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UM Charles Regional earns Minogue Circle of Honor Safety Award. LA PLATA, Md. (Feb. 4, 2026) - University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center, a member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System, has been named a 2026 Circle of Honor Award recipient for Patient Safety Innovation by the Mid-Atlantic Patient Safety Center (MPSC) through its Minogue Awards program, recognizing the hospital's Diabetes Health Equity Transformation initiative. The Minogue Awards for Patient Safety Innovation recognize health care organizations that demonstrate bold leadership and measurable impact through innovative, system-level approaches to improving patient safety. "We are deeply honored to receive the Minogue Patient Safety Award for our Diabetes Health Equity Transformation initiative. This recognition reflects the unwavering commitment of our clinicians, care teams, and community partners to ensure that every patient - regardless of race, background, or socioeconomic status - has access to high quality diabetes care that is culturally responsive and sensitive," said Albert Zanger, chief administrative officer at UM Charles Regional. With guidance and support from the University of Maryland Medical System's Equity in Patient Care leadership, UM Charles Regional embarked on a systemwide Health Equity Transformation with a focus on diabetes care. "This award recognizes innovative patient safety initiatives that eliminate preventable harm and improve health equity," said Stephanie Peditto, president & CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Patient Safety Center. "We celebrate the people doing this work, and create opportunities to share these valuable lessons for health systems across the region and beyond." This recognition represents the third time in five years UM Charles Regional earned a Minogue award. In 2021 the La Plata-based hospital was honored for its Mitigating the Effects of COVID: Protect Your Lungs campaign and earned the award again in 2022 for Mobility Rounds and Reports: Tools for Improving Patient Mobility and Safety Outcomes at a Community Hospital. The Minogue Awards program honors a spectrum of excellence in patient safety. In addition to the Minogue Award for Patient Safety Innovation (first-place submission), the program includes the Distinguished Achievement Award (second place) and Circle of Honor for Patient Safety Excellence recognitions for additional outstanding projects. Together, these awards celebrate meaningful innovations helping to improve care across the Mid-Atlantic region. This year's awardees were selected from nearly 50 submissions reviewed by a panel of health care experts. All winners will be recognized during a special awards reception held in conjunction with the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Patient Safety Conference in April. Named in honor of William Minogue, MD, FACP - Maryland Patient Safety Center's first president and executive director - the Minogue Awards were established by the center's board of directors to recognize Dr. Minogue's enduring commitment to patient safety and to honor organizations making a demonstrable difference through innovation. Record gift advances pediatric care in Maryland. University of Maryland Children's Hospital receives a transformative $50 million gift from Tom Golisano that will help shape healthier futures for generations of children.

UMMS physician named health system's executive VP for community health. The University of Maryland Medical System announced Oct. 22 the promotion of one of its longtime leaders, Dr. Thomas Smyth, as the organization's inaugural executive vice president for its Community Health Division. Smyth served as president of the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, a member organization of UMMS, since 2016 and was previously the medical director of the UM St. Joseph Medical Group. The announcement followed a decision earlier this year to elevate Dr. Bert O'Malley to executive vice president of the Academic Health Division, with responsibility for strategic academic partnerships across UMMS. O'Malley served the past five years as president of University of Maryland Medical Center, the system's flagship academic hospital with two campuses in Baltimore City. "These executive-level changes are important steps forward for UMMS as we pursue our core mission, vision and values and continue transforming how we deliver the very best health care to our patients and communities," said Dr. Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of UMMS, in a media release. "We have more opportunity and more responsibility than ever before to align our organization around the evolving needs and expectations of our patients, communities and colleagues." Under Smyth's leadership, UM SJMC has become a national leader in patient safety and quality. Trained as a urologist, he led the formation of Maryland Urology Associates, PA, and served as its president ahead of a merger that formed Chesapeake Urology Associates, where he served as vice president. In his new role, which he will begin in late November, Smyth will lead UMMS' network of seven community member organizations and their affiliated locations, including clinics, and other patient-facing facilities. Presidents of UMMS' member organizations will report to Smyth and will continue to remain as the senior-most executives responsible for providing outstanding care and efficient operations at their local facilities. "I am excited to work with the UMMS leadership team and our community member organization presidents to advance the system's mission and vision through transformative change, enhanced operational integration and improved financial performance," Smyth said in a media release. As a result of Smyth's promotion, Robin Luxon has been named interim president of UM SJMC and will serve in this role during the search for a new permanent leader of the Towson hospital. Luxon joined UM SJMC in October 2020 following more than two decades at UMMS member organization UM Upper Chesapeake Health in Harford County and has worked to position UMMS and UM SJMC for critical strategic growth, according to the news release. Luxon has served in several roles at UM SJMC, most recently as senior vice president for clinical integration. UMMS provides 25 percent of hospital-based care across the state.

