Emory Eastside Medical Center has a new chief executive officer.

Kimberly Ryan, former chief operating officer for Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans, took over CEO duties at the 200-bed Snellville hospital in February, according to a news release.

Both Tulane and Emory Eastside are affiliated with Nashville-based HCA's TriStar Health System.

Ryan is a former nurse who has a master's degree in business administration.

Ryan's experience at Tulane Medical Center included the evacuation of 178 patients and 1,100 patient relatives, physicians and employees and their families after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

MEDICAL SCHOLARSHIP: When she was growing up in Tanzania, Gulshan Harjee lost her grandmother to ovarian cancer because there was no treatment available. That experience motivated her to become a doctor.

After moving to Pakistan, Iran and then the United States, she finally earned her medical degree when she was 31.

"I knew it was going to be a lot of hard work and dead ends before I could finally be in a place where I could practice medicine and help people," said Harjee, an internist at DeKalb Medical in Decatur.

Now she's helping other health care students through the Dr. Gulshan S. Harjee Scholarship. The $1,500 annual scholarship is available to students enrolled in accredited programs for medicine, nursing, pharmacy, patient care or other related fields.

The application deadline is April 30. For information, call 404-501-5701.

TOP RANKINGS: Verispan, a health care information company, recently ranked WellStar Health System in Marietta among the nation's 100 best integrated health care networks.

The annual ranking is based on Verispan's rating system for integrated health care networks. The system evaluates each network's ability to operate as a unified organization in eight categories: integration; integrated technology; contractual capabilities; outpatient utilization; financial stability; services and access; hospital utilization; and physicians.

WellStar moved up 11 spots in this year's rankings to No. 17, making it Georgia's highest-ranked health system. Emory Healthcare of Atlanta was ranked 86th.

BUSINESS AWARD: The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce honored Gwinnett Medical Center with its first Business of the Month Award in February.

The award was based on GMC's customer service, community service, community development and chamber involvement.

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