Leadership
Maulik S. Joshi, Dr.P.H.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Maulik Joshi serves as the president and CEO for Meritus Health. Prior to coming to the organization, Dr. Joshi was the executive vice president of integrated care delivery and chief operating officer for the Anne Arundel Health System, a regional health system headquartered in Annapolis, Md., that serves an area of more than 1.2 million people. Previously, Dr. Joshi served as the associate executive vice president at the American Hospital Association and president of the Health Research & Educational Trust. He has a doctorate in public health and a master’s in health services administration, both from the University of Michigan. Dr. Joshi has served on numerous not-for-profit boards within and outside of health care, including most recently, as a governor-appointed commissioner on the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC).
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Carrie Adams, Pharm.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Carrie Adams, Pharm.D., is chief operating officer, overseeing hospital and ambulatory quality and performance improvement, environmental and security services. Previously, she lead the clinical process redesign and installation of the new electronic health record. She started at Meritus as the pharmacy director later advancing to 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.
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Josh Repac, CPA, M.B.A.
Chief Financial Officer
Josh Repac, chief financial officer and vice president, revenue cycle and clinical support services, previously served as executive director of revenue cycle and reimbursement for the organization. Prior to coming to Meritus health, he served as director of the Berkeley Research Group and manager advisory of KPMG, LLP, both health care reimbursement companies located in the Baltimore region. He is a certified public accountant and holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Baltimore/Towson University and a Bachelor of Science in accounting from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Anand Budi, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Anand Budi, chief medical officer, was born and raised in India. He graduated from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, one of the premier medical schools in Southeast Asia. He went on to complete his pediatric residency in AIIMS, after which he went to Sydney, Australia to pursue a fellowship in neonatology.
In 1995, Dr. Budi did a pediatric residency at the University of Connecticut. Following residency, he went to St. Petersburg, Florida, where he served as chief resident at All Children’s Hospital. Since 1998, Dr. Budi has been practicing in Hagerstown, and joined Weiss & Becker, PA in 2003.
Dr. Budi has held various leadership roles at Meritus Health since 2008. He was instrumental in bringing the Special Care Nursery, Pediatric Urgent Care and Pediatric Hospitalists to Washington County, with the goal of improving pediatric care and care coordination.
He currently lives in Smithsburg, with his wife Dr. Lakshmi Budi, and their two children, Snigdha and Siddharth.
Dave Lehr
Chief Strategy Officer
Dave Lehr is Meritus Health’s first chief strategy officer. In 2021, Governor Larry Hogan appointed him as a commissioner to the Community Health Resources Commission. He also serves on the board for the Washington County Chamber of Commerce. Before joining Meritus, Dave was the chief information officer for Luminis Health, based in Annapolis, where he was selected as one of the top 25 emerging leaders in health care in 2019 by Modern Healthcare. He also served as a co-chair for the national opioid taskforce for the CHIME which brings CIOs together from across the country to fight the opioid epidemic.
Paula Gregory, D.O., M.B.A., FACOFP
Dean of Proposed Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine
Paula Gregory, DO, MBA, FACOFP, will serve as the inaugural Dean for the proposed Meritus Medical School - the Meritus School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Dr. Gregory brings to the organization and the community tremendous experience and expertise as a physician, educator and leader. She received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Georgia and her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine.
Among her many achievements, Dr. Gregory served as Assistant Dean and Chair of Clinical Education at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine - Georgia campus, where she started a free clinic in association with the Pilgrim Cathedral Church. Dr. Gregory was also the founding Dean and Chief Administrative Officer of the Kansas City University School of Medicine and Bioscience – Joplin campus.
Dr. Gregory is joining Meritus from California Health Sciences University where she served as the Chair of Primary Care.
Dr. Gregory has taught clinical education for more than three decades and also serves as the current Associate Editor of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physician's peer-reviewed journal, Osteopathic Family Medicine.
