Business beat

Health

Sunshine Health Facilities Inc. has named Matt Fleming as its new chief operating officer. Fleming earned a degree in health service administration and business administration from Eastern Washington University and began his health care career as a certified nursing assistance in skilled nursing in 1994. He worked as a skilled nursing home administrator at Royal Plaza Retirement and Care Center in Lewiston and at Royal Park Health and Rehab in Spokane for more than 15 years, followed by two years working as the regional vice president for Regency Pacific. Most recently, Fleming served as the vice president of instructional products and vice president of operations at Optum, which is part of United Health Group. There he managed a special needs health plan for residents in more than 1,700 facilities nationwide. Fleming has also served as a board member for the Washington Health Care Association for more than 15 years.

Honors

University of Idaho chemistry professor Kristopher Wayant has earned a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach and do research at the University of Exeter in England. His nine-month tenure begins April 2021. Wayant will work alongside organic chemists in the university’s Biosciences Department. His previous work at the Waynant Research Lab at the University of Idaho’s Moscow campus building integrated calcium sensitive polymers into printable inks that could be used by NASA astronauts to monitor calcium depletion during long-term space voyages. Wayant will combine this experience to expand calcium sensors as well as develop sensors for zinc and hydrogen sulfide.

The Fulbright Program, established by the U.S. government in 1946, aims to facilitate international educational exchange and now offers nearly 470 awards for teaching, research or a combination of both in more than 125 countries.