Leadership
Joseph P. Ross
President and Chief Executive Officer
Meritus Health
Joseph P. Ross began as president and CEO in April 2011. He has more than
40 years of experience in the health care industry, including serving
as president and CEO of Shore Health System of Maryland in Easton, Md.,
and Mercy Medical Center in Oshkosh, Wis. He is a fellow in the American
College of Healthcare Executives or FACHE, a member of the executive committee
of the Maryland Hospital Association and a founding board member of Trivergent
Health Alliance along with the CEOs of both Frederick Regional Health
System and Western Maryland Health System. He holds a master’s degree
in hospital and health system administration from Xavier University in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
Thomas T. Chan
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Thomas T. Chan serves as the chief financial officer or CFO. He began his
health care career with KPMG and has 15 years of experience in Maryland’s
health care rate setting system. He was previously vice president of finance
management at Adventist HealthCare in Montgomery County, Md., and vice
president and chief financial officer of Washington Adventist Hospital
in Takoma Park, Md. He serves on the boards of Trivergent Health Alliance
and the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. He has bachelor’s
degrees in economics and business administration from the University of
Washington in Seattle, and completed his master’s degree in business
administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Carolyn Simonsen
Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer
Carolyn Simonson is vice president and chief administrative officer and
also serves as the organization’s chief compliance officer. She
is a nurse attorney with more than 30 years of health care experience
in law, quality improvement, case and risk management, cardiac rehabilitation
and critical care nursing. She was previously vice president of quality
and care management at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., and
also served in the Navy Nurse Corps. She is a member of the Maryland State
Bar Association, Health Care Compliance Association and the American Health
Lawyers Association.
Amy J. Dilcher
Vice President and General Counsel
Amy Dilcher provides in-house legal counsel to the organization, having
served previously as associate counsel in the office of the general counsel
at the University of Maryland Medical System Corporation in Baltimore,
Md., and as an associate for Proskauer Rose LLP in Washington, D.C., representing
long-term care providers. Prior to her positions in law, she was a registered
nurse at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. She is a graduate
of the University of Houston Law Center in Texas, and Howard University
School of Law in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor of Science
in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.
A. Lee Shaver Jr.
Vice President, Professional Support Services
Lee Shaver oversees organizational, professional, support services, including
clinical and facilities engineering, durable medical equipment, environmental,
home health, imaging, mail, nutrition, patient transport, rehabilitation,
respiratory therapy, patient transport and security. He is the service
liaison for three areas of the Trivergent Health Alliance Managed Services
Organization - supply chain operations, laboratory services and inpatient
pharmacy services. He was previously the chief of operations and programming
for the Air Force Medical Operations Agency in Ft. Detrick, Md., and holds
a master’s degree in health care administration from Baylor University
in Texas. He is also a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives or FACHE.
Melanie M. Heuston, D.N.P.
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Melanie M. Heuston, D.N.P., RN, is vice president and chief nursing officer
or CNO. She most recently served as director of nursing at UPMC Passavant
in Pittsburgh, Pa., where she led a team of more than 800 nurses and co-led
the Magnet® journey. In addition, she taught graduate-level nursing
students and served as preceptor for clinical experiences at the University
of Pittsburgh School of Nursing where she also received her doctorate
in nursing practice and her master’s degree in nursing. She completed
her doctoral residency at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill.
She is a certified nurse executive and holds a certificate in the Fundamentals
of Magnet®.
Carrie Adams, Pharm.D.
Vice President and Chief Transformation Officer
Carrie Adams, Pharm.D., is vice president and chief transformation officer
or CTO, overseeing operations improvement, clinical informatics and the
new electronic health record or EHR conversion. Previously, she was the
corporate director of pharmacy services at Trivergent Health Alliance
Managed Services Organization, in which Meritus is an affiliated partner.
There, she successfully aligned and implemented best practice pharmacy
models and led drug utilization initiatives for a cumulative, three-year
savings of $11 million. She completed her doctorate at Shenandoah University
in Winchester, Va., and her bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical
sciences at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. She is also certified
as a green belt in Six Sigma.
W. Jason Cole
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Jason Cole is the vice president and chief information officer or CIO,
responsible for all information technology for the organization. Previously,
he served as senior director/CIO at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md.,
a part of Johns Hopkins Medicine Health System. He also served as senior
leader of information technology for Johns Hopkins Community Physicians
with 42 ambulatory locations. Additionally, he held several key positions
at MedStar, affording him vast exposure to hundreds of application and
infrastructure projects across MedStar hospitals. He began his career
in technology at two large finance companies, Bank of America and MBNA
Financial and earned his bachelor’s degree from York College of
Pennsylvania.
Kathy Lewis
Interim Chief Quality Officer
Kathy Lewis, D.H.Sc., serves as the interim chief quality officer, having
joined the organization as the director of quality. She is responsible
for all quality management activities and their alignment to strategic
priorities. Previously, she was the director of quality, compliance, risk
management and patient safety at Indiana University Health Bedford Hospital
in Bedford, Ind. She completed her doctorate in health sciences with a
concentration in leadership and management from A.T. Still University
Arizona School of Health Sciences in Mesa, and her master’s degree
in health sciences education at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Donald C. Thomas III, M.D.
Interim Chief Medical Officer
Donald C. Thomas III, M.D., is currently serving as the interim chief medical
officer or CMO. He received his medical degree from Howard University
College of Medicine in Washington, D.C., after completing undergraduate
work at Harvard College at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He has
served in numerous leadership roles as part of consulting companies for
nearly three decades, including president and CEO, CMO, senior medical
advisor and chief of staff. He is the founding director of the District
of Columbia General Hospital’s emergency and trauma center and served
as a supervisory instructor in the district’s fire department emergency
medical services or EMS academy.