Cooper University Health Care Announces New Executive Roles

On Mar 6, 2018

Cooper University Health Care announced its board of trustees has named Kevin O’Dowd and Anthony Mazzarelli, as co-presidents, joining CEO Adrienne Kirby as the leaders of the organization. Kirby will add executive chair to her title.

In their new positions, Mazzarelli and O’Dowd will assume responsibility for the day-to-day management of the health care system and the care it provides, allowing Dr. Kirby to work directly with the Board of Trustees to continue Cooper’s growth, evaluating new partnerships, and models of care delivery, and developing and implementing a new strategic growth plan for the health system. The new roles were approved unanimously by the Board.

“Cooper has had an amazing run of strong performance and growth over the last five years, which is directly attributable to the hard work and commitment of the people who work there every day,” said George E. Norcross, III, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Cooper University Health Care and MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper.  “But we recognize that to continue to lead in a changing and challenging healthcare environment, we need to begin now to plan for the future. Today’s announcement is an important step in that process.”

Cooper continued to see record growth in 2017 and is well positioned for ongoing expansion as the only academic tertiary care health system in South Jersey. In 2017, Cooper had its highest number of acute care patient transports from community hospitals and continued to see growth in its trauma, cardiac, and surgery services as well as in every category of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Cooper. It continues to invest in people, facilities, and technology, including the implementation of a new Epic Revenue cycle billing system. Cooper’s 2017 operating margin, minus the one-time cost of the Epic installation, was $34 million or 3 percent.

“Health care is undergoing a profound change, from changing financial models to increased patient expectations. As the leaders of Cooper, we have an obligation to our community, our patients, and our employees to prepare for these changes and seize new opportunities,” said Dr. Kirby, PhD, FACH today. “I look forward to working with Kevin and Anthony to build upon the success of the last five years, and build a plan for the next decade. Our best days are ahead.”

O’Dowd, who joined Cooper in 2014, most recently served as Cooper’s Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Office. In that role, O’Dowd was responsible for business and organizational development, including the MD Anderson Cooper business partnership, along with oversight of compliance, marketing, human resources, communications, corporate real estate, and government relations. Prior to joining Cooper, O’Dowd spent 17 years in multiple legal and policy roles in both the federal and state government, including serving in the Cabinet of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, serving as the Chief of the Securities and Healthcare Fraud Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, and as a Deputy Attorney General in the New Jersey Attorney General’s office. He received his B.A. from The Catholic University of America and his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law.

In the almost two decades he has been at Cooper, Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli has taken on a number of important roles including Medical Director of Emergency Medicine, Vice President of Strategy Planning, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Chief Medical Officer. In his most recent role as Chief Physician Executive and Senior Executive Vice President, he has oversight of Quality and Patient Safety for the health system as well as oversight of Cooper’s faculty practice plan of over 630 employed physicians. Dr. Mazzarelli received his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Kirby, Mazzarelli, and O’Dowd begin their new roles effective immediately.

To access more business news, visit njbmagazine.com

Related Articles: