UM Shore Regional Health Board of Directors Welcomes New Members

Under the leadership of Kathy Deoudes, Chair, the UM Shore Regional Health Board of Directors recently welcomed four new members: LuAnn Brady, Marlene Feldman, Wayne Hockmeyer and Valerie Overton. The Board’s composition includes representatives from the five counties served by UM SRH, the regional physician community and UMMS.

Serving as Secretary of the Board, LuAnn Brady, MSPH, joined UM Shore Regional Health as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in February 2023. Previously, she spent more than 10 years with University of Pennsylvania Health System, first as Chief Administrative Officer for Penn Medicine’s Heart Vascular service line, and later as Vice President of Service Line Operations at Penn Medicine. She also worked for nearly 20 years for Bon Secours Health System, Inc. in Baltimore, first as Director of Planning and later as Vice President of Professional and Support Services. Most recently, she served nearly five years as Chief Operating Officer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Brady holds a Master of Science in Public Health with a focus on Health Policy and Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics Management from Salem College in Winston-Salem, N.C. She is a member of the American College of Health Care Executives and was selected as one of the Top 100 Chief Operating Officers of 2022 by C-Suite Spotlight, which provides news and information on today’s leading C-Level executives.

Marlene Feldman is a former member of the UM SRH Shore Regional Health Board of Directors (2005-2022) who served on the Executive, Ethics and Governance Committees and as chair of the Quality, Safety and Experience Committee, 2021-2022. A current member of the University of Maryland College Park Foundation Board of Trustees, previously she served on the boards of the University’s Terrapin Club, the Chesapeake College Foundation, Mid-Shore Community Foundation, the Dorchester Family YMCA and the Dorchester County Public Library. She also has served as Government Liaison for the Dorchester Arts Council and as a member of the Dorchester County Board of Education and the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.

A resident of Trappe, Md., Feldman is a member of Feldman, LLC, a real estate holding company, and previously served nine years on the Board of Directors, ISG International, Inc. Her early career included teaching at the elementary school level in Baltimore and Cambridge, and varied administrative and policy projects in the field of public education. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from the University of Maryland.

Wayne T. Hockmeyer, PhD, is a retired U.S. Army Officer and former Chief of the Department of Immunology at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Following his retirement from active duty in 1986, he served as Vice President of Laboratory Research and Product Development at Praxis Biologics. He later founded Medimmune, Inc., a company focused on oncology, infectious and inflammatory diseases, which he served as Chairman and/or Chief Executive Officer for 20 years until it was purchased by Astra Zeneca in 2007.

A graduate of Purdue University, Dr. Hockmeyer earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida, which later honored him as Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1988. He also has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Purdue University and multiple honors and awards, including the Paul A. Siple Award, the Tech Council of Maryland’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young. His civic and community contributions include serving on multiple boards, including Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Baxter International, Inc., Baxalta, Inc., and the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital, which he chaired for six years. A resident of Trappe, Md., he presently served as Vice Chair of the Board of Saints Peter and Paul School in Easton.

Valerie Overton has served as a Principal Health Policy Analyst and Health Policy Department Manager at The Mitre Corporation since 2015. During two decades prior to her role at Mitre, she held progressively responsible positions in health care policy, including Associate Director of Policy Analysis, Research & Methodology for the Health Services Cost Review Commission; Director of Government Affairs for the Anne Arundel Health System (now Luminis Health); and Senior Vice President of Governmental Policy & Advocacy for the Maryland Hospital Association. She holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Baltimore in Baltimore, Md., and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English from McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. 

A resident of Chestertown, Md., Overton has been an active member of the community, serving as a member and ultimately secretary, vice president and president of the Kent County Public Library Board of Trustees (2018-2022), and as treasurer for the Chestertown Tea Party (2003-2012). She also is a founding member of the Washington College Masters Swim Team and has served as swim instructor for Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne’s summer program since 2016.