healthcare professional with approximately 30 years of experience. She held a variety of roles at Renown, most recently, serving as chief operating officer of acute services. In that role, Dawn was responsible for overseeing the operations of all acute care services, including a trauma center, community hospital, rehabilitation hospital and critical access hospital. She also served as chief administrative officer and CFO. As CFO, she was responsible for all financial operations across the organization, including accounting, accounts payable, payroll, tax and treasury.
Her role began on December 13.
About Summa Health
Summa Health is one of the largest integrated healthcare delivery systems in Ohio. Encompassing a network of hospitals, community medical centers, a health plan, an accountable care organization, a multi-specialty physician organization, research and the Summa Health Foundation, we are nationally renowned for excellence in patient care and for exceptional approaches to healthcare delivery. Summa's clinical services are consistently recognized by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (Magnet status), U.S. News and World Report, Healthgrades, Thomson Reuters and The Leapfrog Group. For more information, visit summahealth.org or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/summahealth, Twitter, twitter.com/summahealth, Pinterest, pinterest.com/SummaHealth and LinkedIn linkedin.com/company/summahealth.
Media Contact: Shannon Kew
Phone:234.312.5432