Sen. William H. Frist, M.D.

Former U.S. Sen. William H. Frist, M.D., who founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center and served as its director from 1989 to 1993, has been appointed adjunct professor of surgery in the Department of Cardiac Surgery and clinical professor of surgery at Meharry Medical College.

After serving in the U.S. Senate for 12 years, and as Senate majority leader, he served as the 2008 Frederick H. Schultz Professor of International Economic Policy at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and the 2008-2010 University Distinguished Professor of Business and Medicine at Vanderbilt University.

During his tenure in the Senate, Frist continued practicing surgery and led emergency medical responses to catastrophes around the globe, including to Sudan during the civil war in the 1990s, Darfur during the genocide, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean tsunami, Haiti after last year’s earthquake and most recently Kenya/Somalia during the ongoing famine.

Frist served as assistant professor of Surgery in Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at Vanderbilt from 1984 until 1994. He is currently chair of the Hope Through Healing Hands foundation, Save the Children’s “Newborn and Child Survival” campaign, the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), and is co-chair of both First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Partnership for a Healthier America” to eliminate childhood obesity and the Bipartisan Policy Center Health Project in Washington, D.C.

He serves on the board of directors for the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, Kaiser Family Foundation, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

VUMC’s Posch named CEO of hospital, clinics

David Posch, CEO of The Vanderbilt Clinic and executive director of Vanderbilt Medical Group, has been appointed to the new role of CEO, Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinics.

He will assume the role in October, upon the departure of current hospital CEO Larry Goldberg, who is leaving to run Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Ill.

In this new role, Posch will continue to report to C. Wright Pinson, MBA, M.D., deputy vice chancellor for Health Affairs and CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System.

Direct management responsibility for VUH and TVC has not been combined in a single leadership role since 1995.

Posch will appoint a chief operating officer for VUH pending a national executive search.

Meanwhile, VUH Chief of Staff Allen Kaiser, M.D., will serve in this role on an interim basis.

Posch arrived at Vanderbilt in 1999 as chief operating officer of VMG, having served in administrative roles at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans and at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a master’s in organizational development and analysis from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Higgins appointed VP of Pinnacle Financial

Veteran banker Chip Higgins has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a senior vice president and business banking team leader in the client services area.

Higgins brings 27 years of experience and comes most recently from First Tennessee Bank, where he served as the company’s Business Banking Line of Business Executive. He also spent 15 years at First American in various positions in retail, commercial and small business banking.

Higgins holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in business administration from UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business. He is a cum laude graduate of the Tennessee Commercial Lending School in Nashville.

Higgins is past president and a board member of the Community Resource Center. He was one of the founders and past president of the Nashville ATHENAPowerlink program, a mentoring program for women-owned businesses. Higgins also has served on the Nashville Chamber’s Small Business Council.

He is based at Pinnacle’s downtown Nashville office at Pinnacle at Symphony Place.

McKelvey joins board of Tennessee Justice Center

Rebecca McKelvey, associate attorney at Stites & Harbison, PLLC, has joined the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Justice Center, along with Rita Geier of Knoxville and Jeffrey Smith of Memphis.

McKelvey practices primarily in the area of domestic relations, assisting with divorce, child custody, adoption, child support, relocation and Hague Convention international child abduction cases. She is an International Child Abduction Attorney Network (ICAAN) referral attorney. In 2006, she received her J.D. from Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law where she was lead articles editor of the Mercer Law Review, president of the Christian Legal Society (2005-2006) and vice president (2004-2005) of the Legal Aid Clinic. She is a 2003 summa cum laude graduate from Belmont University with a B.S. degree in political economy and broadcast journalism.

McKelvey is the president-elect of the Belmont University Alumni Board of Director and served for three years as a member of the Belmont University Young Alumni Council.

194 at Baker Donelson make ‘Best Lawyers’ list

Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC had 194 of its attorneys selected for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. In addition, Baker Donelson is the top listed firm in the state, with 106 Tennessee attorneys and 32 Nashville attorneys included.

The firm is ranked first in the nation in 11 practice areas: banking and finance, business organizations (including LLCs and partnerships), closely held companies and family businesses, commercial finance, commercial transactions/UCC, mass tort litigation/class actions–defendants, medical malpractice law–defendants, personal injury litigation–defendants, privacy and data security, product liability litigation–defendants, and transportation law.

