LEBANON – Dartmouth-Hitchcock elected and welcomed three new public trustees and two new physician trustees to the Board of Trustees during the Board’s December 2020 meeting. Their terms were effective on January 1, 2021

The new members, representing distinguished leaders from the medical and business communities, are: Geraldine “Polly” Bednash, PhD, RN, FAAN, former chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN); Robert S.D. Higgins, MD, MSHA, surgeon-in-chief of the John Hopkins Hospital; Gary L. Freed, MD, a plastic surgeon at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and an assistant professor of Surgery at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth; Thomas P. Glynn, PhD, chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority; and Carl “Trey” Dobson, MD, an emergency medicine physician with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Physicians.

In her role as CEO at AACN from 1989 to 2014, Bednash oversaw the educational, research, governmental affairs, publications and other programs. She currently holds adjunct professor appointments at the Australian Catholic University and the University of Vermont. Bednash holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Texas Woman’s University, Master of Science in Nursing from The Catholic University of America and a Doctorate in Higher Education Policy and Law from the University of Maryland.

Higgins is a leading authority in heart and lung transplantation, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and mechanical circulatory support. He currently serves as the William Stewart Halstead Professor of Surgery and director of the Department of Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Higgins obtained a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and went on to earn his medical degree from the Yale School of Medicine, followed by a master’s degree in Health Services Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Freed currently serves as the medical director of the Comprehensive Wound Clinic at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, and has been co-chair of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Pressure Injury Prevention Committee since 2015. His clinical interests focus on complex wound care and reconstruction for oncologic and trauma-related defects. Freed completed medical school and a residency in otolaryngology and head and neck surgery at Eastern Virginia Medical School and completed plastic surgery training at Dartmouth-Hitchcock.

Glynn currently serves as CEO of the Harvard Allston Land Company developing the 14 acre Enterprise Research Campus in Allston. As former head of Massport, Glynn oversaw the agency that owns and operates Boston Logan International Airport. He served as deputy U.S. labor secretary in the Clinton administration from 1993 to 1996, and from 1996 to 2010 was chief operating officer of Partners Healthcare, which includes Harvard Medical School affiliates Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Glynn earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Tufts University and a doctorate from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.

Dobson has served as medical director of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Physicians practice in Bennington, VT, since 2012. He is the current president of the Vermont Medical Society, and his interests include simplifying and standardizing processes in medicine to create high reliability, selecting sustainable treatment options based on number needed to treat, and supporting work satisfaction among health care staff. He holds a master’s degree in Geophysics from the University of Wyoming, earned his medical degree at the University of Tennessee and completed residency in Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia.

In addition to the Trustee elections, Nancy Dunbar, MD, a physician with appointments in the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and the Department of Medicine and associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, was nominated to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Board of Governors, a multidisciplinary group of individuals from across D-H who serve as the Medical Executive Committee of the D-H professional staff. After one year, Dunbar will be eligible to be elected to the Board of Trustees and serve three years in a dual role on the Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. Also elected to the Board of Governors were Pamela M. Hofley, MD, MPH, FRCPc, FAAP, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock pediatric gastroenterologist and medical director for the D-H Manchester clinic; Ilana Cass, MD, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock gynecologic oncologist and chair of the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and chair and professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Geisel; and Pamela Rice, BSN, RN, CPN, a Dartmouth-Hitchcock Child Development clinical nurse and Chair of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Nursing Practice Governance Council.

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