Two local healthcare companies announced new presidential positions this month to guide their ambitious expansion efforts.
On June 14, the Duarte-based cancer research and treatment facility, City of Hope, announced that it had hired Philip Okala, chief operating officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, as the organization’s first system president. In his role, Okala will be responsible for City of Hope’s portfolio of clinical care and research facilities.
In recent years, City of Hope has grown well beyond its flagship campus in Duarte. It has expanded its clinical network in Southern California, acquiring the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute in 2016. City of Hope is also investing $1 billion in a cancer treatment and hospital complex in Irvine. The first building, the Lennar Cancer Treatment Center, is scheduled to open later this year; A stationary hospital building is to be opened in 2025.
In December, the organization announced it was acquiring Boca Raton, Fla.-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America in a deal worth approximately $400 million. Okala, who is scheduled to join City of Hope in September, will oversee all of these facilities and operations, as well as the medical foundation and clinical and research operations. He will report to Chief Executive Robert Stone.
“His (Okala’s) expertise will be immensely valuable as we advance our goal of democratizing cancer care and creating a system that will develop the next generation of research discoveries, treatments and care and make them accessible to more patients, families and communities across the country.” power. ‘ Stone said in the job posting.
Okala said this broader approach convinced him to drop out of the University of Pennsylvania.
“City of Hope’s vision of making cancer care more accessible to more people across the country is part of what really drew me and excited me about this opportunity,” he said.
Just two days after Okala’s announcement, on June 16, Santa Monica-based clinical collaboration platform TigerConnect announced the appointment of Melissa Bell as its first president. She started on June 1st and is responsible for sales, marketing, revenue operations, solution design and clinical consulting; Reporting directly to Chief Executive Brad Brooks, TigerConnect uses a cloud-based communications and workflow platform that enables physicians, consultants, nurses, home care providers, patients and administrative staff to share information such as appointments, diagnoses, medication prescriptions and usage , as well as performed procedures.
Bell is the latest in a series of hires TigerConnect has made in recent months as it embarks on what it calls “aggressive growth” in the second half of this year. The growth strategy follows a $300 million investment announced Jan. 11 by New York-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Among the other hires: a new chief revenue officer and a vice president of strategic programs.
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