University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health appoints four new board members

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health has appointed four new members to its board of directors. Here are the details provided by UM UCH:

University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health Appoints Four New Board Members

BEL AIR, Md. (August 8, 2022) – University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health (UM UCH) has appointed four new members to its board of directors: Alicia Cunningham, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance and Revenue Advisory Services for the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS); V. Dixon King, Jr., M.D., MBA, UM UCH Medical Staff President (ex-officio); Sanjeev Kumar, M.D., a board certified anesthesiologist at UM UCH; and Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, CENP, FAAN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive for UMMS.

“Our new board members bring a variety of experience and backgrounds to assist us as we work to transform health care in our region,” said Elizabeth Wise, MSN, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer of UM UCH. “We are committed to excellence through health care services, facilities and technologies, and our new board members will help us as we strive to create the healthiest community in Maryland.”

Cunningham, who will serve on the board’s Finance Committee, has more than 30 years of experience in health care finance and is an expert in Maryland’s unique hospital reimbursement environment. She joined UMMS in 1996 as the Manager of Reimbursement and Clinical Economics for the University of Maryland Medical Center and has been a significant contributor to the development of the $4.5 billion health system that UMMS is today. Currently, she is responsible for all aspects of both the strategic and operational activities for reimbursement and revenue advisory services and payer relations and contracting. Cunningham previously served for seven years on the board for CRISP (Chesapeake Regional Information System for Patients and Providers), the state designated health information exchange of Maryland, where she chaired the Reporting and Analytics Committee. She earned her Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Baltimore. 

Dr. King, elected president of the UM UCH medical staff in July, will serve on the board’s Quality of Care Committee. He is a board-certified pathologist in anatomic and clinical pathology who serves as chair of the Department of Pathology and Co-Medical Director of the Kaufman Cancer Center. He serves on multiple UM UCH committees including as chair of the Cancer Committee and also as a member of the Breast Cancer Advisory Board, Credentials Committee and Institutional Research Board/Research Review Committee. Dr. King received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Alabama School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency in anatomic pathology, a residency in laboratory medicine and a fellowship in medical microbiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Massachusetts and is currently working toward his Master of Applied Statistics in Health Sciences from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

A member of the UM UCH medical staff since 2006 where he serves on the medical staff’s Credentialing and Medical Executive committees, Dr. Kumar is board-certified in anesthesiology and bariatric medicine and was elected the medical staff representative to the UM UCH board, where he will serve on the Quality of Care Committee. He received his medical education at King George Medical College in India and completed his anesthesiology internship and residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York.

Since 2016, Dr. Rowen has been the Chief Nurse Executive for UMMS, where she serves as the System’s leader for nursing practice, standards of care, nursing professional development and the partnership with schools of nursing. From 2007-2021, she served as the Senior Vice President for Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where she oversaw 5,500 nurses, advanced practice nurses and other health professionals. In this role, she led the organization to become a three-time Magnet-designated organization, which has been achieved by less than three percent of hospitals in the United States. 

Dr. Rowen is widely published on topics such as patient safety, teamwork and communication, leadership, health-related issues and best practice standards. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) and served as the co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for AAN. She is also a board member of UMMS, where she serves on the UMMS Quality Committee, and of the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. Dr. Rowen has also been appointed to serve on the UM UCH board’s Quality of Care Committee. Dr. Rowen earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing at the University of Delaware, a Master of Science degree at University of Maryland School of Nursing and a Doctor of Nursing Science degree at The Johns Hopkins University, where she also earned a certificate in The Business of Health Care.