Health

HE A LTH • Winter 2020 5 Saint Vincent names new chief nursing officer Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester has appointed its interim new chief nursing officer to the role permanently. Lisa Beaudry, who began in the role on an interim basis over the summer, is responsible for overseeing all clinical nursing operations, quality and patient experience at the hospital. She was previously the director of the hospital's Center for Women and Infants. Before joining Saint Vincent, Beaudry was the executive director of maternal child services of Southcoast Health System in southern Bristol County and before that was the regional chief nursing officer of the Springfield-based Baystate Health's eastern region. She has a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's in public health from UMass Amherst. Seven Hills Foundation moving You Inc., two others into new Gold Star Blvd. office Worcester nonprofit Seven Hills Foundation has signed a lease to occupy an office on Gold Star Boulevard to bring three of its affiliates under a single roof. The building at 135 Gold Star Blvd. has been vacant since Reliant Medical Group, a tenant since the late 1980s, left about two years ago. It has since been renovated, and will now host Seven Hills Foundation behavioral health and other programs, the Worcester real estate firm Kelleher & Sadowsky said. The 25,000-square-foot second f loor space suite of offices of the building will enable Seven Hills to integrate three of its affiliates — Family Services of Central Massachusetts, You Inc., and Children's Friend — under one roof. Reliant Medical Group left the site during a reshuff ling of medical office locations in and around Worcester. Today, Reliant has a site at a former Habitat for Humanity site at 50 Gold Star Blvd. and a larger space next to the Greendale Mall at 5 Neponset St. Kelleher & Sadowsky represented both parties in the lease agreement, whose financial terms weren't disclosed. The 57,000-square-foot building was bought in 2019 for nearly $2.6 million by the same entity that already owned the site's parking lot: K+L Worcester LLC, registered to Worcester businessman George Tonna. Tonna bought the parking lot in 2011 for $200,000. Combined, the site totals five acres and was last assessed by the City of Worcester at more than $4.5 million. The building was originally built for Sawyer Lumber in the 1950s. Moderna to seek emergency use authorization for vaccine An independent safety board appointed by the National Institutes for Health has notified Cambridge- based Moderna that its vaccine candidate achieved an efficacy rating of 94.5%. "Preliminary analysis suggests a broadly consistent safety and efficacy profile across all evaluated subgroups," the company reported, while cautioning that the data are subject to change based on ongoing analysis. "This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a statement. "Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible. All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease." Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced previously its vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19, with no serious safety concerns observed. The companies said they planned to submit an emergency use authorization to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November. Moderna intends to request an emergency use authorization with the FDA in the coming weeks, the company announced, and also plans to Before Fitchburg State University opened for the fall semester, it installed signage to encourage social distancing. Continued on Page 6 submit applications for authorizations to global regulatory agencies. The promising news is fueling projections that a vaccine may reach the general population during the first half of 2021. Fitchburg State closing campus as coronavirus cases mount Fitchburg State University will end the fall semester remotely in light of fast-rising coronavirus cases both in Fitchburg and more broadly, the school announced. The university said it planned to switch to remote instruction no later than Nov. 21, just before Thanksgiving break, except for a small number of classes already approved to stay in-person. Residents halls will close the next day, Nov. 22. Fitchburg suffered an outbreak of cases around the start of November, with news reports linking more than 200 confirmed cases to Crossroads Community Church, which has denied its link to the new cases but later canceled in-person gatherings. In new Massachusetts Department of Public Health data, Fitchburg and Leominster each had among the state's highest case rates in the past two weeks: at least 45 cases per 100,000. Both rates more than double the state average. Worcester County cases have also been on a dramatic rise, with a seven- day total of 1,816 — roughly a doubling in just one week, and the county's second-highest one-week total during the pandemic so far. The spring semester will start Jan. 25, one week later than originally planned. The spring recess scheduled for March has been canceled, though four so-called wellness days have been added to the academic schedule. Fitchburg State has reported 16 positive tests this semester, including 12 in the past week through Nov. 8. The university has conducted more than 5,500 tests over the semester. UMass Medical School hires diversity and inclusion head UMass Medical School has hired a new vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, the Worcester school announced. Marlina Duncan joins UMass Medical School from Brown University in Providence, where she's the assistant vice president of academic diversity in the school's Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. She was also Brown's associate dean of diversity initiatives in its graduate school, and previously directed Lisa Beaudry, chief nursing officer at Saint Vincent Hospital

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