News Makers.(appointments)

Modern Physician January 1, 2006 ASSOCIATIONS Darrell Kirch, M.D., dean of Penn State College of Medicine and senior vice president for health affairs at Pennsylvania State University, will be the new president of the Washington-based Association of American Medical Colleges, succeeding Jordan Cohen, M.D. Kirch, who also serves as chief executive officer of Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pa., is the current chairman-elect of the AAMC, a not-for-profit association that represents all 125 accredited U.S. medical schools, and has served on the organization’s executive council since 2001. Kirch, 56, takes over as president on July 1 … the American Medical Group Association, the Alexandria, Va.-based organization that represents major medical groups across the U.S., announced that Francis Crosson, M.D., executive director of the Permanente Federation, will serve this year as board chairman. Crosson, who takes over the post this month, heads the national organization that oversees some of the business operations of Permanente’s eight medical groups … Raymond Fabius, M.D., president and chief medical officer of Chadds Ford, Pa.-based I-trax, has been elected to a three-year term on the board of directors of the American College of Physician Executives in Tampa, Fla. Fabius, the former global medical leader at General Electric Co., took over in April 2005 as the leader of I-trax, which provides a wide range of services, including clinical programs, management solutions and information technology. here maryland board of physicians

GOVERNMENT HHS reassigned former CMS Chief Medical Officer Sean Tunis, M.D., to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in light of a probe of Tunis’ actions regarding his continuing medical education credits. In May 2005, Tunis had his medical license suspended for one year by the Maryland Board of Physicians and was fined $20,000 after the board determined he falsified records to meet CME requirements. In a statement, Tunis wrote: “I regret having made mistakes in handling my CME records, but I am now pleased to be moving forward into a new phase of my career.” HOSPITALS, SYSTEMS Martin Brotman, M.D., president and chief executive officer at Sutter Health’s 783-bed California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, was appointed to head the turnaround of Sutter’s financially weak St. Luke’s Hospital, also in San Francisco. The not-for-profit hospitals agreed to merge in September in an attempt to keep 220-bed St. Luke’s from closing amid mounting losses. The merger will likely turn St. Luke’s into a campus of California Pacific. Brotman, who led a successful turnaround at once-failing California Pacific a decade ago, will serve as interim CEO at St. Luke’s until the merger is completed … The University of California at Irvine placed the chief executive officer of its medical center on paid administrative leave after the hospital shut down its scandal-stricken liver-transplant program. CEO Ralph Cygan, M.D., will remain off the job while a committee of experts explores why the program turned down scores of donated organs as patients on the waiting list were dying … Andrew Agwunobi, M.D., resigned as president and chief executive officer at Grady Health System, Atlanta. Agwunobi, 40, took over the financially struggling public system in June 2003. One of his first actions was to recruit John Henry, former CEO of Emory Hospitals, Atlanta, out of retirement. Henry, now chief operating officer at Grady, was scheduled to replace Agwunobi on an interim basis on Jan. 1. go to website maryland board of physicians

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CAPTION(S):

Kirch * Fabius * Agwunobi