A look at major career developments in the area.
Eklund joins Baptist Health of Northeast Florida in key role
Andrea Eklund JD has joined Baptist Health of Northeast Florida as senior vice president, compliance and internal audit and chief compliance officer.
In this role, Eklund will oversee Baptist Health’s corporate compliance, internal audit, privacy and information technology regulatory efforts, working closely with the executive leadership team and board of directors. She will serve as a strategic adviser to leaders across the organization, collaborating to maintain industry-leading compliance practices.
Prior to joining Baptist Health, Eklund served as senior vice president and chief compliance officer at UnityPoint Health, where she managed the strategic direction and oversight of compliance, privacy, internal audit, provider contracting and credentialing for the large health system with nearly 500 points of care across three states. Prior to this, she served as chief compliance and privacy officer at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare.
Eklund received Bachelor of Science in business management from Rockford College and her Juris Doctor from Northern Illinois University College of Law. She is a member of the Florida Bar Association, American Health Lawyers Association, Health Care Compliance Association, American Academy of Professional Coders and American College of Healthcare Executives.
Watson elected to Betty Griffin Center board
Julie Watson, a program director and associate professor in the College of Health and Natural Sciences at Bay Path University, has been elected to the board of directors at Betty Griffin Center.
Before joining Bay Path University in 2017, Watson served as a fellowship coordinator at Brooks Rehabilitation from 2015 to 2017, where she continued on as a scholarly mentor until 2021. Prior to that, she was an assistant professor for occupational therapy at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences from 2009 to 2017.
In addition to receiving many awards and honors for her professional achievements, Watson has donated her time to serve on many other boards, including the St. Johns County Falls Coalition and Wildflower Healthcare, along with supporting special events for nonprofit agencies including the Habitat for Humanity and the ‘Wear It More Than Once for Charity’ event, which she founded in 2016.
Watson received her Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Florida in 2015.
Jessie Ball duPont Fund hires Laura Phillips Edgecombe
The Jessie Ball duPont Fund, a Jacksonville-based private foundation that seeks to create communities of belonging for the people, institutions and communities that Jessie Ball duPont knew and loved, has hired Laura Phillips Edgecombe as principal, downtown public spaces. Edgecombe will be an executive on loan to the City of Jacksonville working with the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, with responsibility for facilitating the equitable activation of downtown public spaces for the benefit of all Jaxsons.
As executive on loan, Edgecombe will oversee the strategy and implementation of activation plans for the Downtown Riverfront and other Jacksonville parks and public spaces, including Riverfront Plaza and Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park. She will serve as a liaison between city agencies, nonprofit partners and community groups and will help ensure that public capital improvements, private development and activation initiatives are coordinated to maximize value for the community.
Edgecombe earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida.
Abram named informatics leader to know
Deborah Abram MD, chief medical information officer (CMIO) of Baptist Health, was named on Becker’s Hospital Review’s list of CMIOs and chief nursing informatics officers (CNIOs) to know for 2023. The list celebrates the work of information officers whose work “leads to more efficient health care delivery and ultimately improves the patient and provider experience.”
A specialist in pediatric medicine, Abram has more than 35 years of leadership experience in a hospital environment. She is board certified in clinical informatics and has extensive experience in medical informatics, quality and change management. Formerly the CMIO of Wolfson Children’s Hospital, she assumed her current role with oversight across the health system in 2020.
— Compiled by Shaun Ryan
