April 8, 2005 — Renee Adams has been named the administrative director for the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute in St. Thomas, scheduled to open this July.
Formerly, Adams was a health care administrator with Baptist Regional Medical Center in Kentucky, Horizon Healthcare Corporation headquartered in Dallas, and Hospital Corporation of America in Texas.
Part of Adams' role will be recruiting and hiring qualified medical oncology physicians, therapists, and physicists for the Kimelman Institute. This staff will provide the community with access to new treatment options and anti-cancer agents not currently available in the territory and the Eastern Caribbean.
"That's the biggest challenge initially, to secure the necessary staff for the facility so we can hit the ground running," Adams said. "Along with my experience and education, I think my ties to the Virgin Islands and Caribbean will be of great benefit to the institute, since I am already familiar with the various cultures. I also bring my enthusiasm, high energy, motivation, and a personal commitment to the prevention, treatment, and follow-up care to cancer patients."
She grew up on the island of Antigua and says she is looking forward to returning to the region and serving the people of the Caribbean.
"I have always maintained my ties to the Caribbean and have traveled there often when I was in the states," said Adams, who started her new job at an office at the Roy L. Schneider Hospital this week.
Rodney Miller, president and chief executive officer of the Schneider Hospital system that includes the Kimelman Center and Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center, said Adams brings a wealth of administrative and healthcare experience to the position.
"We are very pleased to have Ms. Adams in this pivotal leadership position for the first regional cancer care treatment facility in the Eastern Caribbean," he said. "She has considerable skills in strategic planning, fiscal operations, and personnel management that are necessary for this very important cancer treatment facility that will be serving Virgin Islanders and others in the region who do not presently have access to world-class cancer care."
Adams received her first educational degree in social work and psychology at the age of 20 from Warner Southern College in Lake Wales, Fla. She obtained her MBA degree from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas and her Senior Professional Certificate in Finance from the University of New Haven in Connecticut. Her first major position was chief executive officer for Colgate Residences Inc., a community health organization in Houston. She was instrumental in growing the seven-member startup company into a firm of more than 100 employees with annual net revenues of more than $2 million.
After her job in Houston, Adams moved to Conroe, Texas in 1997 and served as interim administrator for Psychiatric Management Resources. While there, she restructured the reimbursement and marketing systems, resulting in a doubling of revenues within 10 months.
Horizon Healthcare Corporation in Texas hired Adams in 1998 to restructure their company in Pennsylvania and improve their financial performance. In one year she turned around the poor performance of an acute care hospital and increased its revenues by 150 percent.
After this experience, Adams directed the operations of a 240-bed, $10-million dollar community hospital in Corbin, Ky. from 2000 to 2001. At Baptist Regional Medical Center she supervised and monitored federal standards and regulations, managed care contracts, and physician relations.
For her own consulting company, Adams has successfully turned around the financial performance for several fast-paced health care services and industries. She says she is looking forward to using those skills to help build a successful Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute.