Joseph Chirichella, President and CEO of Deborah Heart and Lung Center, announced his plan to retire to the organization’s team members, yesterday. In a message delivered personally to his leadership team and followed with a house-wide message, Chirichella thanked his “family of coworkers” for helping him “extend Deborah’s legacy of clinical excellence and compassion into the next century.”

“As stewards of this 100-year tradition of innovation and caring, we have proudly maintained Deborah’s founding ideal—that there is no price on life,” said Chirichella. Adding, “In my 46 years as a member of this team—with 13 of those years as your President—we’ve kept Dora Moness Shapiro’s promise to put patients and their families at the center of every decision. It’s not always been easy, but it’s always been the right choice.”

“Joe is a visionary, a dynamic leader and a friend.  His future-forward thinking, fiscal responsibility and dedication to quality care have been stalwarts of his administration.  He has always kept in mind the mission of Deborah to serve our patients and community with exceptional heart and lung care.  We wish Joe all the best in his retirement and appreciate his many years of service and exemplary leadership,” said Barbara George Johnson, chair, Deborah Heart and Lung Center Board of Trustees.

During his tenure, Chirichella spearheaded Deborah’s growth by focusing on the development of the campus through partnership in the construction of a Medical Office Building, housing community-based physician services including urgent care, imaging, pharmacy and an ambulatory surgical center, and leading a $108 million expansion of the hospital building to create state-of-the-art critical care patient rooms and a dedicated team member respite space.

Chirichella has also used the power of partnerships to ensure Deborah’s patients have access to the highest quality of care. Key to this vision is Deborah’s alliance with Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute, through which Deborah is able to network around best processes and benchmark its outcomes against Cleveland Clinic’s heart program and its other alliance hospitals.

Chirichella supported Deborah’s partnership with Cooper University Health Care and development of the HeroCare Connect™ program, a first-in-the-nation program that offers healthcare navigation services to active-duty military personnel, their families and veterans. Through a partnership with Capital Health to provide emergency department services on Deborah’s campus, Chirichella has ensured that this important, and formerly unmet, community need remains filled.

Most recently, Chirichella has partnered with Deborah Specialty Physicians, a private physician practice, to expand access to heart, lung and vascular care in the community. With Deborah’s clinical support, eight offices have opened throughout Atlantic, Burlington, Mercer and Ocean Counties, allowing patients access to specialty care close to their homes.

While Chirichella did not announce a specific retirement date, he did say that he had agreed to provide the new CEO and the Board with transitional assistance for a period of time, ensuring that Deborah’s new leader will have the benefit of his experience as he, she or they see fit. Chirichella closed by saying that “I can’t imagine anything more meaningful than a career spent supporting the provision of high quality care, working alongside colleagues and coworkers who are as deeply committed to this principle; and I can sincerely say that I had that privilege during my tenure at Deborah.”

His term as President and CEO will end when the Board completes a nationwide search for his replacement.

The Hospital’s Board of Trustees has engaged Spencer Stuart, one of the world’s leading global executive search and leadership consulting firms in search for Deborah’s next President and CEO.

About Deborah Heart and Lung Center

Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey is a teaching hospital in the prevention, diagnosis, research and treatment of heart, lung and vascular diseases. Founded in 1922, Deborah has treated more than 2.3 million hearts from every corner of the United States and 87 countries. From performing the first adult and pediatric open-heart surgeries in NJ, to one of the highest-volume left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) implant programs in the nation, Deborah is consistently recognized as a leader overall and in patient care from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).  It is ranked among the top hospitals in NJ for patient satisfaction; holds a top-tier Society of Thoracic Surgeons rating, which places Deborah among the best cardiac surgery programs in North America; and is rated High Performing in five specialties, Heart Attack, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure, COPD and TAVR by U.S. News & World Report. Deborah is an Alliance member of the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute.