Press Release

Daniel Ari Mendelson, M.S., M.D., FACP, AGSF, CMD to Lead AHA's Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Council

The American Hospital Association (AHA) today announced that Dr. Daniel Mendelson will be chair of the AHA’s Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Council. He is the associate chief of medicine and director of palliative care for Highland Hospital at the University of Rochester (UR) Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.

The council comprises CEOs and senior executives from the nation’s leading hospitals representing rehabilitation, acute long-term care, skilled nursing, home health and continuing care services. As chair, Dr. Mendelson will lead the section’s council on public policy issues of concern to post-acute and continuing care providers and AHA member service strategies.

Mendelson helped establish UR Medicine Geriatrics Group, which provides primary medical care at several nursing homes and assisted living facilities; he has served as the group’s associate medical director as well as medical director of several nursing homes. He co-founded and continues to co-directs the Geriatric Fracture Center at Highland Hospital and lectures worldwide about topics related to fragility fractures and co-management. He is the founder of the Palliative Care Consultation Service at Highland Hospital and was one of the first certified palliative care physicians in the U.S. Mendelson is the William and Sheila Konar Family Professor of Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine, and Person-Centered Care in the Division of Geriatrics at the UR School of Medicine & Dentistry.

Mendelson serves or has served as a member of several local, not-for-profit boards of directors, as well as the boards of UR Medicine Home Care, and Lifespan of Rochester, which helps elders take on the challenges of aging successfully. He has also served on the ethics, quality, and nominating committees of the American Geriatrics Society as well as the ethics committee of the NY Chapter of the American College of Physicians. A graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology in chemistry, Dr. Mendelson received his master’s degree in biophysics and his medical degree from the University of Rochester where he also completed residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowship in Geriatrics.

Kenneth Bowman, CEO, Van Matre Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital, Rockford, Ill., will serve as chair-elect and will assume the role of chair in 2018. Jon Skinner, president, Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation, Dallas, Texas, is the immediate past chair.

Newly elected members to the governing council include: Jason Bernd, vice president, Novant Health Charlotte Orthopedic Hospital, Charlotte, N.C.; Michelle Gittler, M.D., medical director, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Chicago; Cynthia Kelleher, president and CEO, University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopedic Institute, Baltimore; Robert Larrison, Jr., president, Carolinas Rehabilitation, Charlotte, N.C.; Mary Moscato, president, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, Boston, Mass.; and Jose Vargas, M.D., medical director, West Gables Rehabilitation Hospital, Miami.

The new council members join the following current members: Mary Armstrong, board member, Park City Medical Center, Intermountain Healthcare, Inc., Park City, Utah; Joan Doyle, executive director, Penn Home Care and Hospice Services, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.; W. Lee Gentry, vice president & administrator, Baptist Health Rehabilitation Institute, Baptist Health System, Little Rock, Ark.; Lori Jarboe, CEO, HealthSouth Lakeview Rehabilitation Hospital, Elizabethtown, Ky.; Derrick Jones, CEO, Lovelace Rehabilitation Hospital, Ardent Health System, Albuquerque, N.M.; Yameeka Jones, CEO, Vibra Hospital of San Diego, San Diego; Lee Simpson, CEO, Post Acute Medical Specialty Hospital of Tulsa, Okla.; Gia Smith, CEO, Central Valley Specialty Hospital, Modesto, Calif.; Douglas Struyk, president and CEO, Christian Health Care Center, Wyckoff, N.J.; and Tonja Williams, president and CEO, Continuing Care Hospital, Lexington, Ky.

About the Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation

AHA’s Section for Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation supports hospital providers of post-acute services, including rehabilitation, long-term acute, skilled nursing, home health and continuing care services as they build systems of care to improve the health status of their communities. The Section is guided by a council composed of leaders representing some of the country’s leading hospitals and post-acute care providers. Council members serve as representatives of their member peers as they advise the AHA on member service strategies, public policy issues, advocacy positions and emerging issues, as well as serve as a channel back to the post-acute care field.

About the AHA

The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvement of their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which include nearly 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information, visit the AHA website at www.aha.org.