Longtime University of Maryland Medical System physician leader named as inaugural Executive Vice President for Community Health. Seniormost Leaders for Academic Health and Community Health in place Today the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), which provides 25% of hospital-based care across the state, announced the promotion of a longtime System leader as the organization's inaugural Executive Vice President, Community Health Division. Thomas Smyth, MD has served as President of the University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center (UM SJMC), a member organization of UMMS, since 2016 and was previously the medical director of the UM St. Joseph Medical Group. This follows the decision earlier this year to elevate Bert O'Malley, MD, who for the past five years has served as President of University of Maryland Medical Center, the System's flagship academic hospital with two campuses in Baltimore City, to Executive Vice President, Academic Health Division, with responsibility for strategic academic partnerships across UMMS. "These executive-level changes are important steps forward for UMMS as we pursue our core Mission, Vision and Values and continue transforming how we deliver the very best health care to our patients and communities," said Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, President and CEO of UMMS. "We have more opportunity and more responsibility than ever before to align our organization around the evolving needs and expectations of our patients, communities, and colleagues. This means delivering the safest, most compassionate care in the state, supported by productive, efficient, and nimble operations that meet people where they are providing care when, where, and how they expect it." Under Dr. Smyth's leadership, UM SJMC has become a national leader in patient safety and quality. Trained as a urologist, he led the formation of Maryland Urology Associates, PA and served as its president ahead of a merger that formed Chesapeake Urology Associates, where he served as vice president. In his new role, which he will begin in late November, Dr. Smyth will lead UMMS' network of seven community member organizations and their affiliated locations, including clinics, and other patient-facing facilities. Presidents of UMMS' member organizations will report to Dr. Smyth and will continue to remain as the senior-most executives responsible for providing outstanding care and efficient operations at their local facilities, now operating as a more integrated team, firmly united in the pursuit of shared goals. "I am excited to work with the UMMS leadership team and our community member organization presidents to advance the System's mission and vision through transformative change, enhanced operational integration and improved financial performance," Dr. Smyth said. As a result of Dr. Smyth's promotion, Robin Luxon, RN, BSN, MBA, FACHE, has been named interim President of UM SJMC and will serve in this role during the search for a new permanent leader of the Towson hospital. Luxon joined UM SJMC in October 2020 following more than two decades at UMMS member organization UM Upper Chesapeake Health in Harford County and has worked tirelessly to position UMMS and UM SJMC for critical strategic growth. Luxon has served in several roles at UM SJMC, most recently as Senior Vice President, Clinical Integration. At UMMC, Dr. O'Malley has made integration a defining focus of his tenure, bringing together leaders from the hospital, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Faculty Physicians, Inc. to create the first-ever Integrated Leadership Team governance structure, Joint Strategic Plan, and Joint Performance Plan. These efforts have strengthened coordination across missions and set the foundation for a unified, high-performing academic health enterprise, as well as created a unified commitment to advancing academic medicine, nurturing groundbreaking innovation and training the physicians of tomorrow. "My leadership role at UMMC has always been at the intersection of providing the highest quality care and advancing our academic medicine mission," said Dr. O'Malley. "This new, more formalized role further crystalizes the vital importance of our academic partnerships as a core part of the UMMS mission. I am excited about the opportunity to harness my personal passion for both clinical excellence, innovation and discovery to help strengthen Systemwide alignment." "Together, Dr. O'Malley and Dr. Smyth share the goal of enhancing operational, financial, and clinical excellence across our System," Dr. Suntha added. "Excellence in patient access, patient experience, strong physician and clinician relationships, financial performance, resource allocation and regulatory compliance are the hallmarks of a great health system, and these well-qualified leaders have the responsibility of elevating our performance in each of these areas. These appointments complete our corporate senior management team and allow us to deepen our focus on making UMMS the safest health system in Maryland, strengthening our integration and growing in key areas and service lines, especially in ambulatory settings. This will result in a better state of care for Marylanders and everyone who counts on our System." About the University of Maryland Medical System The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high-quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state's future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System's anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.