Alan H. Channing has been named the new President and CEO of Sinai Health System.

Channing, most recently the President of Channing Consulting Group in New York, has more than 17 years experience as CEO of several inner-city not-for-profit and public hospitals. Most recently, he was President and CEO of St. Vincent Charity Hospital and Saint Luke’s Medical Center, Catholic teaching hospitals in Cleveland’s urban core. From 1991 to 1997, he served as President and CEO of New York Downtown Hospital. Prior to that, he was Executive Director and CEO of Bellevue Hospital Center and Elmhurst Hospital Center, both part of the Health and Hospitals Corporation of New York City. In the mid-1980s, he was Administrator and CEO of Wishard Memorial Hospital, part of Indiana University in Indianapolis.

In addition to his long tenure leading hospitals in some of the nation’s neediest urban communities, Channing also has extensive academic credentials. For 15 years, he has been an Assistant Professor, Lecturer and/or Visiting Health Care Executive at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service. Since 1971, he also has been an Assistant Professor in Ohio State University’s Graduate Program in Health Services Policy and Management. He taught at Indiana University and the University of Maryland. And he co-authored two books on healthcare management and wrote several articles for the field.

Dr. Nicholas G. Parise has joined Rainbow Hospice as the organization’s newest Associate Medical Director.

"The decision to practice exclusively in palliative medicine was arrived at only after much deliberation and research," said Parise. Difficulties in surviving the malpractice crisis have forced many Illinois physicians to examine their careers and sometimes make significant changes. "Leaving a terrific general internal medicine practice after 18 years was never something I would have imagined, but with a lack of legislative support and no solution in the foreseeable future, I felt I had no choice," Parise said.

Dr. Parise graduated from Maine South High School in Park Ridge, earned his BS in Biology from Loyola University Chicago, his DO from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and more recently, his MS in Medical Management from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Internal Medicine, the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review and the American Board of Ambulatory Medicine. He is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine and is on staff at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital and Resurrection Medical Center.

Signe Heyob, R.N., an emergency department nurse at Provena Mercy Center, was one of only 25 women nationwide to receive the Women of Triumph Award from Women Work!, the National Network for Women’s Employment. Heyob was invited to the group’s 25th anniversary gala in February at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. where she was recognized as a national winner. Judy Woodruff of CNN hosted the event.

Heyob, the only Triumph Award winner from Illinois, was chosen as an example to other women for her ability to overcome adversity and achieve success. She was nominated by Jen Conley, coordinator of the Adult Student Connections (ACS) program at Kishwaukee College in DeKalb, IL, where Heyob earned her nursing degree in May 2003.

Women! Work is a national non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to helping women achieve economic self-sufficiency. The organization solicited nominations for the Women of Triumph Awards from its nearly 1,000 education and training program members, which serve more than 400,000 women each year.

Heyob, a single mother of three, has been living on her own since age 16. She worked a variety of jobs, but despite full-time employment, was not able to adequately support herself and her children. Throughout her years of struggle Heyob has had to overcome a number of substantial hurdles, including getting out of a domestic violence situation, being homeless, and constantly living paycheck to paycheck. Heyob relied on several community supports to assist her in meeting basic needs.

When Heyob started classes at Kishwaukee, she enrolled in the ACS program, which provided the financial and personal support she needed while in school, working, and raising a family. She graduated with a 3.8/4.0 grade point average and is now the nurse she has always wanted to be. Her income leaped over seven times what it had been without her education. Says Heyob, "Being in Washington put a face to the many women such as myself that when given a chance and a helping hand, were able to overcome and lift ourselves out of public assistance programs and poverty to become productive citizens in our community, raising the next generation to become the best they can be."

Heyob has committed herself to helping other women in similar situations. She donates a portion of her paycheck to help underprivileged individuals pursue nursing as a profession and is a presenter at ASC orientations for new students at Kishwaukee College. She says, "I learned in Washington that success is not measured by your job or the amount of your paycheck, but in the riches that come with self-esteem, self-confidence and self-sufficiency in the journey of life."