McCullough leaving Spokane health district to work for Providence
Dr. Joel McCullough is leaving the top job at Spokane Regional Health District for a position with the Providence Health Care system.
McCullough, 56, has served as the health district’s chief medical officer since 2009. His departure was announced by Providence Monday afternoon. McCullough could not be reached for comment.
McCullough presided over the health district during a time of budget cuts and fewer public resources. During a 2013 interview, he described the agency’s changing role, with fewer hands-on health workers and more focus on disease prevention and health risk management and policy.
McCullough will continue many of those priorities in his new position, officials said.
Starting Feb. 22, he’ll be Providence Health Care’s medical director for community health and epidemiology in Spokane. In addition to the traditional work of preventing the spread of infections in hospitals and clinics, McCullough will focus on societal barriers to good health in the overall population. It’s a new role for Providence, which operates four hospitals and a number of outpatient clinics in the region.
“As those of us in health care look at ways to improve the health of our fellow citizens, it’s clear that treating individuals one-on-one is not going to be sufficient,” said Dr. Jeff Collins, Providence Health Care’s chief medical officer. “We need to get upstream and address some of the causes of health issues that people face.”
Providence will partner with other community groups to learn how income, education, race and place of residence affect health outcomes, such as level of physical activity, mental health, rates of sexually transmitted disease and life expectancy. The work builds on a 2012 study done by the health district.
The study found that “if your home ZIP code is downtown, your life expectancy is a full 19 years shorter than if you’re up on the South Hill,” Collins said. “All those people share the same health care delivery system.”
As a health care provider, Providence wants to start addressing those types of disparities in “a more direct and disciplined way,” Collins said. “We felt Dr. McCullough had the unique experience, background and knowledge to help us.”
Before coming to Spokane, McCullough spent eight years in Chicago in public health management. He’s also worked as a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
McCullough also will oversee the development of a special pathogens unit at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Children’s Hospital, in cooperation with the federal and state agencies. In response to the recent Ebola outbreak, the Spokane hospital was one of nine selected nationally as treatment centers for patients with infectious diseases that would require specialized isolation precautions, Collins said. The hospital received a five-year grant to develop the unit.
Besides Sacred Heart Medical Center, Providence Health operates Holy Family Hospital in Spokane and Mount Carmel and St. Joseph’s hospitals in northeast Washington.