NEWSMAKERS
HEALTH
Good Samaritan Medical
Center has appointed DoraJean Charles to director of cardiovascular and interventional services. In this role, Charles will be responsible for overseeing the care of patients with cardiac health conditions. Before coming to Good Samaritan Medical Center, Charles was the clinical manager of the Cauterization, EP Lab, and Hybrid OR at sister hospital Delray Medical Center. There she developed and oversaw the continuum of care for cardiovascular services. She received her associate degree in nursing from Keiser University and her bachelor’s degree from South University.
St. Mary’s Medical Center and the Palm Beach Children’s Hospital have hired David O’Brien,
MSN, MHA, RN, as chief operating officer. In this role, he will manage daily operations and oversee the development and implementation of long-range plans, goals and objectives for the hospital. O’Brien most recently served as the chief operating officer of Hilton Head Hospital and chief nursing officer of Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center and Coral Gables Hospital. He earned his bachelor of science in nursing, master of science in nursing and master of health administration from the University of Phoenix in Arizona. O’Brien is a member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Emergency Nurses Association.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Palm Healthcare Foundation Inc. has appointed Christine
Koehn to its board of trustees. Koehn currently serves as the executive director for the Celia Lipton Farris and Victor W. Farris Foundation, where she oversees regional and national grant-making in the areas of education, health and arts and culture. She has extensive experience with nearly 20 years in primarily leadership roles, including the oversight of programmatic investment at the United Way of Palm Beach County and the Quantum Foundation, as well as research and program evaluation for the Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County. Koehn is also currently affiliated with national and local boards and committees, including the National Center for Family Philanthropy’s Non-Family Staff Peer Network, as co-chair; Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners’ Citizens Advisory Committee; United Way of Palm Beach County’s Community Impact Committee; and Achieve Palm Beach County’s Executive Champions Committee. She holds a Ph.D. in applied psychology from Florida International University.
EDUCATION
Florida Atlantic University and Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI)
have appointed Ken Dawson-Scully, Ph.D., to associate vice president for strategic initiatives and head of institutional partnerships for FAU and MPFI. Joining FAU in 2008, Dawson-Scully served as associate director of the FAU Brain Institute and most recently as an associate professor of biological sciences and associate dean for graduate studies in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. In this joint position, Dawson-Scully will work closely with the executive leadership team of both institutions, and will be responsible for developing and implementing key initiatives in areas that are crucial to FAU and MPFI acting as a liaison for both institutes.
Dawson-Scully received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in 2003, and his M.Sc. from Queen’s University in 1998. He serves on the steering committee and is a faculty member of the newly formed International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS). He also serves as the chief scientific officer for Neuro Pharmalogics Inc., a startup company that has licensed his intellectual property for the purpose of creating novel therapeutics aimed at combating brain-related diseases.
RECOGNITION
Palm Beach Habilitation Center Inc. has been selected as one of the Best NonProfit Organizations
to Work For 2018 by The NonProfit Times and Best Companies Group.
The program is designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in the nonprofit industry, benefiting the industry’s economy, its workforce and businesses. The Best Companies Group is an independent workplace research firm that managed the overall registration and survey process of nonprofits in the United States, analyzed the data and used its expertise to determine the final rankings.
Gina Melby, CEO of JFK Medical Center, and Marcos Nores, medical director of the Heart & Vascular Institute at the same organization, have received the
Leadership Award at the Palm Beach County Medical Society Heroes in Medicine luncheon.
Melby has led JFK Medical Center from a community hospital to a major tertiary center. She also assisted to promote graduate medical education through the development of an internal medicine residency, general, surgery residency, podiatric surgery residency, and a hospice and palliative care fellowship. 195 residents and fellows have graduated with 68 remaining in South Florida to begin their careers. Melby sat on the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County as the first female chairwoman, and the only person to serve two consecutive terms.
Nores began the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) Program in 2012, which has grown to become the largest TAVR program in the state. He also received the JFK Hero Physician Award in 2017. Nores sits on the Cardiovascular Surgery Council and Cardiovascular Research Council through HCA Healthcare.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tax Collector Anne M. Gannon has announced plans for a new, state-of-theart facility to serve north county taxpayers. As part of the construction project, the Palm Beach Gardens Service Center located at 3185 PGA Blvd. will be demolished to make room for the new building. The aging former DMV office will close effective 5 p.m., May 11. Only the road-test course will remain in use. Beginning May 14, clients will be served from the North County Service Center just around the corner at 3188 PGA Blvd. in the Northeast County Courthouse complex. All driver license appointments scheduled for the Palm Beach Gardens Service Center will be honored at the North County Service Center location. Construction of the new service center is expected to begin in late summer and take approximately 12-15 months. The North County Service Center will move to the new building when it opens in late 2019.
The new service center is the second facility built by Gannon to meet demand spurred by county growth. In 2016, the agency opened its Central Palm Beach Service Center in Greenacres when it closed its Lantana and Lake Worth offices.
EXPANSIONS
Triumph Group, an aircraft design and manufacturing company, has announced an agreement with Boeing to provide major structural assemblies for the 767 program, which will involve the production of horizontal stabilizers, doors, aft fuselage and center wing sections for both the 767 freighter and KC-46A Tanker variants. This work will take place at Triumph’s Stuart facility and is anticipated to provide a significant economic boost for the area.
This commercial extension will contribute job creation of up to 132 jobs for direct, indirect and induced opportunities, and the projected economic boost to the area could be as high as $20 million for payroll, value and local output.