A brisk fall day with the leaves changing colors was all it took to get Donna M. Handley to come back to New England after two decades in the Motor City.
Well, that and a challenging new position at Hartford Hospital, where she has been appointed vice president of its cancer program. In this role, Handley will provide administrative leadership to the Helen & Harry Gray Cancer Center.
Handley, a Boston native, joins Hartford Hospital from St. John Hospital and Medical Center in Detroit, where she served as vice president of clinical services. She provided leadership for eight clinical areas including oncology, surgery, cardiovascular care, anesthesia and imaging. Simultaneously, she was also the executive sponsor for St. John Health’s Oncology Clinical Network, for which she directed and led the health system’s oncology care.
“From the time I moved to the Midwest, people would ask me if I would move back. I would say, ‘Yes, in a heartbeat,’ ” said Handley, an affable woman who has not lost her Beantown accent. “The Midwest has been good to me, but New England is home. After only three weeks here, I can tell I made the right decision. Hartford’s a great city.”
In the meantime, Handley’s husband, deputy sports editor for The Detroit News, is trying to sell their Detroit home while Handley leads the single life in Hartford. She can’t wait to have a home of her own so she can go back to gardening. A beginning golfer, she’s also looking for a golf course to call her own.
While waiting for all those pieces to fall in place, Handley will focus on continuing the Gray center’s commitment to high quality, standardized patient care for cancer victims. Her time will also be invested in the center’s participation in a 14-cancer center program through the National Cancer Institute that focuses on cancer care being delivered in the community.
Handley explained that 90 percent of cancer care is delivered out in the community, while a lot of research funds are devoted to the 10 percent of care done in a hospital setting. “We’ll develop programs in the community that have the same high level quality of care,” she said.