Dr. Gregory chose medicine because she enjoys helping people achieve their dreams.
Lynn Haines, Esq.
Vice President, Legal Services
Lynn Haines, Esq., vice president, legal services, previously served as associate general counsel for the organization, providing legal advice; drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts; and serving as a legal resource for various departments. Before joining the health system, she was in-house counsel for Access World (USA) LLC, a Fortune Global 500 subsidiary company in Baltimore, Md., and corporate counsel for Magnolia Management Inc., a skilled nursing home management corporation formerly located in Hagerstown, Md. She received her juris doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Virginia University in Morgantown. She is a member of the American Health Law Association and licensed to practice in Maryland. She also served as a volunteer mediator for the District Court of Maryland for many years.
Melissa McHugh Short, M.B.A.,
MN, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
Melissa joined Meritus Medical Center in August of 2022, bringing nearly 20 years of experience in nursing, and more than 15 years of experience in nursing leadership.
For the past 11 years, she has served Swedish Hospital and Healthcare System in Seattle, Wash., in numerous executive leadership roles, including women’s and children’s, orthopedics and surgical services. Her most recent role was associate vice president of operations, supporting two hospital campuses.
Melissa received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington. Continuing her professional development, she obtained a Master of Nursing and Master of Business Administration from the University of Washington.
She is most proud of the relationships developed within her team and success engaging her employees through shared leadership and improvement in communication. Melissa also has a passion for working with her teams to innovate solutions to meet the needs of the community when gaps in access to care have been identified
Douglas A. Spotts, M.D.
Chief Health Officer
Douglas A. Spotts serves as Chief Health Officer of Meritus Health. He leads the Health Bold Goal work of Meritus’ quadruple aim 2030 goals, oversees Meritus Medical Group quality and clinical leadership initiatives for the 150 providers in the practices, and founded the Meritus Family Medicine Residency program in 2019. Dr. Spotts has more than 25 years of experience leading medical operations, quality improvement, and wellness activities for health care organizations. He is board certified in family medicine and received his medical degree from The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He is a fellow and Past President of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation and a member of the American Association of Physician Leadership and American College of Healthcare Executives. He was recently selected to participate in the Leadership Maryland Class of 2022.
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.
Miranda Ramsey
Vice President Physician Services
Miranda Ramsey is vice president of physician services for Meritus Health. Miranda’s expansive skill set provides leadership with an intense focus on providers and patients.
With 14 years of healthcare experience, Miranda previously lead operations and strategic planning with expertise in primary care, urgent care, occupational health, retail services and specialty. Additionally, she has overseen multiple facility expansion projects supporting service growth for the community.
Miranda’s background includes experience in Lean initiatives, business development, strategic planning, partnerships and operations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration from Shippensburg University, and is pursing a master’s degree in health administration. She is a professional member of American College of Healthcare Executives.
Laurie Bender
Chief Compliance Officer
Laurie Bender is chief compliance officer, responsible for establishing standards and procedures to ensure programs identify, prevent, detect and correct non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations. She has been with the organization for more than 35 years, starting in budgeting and finance before moving to the compliance department to start up the internal audit function and eventually manage both compliance and internal audit. She has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Frostburg State University and a master’s degree in business administration from Mount Saint Mary’s University, both in Maryland.
Scott Salzetti
Vice President Team Member Services
Scott Salzetti is the vice president of Team Member Services. He has 25 years of experience in Human Resources and 20 years of experience in multiple leadership roles. Prior to coming to Meritus Health, he served Abrazo Community Health Network (Tenet Healthcare Corp.) in Phoenix as their Chief Human Resources Officer where he provided human resources oversight to leadership and over 2300 employees at multiple locations.
Scott received a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. He is a professional member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). Scott joins the Senior Leadership team with the experience to champion diversity and inclusion, foster employee engagement and implement workforce plans that align with the 2030 Bold Goals to be a nationally ranked employer of choice.
