White River Junction
Rusch joined the medical center in 2015 and has served as its acting chief of staff since August.
Before taking on that role, he was chief of mental health and behavioral science service, overseeing a mental health staff of more than 160 employees.
He was selected for the permanent appointment following a lengthy, nationwide search of highly qualified candidates, according to a news release from the medical center.
Rusch will oversee clinical services within the medical center, including inpatient and outpatient, surgical, emergency room, radiologic, and laboratory services.
He also will manage the medical center’s research activities, which include approximately 100 active projects involving more than 75 research staff, and $6.5 million in dedicated research funds.
Prior to joining the White River Junction facility, he was director of inpatient and intensive outpatient mental health services at William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wisc.
An assistant professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, he holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin.
He completed medical school and a psychiatry residency at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, where he later served as an assistant professor of psychiatry, receiving that department’s award for excellence in resident education for the three consecutive academic years bridging 2012 to 2015.
Randolph
Gifford received the three-year reaccreditation following an onsite evaluation to review compliance with 34 quality care standards in areas such as cancer committee leadership, cancer data management, clinical services, research, community outreach and quality improvement, according to a hospital news release. Accredited programs also must demonstrate that surgeons, medical oncologists, radiologists and other staff “are working together to deliver the highest level of patient care possible.”
The program performance report noted the “unique skills and expertise” of the hospital’s physicians and staff, and the “excellent cancer care they provide to the community,” the release said.
Gifford is one of the smallest hospitals in the nation to hold Commission on Cancer accreditation, and has done so since 1965, said Rebecca O’Berry, vice-president of surgery and operations.”
— Compiled by Aimee Caruso