Cheshire Medical Center in Keene appointed Joseph L. Perras, MD, as president and CEO effective Aug. 7,2023. Perras has served as CEO of Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center for the past six years and has aso served as the hopsital's chief medical officer since 2015.
“His decades of expertise and commitment to rural healthcare in this region of New England, compounded with his leadership within Dartmouth Health, will continue to strengthen our culture of excellence and advance the health and wellness of the Monadnock Region by delivering outstanding care and exceptional service to the people and communities Cheshire serves,” says Susan Abert, chairperson of the board of trustees of Cheshire Medical Center, a member of Dartmouth Health.
Perras joined Dartmouth Health’s Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in 2013 as director of Hospital Medicine and became CMO in February 2015. Before that, he practiced at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for 12 years, where he served on the staff of Internal Medicine and was a founding physician within the Hospital Medicine practice. While there, he held clinical leadership positions, including section chief of Hospital Medicine and Medical Director of Care Management. His clinical and academic interests include healthcare delivery reform in rural environments and building accountable communities for health.
“I’m thrilled to join the team at Cheshire and continue to grow within Dartmouth Health,” Perras says. “These are challenging times for all healthcare organizations. I’m confident that by focusing on delivering the highest quality care in the safest possible environment for staff and patients we will best serve the healthcare needs of our communities. I know we have the team to do it. My wife and I look forward to becoming part of the Keene community and taking advantage of all it has to offer.”
Perras served as the vice chair of the Board of Managers for One Care Vermont, the accountable care organization that works to provide high-value care to thousands of Vermonters. Additionally, Perras served as a trustee for the Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, where he chairs the Professional Advisory and Quality Committee and the Historic Homes of Runnemeade assisted living facility in Windsor, Vermont.
He is the chairperson of the American Hospital Association’s Small or Rural Hospital Council, representing the interests of Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center and other rural healthcare providers at the national level. He has also been appointed to the AHA’s Institute of Diversity and Health Equity, working with health services organizations to advance healthcare equity and leadership opportunities for under-represented groups in healthcare management.
Perras succeeds Don Caruso, who retired at the end of May after a career spanning three decades at Cheshire.
“Dr. Perras joins Cheshire at an important time in their history, and his experience as a trusted and valued Dartmouth Health leader will be instrumental. Outside the academic medical center, Cheshire is our largest healthcare member,” says Dartmouth Health CEO and President Joanne M. Conroy, MD.
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