Center for the Art of Performance director Edmunds named 'catalyst in residence' at Pew Center

Kristy Edmunds, executive and artistic director of the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, became The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage’s first visiting scholar on Jan. 21. During the next 12 months, she will serve as “catalyst in residence,” visiting the Philadelphia-based center for a week every three months to explore a “question of practice” vital to the work of The Pew and its constituents. This collaborative research, said The Pew, “will inform a variety of outputs, among them commissioned writing and live events.”

Edmunds holds a reputation for innovation and depth in the presentation of contemporary art in all disciplines, with a particular emphasis on contemporary performing arts. Her expertise and professional relationships with masters of the 20th- and 21st-century performing arts, in addition to critical innovators in all disciplines of artistic practice, has given her the reputation of possessing a depth of knowledge across a variety of art forms and projects.

“In her current role at UCLA’s venerated performing arts program,” The Pew said, “Edmunds is shepherding an exciting new era. Under her leadership, the organization has evolved to become Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA), a creative habitat for supporting artists and presenting their work.”

To read The Pew’s announcement and an interview with Edmunds, click here.  
 

Health System's chief information officer named to list of top CIOs nationwide

Virginia McFerran, chief information officer (CIO) of the UCLA Health System and the David Geffen School of Medicine, was named to "100 Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know" by Becker Hospital Review, a leading source of business and legal information for healthcare industry leaders nationwide. The honorees were selected “based on their ability to leverage existing and new technology to further the mission of their organizations while elevating the level of patient care,” the Becker Hospital Review noted. “These CIOs have spent their careers seeing the opportunity in challenges and innovating new solutions in a constantly changing field, making themselves invaluable figures in their hospital or health systems' executive teams.”

McFerran, who joined UCLA in 2009, plays a vital role in the system's leadership team, collaboratively gaining buy-in for the overall IT strategic plan and operationalizing the plan with successful implementation. Prior to joining UCLA, she served as CIO and department head at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.