HARTZ Search Seeks Chief Medical Officer for Rochester General Hospital

June 6, 2023 – Charlotte, NC-based HARTZ Search was recently called in by Rochester (NY) General Hospital to lead its search for a new chief medical officer. The CMO is responsible for partnering with system and facility leadership teams to implement and deliver the clinical strategy of the integrated care model. This position creates an environment of collaboration, respect, transparency, accountability, and engagement, fostering opportunities for personal growth and professional excellence, and empowering providers and staff at Rochester General Hospital. The chief medical officer provides medical oversight, direction, and leadership for the organization.

Rochester General Hospital wants a transformational and strategic medical executive with a strong operational and financial understanding of the complexities of a tertiary care facility in an integrated delivery system, says HARTZ Search.

The chief medical officer must embody Rochester Regional Health’s mission, vision, and values. He or she will be expected to be a representative of the Rochester General Hospital in the Greater Rochester community, regionally, and nationally. This individual must advocate on behalf of the Rochester General Hospital, the patients it serves, and its dedicated employees. Prior experience and leadership in clinical operations, cultural and financial turnarounds, and partnerships with nursing, the medical staff, and the health system is preferred.

Rochester Regional Health is a regional, nine-hospital integrated health system throughout Western New York, the Finger Lakes, and St. Lawrence County. The organization has over 19,000 team members, 3,000 providers, and over 1,200 licensed beds.

Established in 2017, HARTZ Search is an executive search firm that focuses on the healthcare and higher education sectors. In addition to its headquarters in Charlotte, NC, the firm has regional offices in Dallas and San Diego, CA. The firm’s clients include: Atrium Health, City of Hope – Cancer Research; Bon Secours Mercy Health; JPS Health Network; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech); University of Texas Southwestern at Dallas (UT Southwestern); and University of Wisconsin Health (UW Health).

Mike Hartz is president and CEO of the firm. His diverse background in executive and physician search has given him unique experience in working with executives and physicians within the healthcare and higher education industries. During his 15 years in executive search, he has recruited over 200 executives and physicians nationwide. Mr. Hartz has used his background in customer service and business operations as well as his knowledge of national healthcare market trends in recruitment, practice management, and physician services to solidify his track record in recruiting for healthcare systems, facilities, and physician practices ranging in size from small rural to large medical centers.

Chief Medical Officers

Chief medical officers are typically cited as the senior government official designated head of medical services, sometimes at the national level. The post is held by a physician who advises and leads a team of medical experts on matters of public health importance.

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, since he or she needs to understand the objectives of the key players in the field,” said Marc Salzberg, CEO of Airway Therapeutics. Those include 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.”

Over the past year several healthcare organizations have turned to executive search firms to find new CMOs. Here is a sampling from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Steve Cornacchia of ON Partners recently recruited Lisa Rojkjaer as chief medical officer of Sangamo Therapeutics in Brisbane, CA. She succeeds Bettina Cockroft, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities. “We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Rojkjaer, an experienced physician, drug developer, and regulatory expert, to the Sangamo team,” said Nathalie Dubois-Stringfellow, chief development officer at Sangamo. “Her deep industry experience across all stages of clinical development will be pivotal for us as we advance our wholly owned Fabry program toward a potential Phase 3 trial, progress our industry-leading CAR-Treg program TX200 through Phase 1/2, and further develop our pre-clinical pipeline of epigenetic regulation for the central nervous system. Her leadership will be invaluable as we seek to create targeted potential genomic medicines for patients suffering from serious genetic diseases for which there are few or no available treatments today.”

San Diego, CA- based Caliber Associates recently placed Dr. Philippe Bishop as the chief medical officer of Atreca Inc. in San Carlos, CA. “Dr. Bishop’s leadership and expertise in developing oncology therapeutics will contribute significantly to Atreca’s executive team,” said Steve Hochberg, CEO of Caliber Associates. “Dr. Bishop is a tremendous addition to the Atreca team at an important time in the clinical development of ATRC-101,” said John Orwin, CEO of Atreca. “As an accomplished executive and medical oncologist with extensive experience in cancer drug development, his leadership and expertise will be invaluable as we continue to advance ATRC-101, as well as our earlier stage programs. I am pleased to welcome him to Atreca and look forward to his contributions as we prepare to commence indication-specific development of ATRC-101. We plan to present new data from the ongoing Phase 1b study later this quarter, including an update on our clinical strategy.”

Life sciences recruiting specialist Coulter Partners has assisted in the recruitment of Raffaele Baffa as chief medical officer of CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings Limited, a company focused on innovative CAR T cell therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. “Dr. Baffa is a medical professional and industry veteran with extensive experience in clinical development and translational sciences in the field of oncology and cellular immunotherapy,” said Zonghai Li, founder, chairman of the board, CEO, CSO of CARsgen Therapeutics. “He brings a wealth of clinical, medical, and leadership experience from multinational corporations and biotechnology companies. Dr. Baffa joins us at an exciting time as the clinical trials for both CT053 and CT041 are progressing in North America and being explored in other territories. We would like to thank Coulter Partners for their outstanding work in supporting this crucial hire.”

Related: HARTZ Search Seeks Chief Medical Officer for JPS Health Network

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media