The 32 Nashville attorneys named to the list and the practice areas for which they are listed are: Lauren W. Anderson, corporate; L. Mabel Arroyo, immigration; Thomas E. Bartrum, health care; Joel R. Buckberg, franchise; Ashby Q. Burks, corporate, Health Care, Mergers and Acquisitions; Scott D. Carey, commercial litigation, personal injury litigation–defendants, transportation; Brigid M. Carpenter: personal injury litigation–defendants; Richard G. Cowart, health care, mergers and acquisitions; Bruce C. Doeg, corporate, information technology, technology, venture capital; Lawrence S. Eastwood, employment–management, labor–management, litigation - labor & employment; Steven J. Eisen, banking and finance, financial services regulation; Jason I. Epstein, information technology, privacy and data security, technology; Kenneth P. Ezell, commercial finance, land use & zoning, public finance, real estate; Tonya M. Grindon, corporate, mergers and acquisitions; John A. Gupton III, land use and zoning and real estate; John S. Hicks, commercial litigation, medical malpractice–defendants, professional malpractice–defendants; Randal S. Mashburn, bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization, litigation - banking & finance, litigation–bankruptcy, mediation; Lawrence C. Maxwell, commercial litigation, construction, litigation–construction; Robert G. McDowell, arbitration and mediation; Philip S. McSween, health care, Mark L. Miller, banking and finance; Brett A. Oeser, construction; Laurence M. Papel, commercial finance, corporate, land use & zoning, mergers & acquisitions, real estate; John H. Rowland, bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization and litigation–bankruptcy; Carolyn W. Schott, non-profit/charities; Gary C. Shockley, bet-the-company litigation, environmental, litigation - antitrust; litigation–construction, litigation–environmental and mass tort litigation/class actions–defendants; Christopher A. Sloan, copyright and information technology; Robert M. Steele, environmental and litigation–environmental; Matthew J. Sweeney III, administrative/regulatory, arbitration, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, franchise, litigation–securities and mediation; Kenneth A. Weber, employment–management and litigation–labor & employment; William H. West, health care; David J. White, banking and finance and real estate.

VUMC’s Hiebert gets research support

Scott Hiebert, Ph.D., associate director of Basic Research at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has received a grant from the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation (SWCRF) to study genetic mutations related to B-cell lymphoma.

The grant will help launch Hiebert’s research into the cascade of mutations that lead to B-cell lymphoma. The Max Cure Foundation has agreed to collaborate with the Waxman Foundation in supporting the research.

The goal of Hiebert’s research is to attack Hdac3, which is required for BCL6 to turn off genes. If the strategy works, Hiebert and his team would like to move the work into a preclinical model of B-cell lymphoma to provide the rationale for clinical research trials.

Hiebert’s research will be funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) starting in 2012. The Waxman Foundation and Max Cure award will support his work until the NIH funding begins.

Centerstone CMO an ‘Exemplary Psychiatrist’

Karen Rhea, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Centerstone, a not-for-profit provider of community-based mental health and addiction services, has received a 2011 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Exemplary Psychiatrist Award.

The annual award, given to just 15 winners nationwide this year, is presented to psychiatrists who go the extra mile and who have made substantial contributions to a NAMI affiliate or NAMI state organization activities. Winners are recognized for their advocacy for access to care and research funding, community education programs and other NAMI priorities.

The only winner of this award in Tennessee, Dr. Rhea will be honored during the NAMI Tennessee’s State Convention on September 23 at Nashville’s Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. In addition, NAMI will announce the winners in their September issue of the Advocate.

Kolb, Hampton lead Cromwell stations

Jeff Kolb, a 26-year veteran of the radio industry, has been appointed station manager of Nashville’s newest radio station, 102.5 The Game. Kolb is formerly part owner and station manager of SportsRadio 560, WNSR-AM.

Kolb has 14 years experience in sports radio in Nashville. He began working for WNSR-AM in 1997 when the station decided to become Nashville’s first all-sports radio station. He held the position of station manager and part owner.

Jana Hampton, who started as an entry-level sales person 11 years ago with Cromwell, has been named station manager of 102.9 The Buzz and The Light, FM102.1, FM101.9 and AM830. She most recently served as sales manager of Cromwell Radio in Nashville.

Ryan names Reusch director of advancement

Father Ryan High School has promoted Brooke Reusch to director of advancement.

Reusch has served as the annual fund and constituent relations manager since coming to Father Ryan in June 2009. In that time, the school has set records for annual fund performance, both in terms of dollars and participation.

Reusch’s experience with non-profit organizations spans nearly nine years. With a specialty in fund development, she has worked with Nashville organizations All About Women, Inc., Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts as well as the Philadelphia Museum of Art.