LEBANON — Dartmouth Health’s CEO is scheduled to become the chairwoman of the American Hospital Association in 2024, the association announced in a Sunday news release.
When she takes that post, Dr. Joanne Conroy, who has led the Lebanon-based DH since 2017, will become the top elected official at the national organization that represents the country’s hospitals and health systems. First, next year, she will become the chair-elect designate of AHA.
“The American Hospital Association is a powerful force in leading and advocating for hospitals and health systems around our country and, by extension, the patients and communities we serve,” Conroy said in the release. As AHA’s chair, Conroy said she intends to work toward “achieving our vision of a just society of healthy communities, where all individuals reach their highest potential for health.”
At DH, Conroy leads the 396-bed flagship Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon; four other DH system member hospitals and a home health agency; Dartmouth Cancer Center; Dartmouth Health Children’s; a multispecialty group practice employing more than 2,000 providers; and 24 ambulatory care clinics in the Twin States.
At AHA, Conroy is a member of the executive committee, operations committee and chair of the Health Forum, which provides communications, information, education and research products and services related to health care leadership, according to AHA’s website. She chaired an AHA task force on primary care in 2021.
Before coming to DH, Conroy, a trained anesthesiologist, was CEO of Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass. She also served as chief health care officer for the Association of American Medical Colleges in Washington, D.C. and has served as a leader in the Atlantic Health System in New Jersey and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Medical University of South Carolina.