Hasbro Children’s Hospital named Francois Luks, M.D., pediatric surgeon-in-chief and division chief of pediatric surgery.
“Dr. Luks has been an esteemed member of the surgical staff at Hasbro Children’s Hospital for more than 20 years and we are very pleased and fortunate to have him permanently fill these two vital roles,” said Margaret M. Van Bree, MHA, DrPH, president, Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
Luks succeeds Thomas F. Tracy, Jr., M.D., who served as Hasbro Children’s Hospital pediatric surgeon-in-chief in addition to his role as senior vice president of medical affairs at The Miriam Hospital.
Luks served as director for trauma in Hasbro Children’s pediatric intensive care unit from 1995 to 2010 and subsequently as director of trauma for the hospital.
He has served on and led over a dozen standing and ad-hoc committees at Hasbro Children’s, ranging from chairing the pediatric trauma patient care committee to participate in those addressing broader hospital community issues, such as the medical executive committee at Rhode Island Hospital and the Hasbro Children’s Hospital advisory committee.
Luks also served as attending surgeon at Morton Hospital in Taunton and Boston’s New England Medical Center, now Tufts Medical Center, and most recently at St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.
He has over 120 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and almost 200 abstracts.
He is associate editor of the journal Fetal Diagnosis & Therapy.
Luks has served the Alpert Medical School of Brown University for his entire 20-plus years in Providence, currently as director of the program in fetal medicine, and professor of surgery, pediatrics and obstetrics, and gynecology.
Luks earned his bachelor’s degree from Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen, his medical degree from Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen, and his Ph.D. in medical sciences from Catholic University Leuven, all in his native Belgium.
He completed his residency in general surgery at Catholic Medical Center of Brooklyn and Queens, then a residency in pediatric surgery at Hospital Ste-Justine in Montreal.
Related Slideshow: The Power List - Health and Education, 2016
Russell Carey - A name few outside of Brown’s campus know, but Carey is the power source at the Providence Ivy League institution.
Today, his title is Executive Vice President and he has had almost every title at Brown short of President. Carey is a 1991 graduate of Brown and has never left College Hill.
While Brown’s President Christine Paxson — who is functionally invisible in Rhode Island — is managing alumni affairs and fundraising, Carey is influencing almost everything in Rhode Island.
Nicole Alexander-Scott - MD, MPH, and rock star in the making. As Director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, she is fast developing a reputation as someone in the Raimondo Administration who can get things done. Her counsel and leadership on developing a strategy on opioid addiction has been widely been lauded.
In addition, she has handled the mundane - from beach closings to food recalls - with competency. An expert in infectious disease, it may be time for her to become a strong leader on Zika.
Ronald Machtley - Bryant University's President rightfully deserves to be on a lot of lists, but what few understand is that Machtley’s influence extends far beyond Bryant’s campus in Smithfield. Machtley could make this list as a business leader or as a political force as much as for education.
Machtley is recognized for transforming Bryant University from a financially struggling regional college to a university with a national reputation for business.
Machtley serves on Amica’s Board and the Rhode Island Foundation, and also serves on the Board of Fantex Brands.
Larry Purtill - While Bob Walsh gets the face time as the Executive Director in the media for the NEA of Rhode Island, NEARI President Purtill tends to be the inside man who gets things done.
The teachers' largest union is formidable, but is still reeling from the beat down it took when Gina Raimondo’s pension reform cut the benefits of teachers disproportionately over other employee groups.
Make no mistake about it - not much happens in education in Rhode Island without Purtill's sign-off.
Mim Runey - While Rhode Islanders wait, and wait some more, for development on the 195 land, Johnson and Wale's University's Runey is watching it come to fruition, as JWU is set to open the first completed building on the former Interstate on September 1, when it will host a ribbon cutting for its John J. Bowen Center for Science and Innovation.
Under Runey, JWU continues to establish its foothold as one of the country's top schools for culinary training. Now Runey will oversee the addition of the new building on the old 195 which will house the university's School of Engineering and Design and its biology program.
In 2015, students from the School of Engineering & Design participated in the construction of the Holocaust Memorial on South Main Street, a collaboration between the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Holocaust Education Resource Center of Rhode Island.
A true community partner in every sense, JWU under Runey's watchful eye is expanding to an even greater presence in Providence.
Edwin J. Santos - The former banker is Chairman of the Board of CharterCare, after having been a top executive at Citizens Bank. He has been a board leader for Crossroads, Washington Trust, Rocky Hill School -- you name it and Santos has helped to lead it.
His best work to date just might be at CharterCare, where he has helped the once fledgling hospital (Roger Williams Medical Center) into a growing hospital system.
Weber Shill - He serves as the Chief Executive Officer of University Orthopedics, or in other words, dozens and dozens of oh-so-confident docs.
Shill has a background in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the Whitemore School at the University of New Hampshire. Experienced in managing medical groups, but this group is big and influential.
Timothy Babineau - President and CEO of Lifespan, Rhode Island's biggest healthcare organization, where financial challenges make the job that much more complicated.
Now, the critics (GoLocalProv included) are raising concerns about the multi- billion dollar organization's refusal to make any contribution to the City of Providence. Lifespan is like General Motors, big and hard to innovate the organization.
