Bon Secours Mercy Health Welcomes Taryn Kennedy, MD as Vice President Reliability, Quality, & Safety

February 3, 2020 – After an extensive nationwide search conducted by retained, executive search firm Summit Talent Group, Bon Secours Mercy Health (BSMH) has hired Katharyn (Taryn) Kennedy, MD as Vice President Reliability, Quality, & Safety.

Formed in 2018 with the merger of Bon Secours Health System and Mercy Health, BSMH is a 43-hospital system headquartered in Cincinnati, OH. The fifth-largest Catholic health system in the US, BSMH operates facilities across seven states.

In this newly created role, Dr. Kennedy will partner with the system’s Quality, Process Improvement, and High-Reliability Teams in defining system strategy and ensuring success. She will work collaboratively with the system leadership and subject matter experts to identify trends for standardization of care and harm reduction.

Dr. Kennedy comes to BSMH from UMass Memorial Health Care System in Worcester, MA, where she has spent the last two decades of her career. Most recently, Dr. Kennedy held the position of Interim Chief Quality Officer, designing and implementing systems to measure and improve patient safety, efficiency, and effectiveness across the care continuum.

Prior to serving as Interim Chief Quality Officer, Dr. Kennedy spent two years as Senior Patient Safety Officer and eight months as Physician Safety and Quality Officer of the Emergency Department. She spent 16 years as Medical Director of the Emergency Department at UMass Memorial Marlboro Hospital.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of this new role,” said Dr. Kennedy. “To be able to start with a clean slate and create a position from the ground up is invigorating. I look forward to being able to improve the safety and quality of care for our patients and physicians and providers.”

Dr. Kennedy received her medical training at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. She is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality from the National Association for Healthcare Quality, and she is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. She completed a fellowship in general surgery in 1990 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland. Additionally, she has completed fellowships in both Accident and Emergency Medicine (Edinburgh, Scotland) and Prehospital and Disaster Medicine (UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, MA).

Summit Talent Group is a boutique executive search and leadership placement firm with a national practice in healthcare.