New chief clinical officer
Dr. Rajan “Raj” Wadhawan will join AdventHealth West Florida Division as chief clinical officer, effective April 21, according to a news release.
He will oversee the clinical operations and quality of care for the region’s 13 hospitals and will report to David Ottati, president and chief executive officer of the West Florida Division, the release says.
Dr. Wadhawan is board certified in pediatrics and neonatal perinatal medicine, and most recently served as the senior executive officer for AdventHealth for Children and AdventHealth for Women. He was responsible for a care network that includes more than 375 physicians and specialists practicing more than 35 subspecialties, community specialty clinics, pediatric rehabilitation, pediatric emergency rooms and Centra Care Kids urgent care.
In 2022, Dr. Wadhawan was appointed by the Florida Speaker of the House of Representatives to serve as one of the inaugural council members for the state of Florida’s Rare Disease Advisory Council, which works to improve health outcomes for those with rare diseases.
The new chief clinical officer also is a member of the American Board of Pediatrics Sub-Board of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and holds a faculty appointment as an associate professor at the University of Central Florida, Department of Pediatrics.
Board chair named
Florida Health Kids Corporation (FHKC) board chair Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos was honored as the 2024 Florida Outstanding Woman in Public Health by the University of South Florida (USF) College of Public Health.
The award, initiated by the USF College of Public Health in 1988, celebrates a woman whose career accomplishments and leadership have contributed significantly to the field of public health in Florida.
Dr. Haridopolos was appointed by CFO Jimmy Patronis and has served on the board since 2018. Under her leadership, FHKC has supported Florida KidCare families as they have recovered from hurricanes and navigated a National Public Health Emergency. In addition, the honoree has advocated for legislative change to make the program more affordable for working families.
Dr. Haridopolos is a board-certified family medicine physician with nearly 30 years of experience and serves on the Florida Tobacco Education and Use Prevention Advisory Council.
A first in Pasco County
HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital has completed its first non-thermal ablation using a new approach for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), a first in Pasco County, according to a news release.
The new approach can minimize risks associated with traditional thermal ablation, potentially expanding access to treatment to more patients, the release says.
During a traditional ablation procedure, a catheter is guided to the interior of the heart and generates extreme temperatures – hot or cold – to destroy targeted areas in the heart associated with abnormal heart rhythms. The non-thermal ablation option relies on tissue selective, non-thermal electric fields to ablate heart tissue and avoid damage to surrounding structures.
People with AF have a higher risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications than those with normal heart rhythms.
