DR. SIMON AHTARIDIS, THE NEW CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, SHARES HIS GOALS FOR HOLYOKE MEDICAL CENTER. IN DECEMBER, Holyoke Medical Center (HMC) welcomed a new Chief Medical Officer, Simon Ahtaridis, MD, MPH. Dr. Ahtaridis, who was trained as a hospitalist, has always been interested in quality improvement. “No matter how good a doctor is, he or she needs support to provide the best care he or she can,” he says. Dr. Ahtaridis was Chief Medical Officer at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield and, most recently, served as National Clinical Advisor and Chief Medical Officer for Sound Advisory Services. In that role, he oversaw the clinical performance of 100 physician advisors who improved the performance of hospitals across the country. Here, Dr. Ahtaridis—who lives in Northampton with his wife, 10-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter—explains what he hopes to accomplish at HMC.
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS POSITION? I wanted to return to a hospital environment to work with a more local medical community. I also wanted
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