COORS Leadership Recruits Chief Medical Officer for Mercy Catholic Medical Center

November 19, 2019 – Over the past year, numerous healthcare organizations have turned to executive search firms to find chief medical officers. Recently, COORS Leadership placed Trina D. Abla as the new chief medical officer of Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Abla most recently was chief quality officer and associate CMO at Penn State Health St. Joseph in Reading, PA. She also was a hospitalist and medical director of palliative care at the Reading hospital. She was previously associate medical director for AseraCare Hospice in Allentown, PA, and served as a family physician at Genesis Primary Care in Sinking Spring, PA.

Dr. Abla is a member of the American Osteopathic Association and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. In addition to her medical training, she holds an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.

Mercy Catholic Medical Center, with campuses in Philadelphia and Darby, PA, comprises Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital, serving suburban and urban patients of Eastern Delaware County and South Philadelphia and Mercy Philadelphia Hospital, serving the urban population of West Philadelphia.

Founded in 1999 by Cheryl Coors, COORS Leadership Capital is a retained, certified woman-owned small business specializing in consulting and executive search services. Its processes are designed to enhance executive leadership, physician alignment, communication and organizational effectiveness.

Ms. Coors began her career in nursing and progressively transitioned through practice management, biotech sales management and executive search. With over 30 years of healthcare experience, she has a unique perspective in understanding the challenges facing the healthcare industry. Ms. Coors has placed over 500 professionals at varying levels and transformed numerous organizations. Ms. Coors is a certified behavioral analyst and has a master’s degree in healthcare administration.

Chief Medical Officers

According to recruiters, the role of the chief medical officer has evolved in recent years, and organizations are looking for leaders with broader skill-sets. “Today’s CMO needs to have professional experience gathered from different players in the drug development industry,” said Marc Salzberg, CEO of Airway Therapeutics. “He or she needs to understand the objectives of the key players in the field—academia / clinical practice, the pharma industry, regulatory authorities and third-party vendors, such as contract research organizations—in order to successfully cooperate with those partners.”

Here is a sampling of recent CMO searches from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, OH, tapped Cejka Search to lead its search for a new CMO. Paul Esselman, president and managing director at Cejka, is leading the assignment. Reporting to the CEO, the CMO has overall responsibility for the quality of patient care delivered throughout Children’s Hospital and its subsidiaries, said Cejka Executive Search.

Slone Partners has placed Richard Wenstrup as the chief medical officer of Epic Sciences. “Dr. Wenstrup’s decades-long experience in oncology leadership and clinical work will add substantial value to Epic Sciences in developing exciting new diagnostic tests that advance the mission of precision medicine,” said Tara Kochis-Stach, president of Slone Partners.

Quick Leonard Kieffer has been selected by Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago to lead its search for a new chief medical officer. Founder and vice chairman Roger Quick is leading the assignment along with principal Lindsey Hochman. Quick Leonard Kieffer said that this “individual serves as a physician and patient advocate, actively engaged in contributing clinical expertise to administrative functions as a member of the executive team.”