Wallingford’s Gaylord Specialty Healthcare says its first-ever female chief executive took office earlier this month.
Gaylord on Friday said Sonja LaBarbera, the health system’s former chief operating officer, has taken over as its CEO and president in place of George Kyriacou, who retired at year-end 2018.
Kyriacou was one of seven healthcare professionals last year to receive Hartford Business Journal’s 2018 Health Care Heroes awards.
LaBarbera, a Wallingford native, joined Gaylord 14 years ago as director of inpatient therapy and served two other posts before being promoted a year ago to chief operating officer (COO).
As COO, officials said she played a key role improving Gaylord’s patient satisfaction scores and more than tripled the size of its outpatient physical therapy, orthopedics and sports medicine program.
LaBarbera’s professional career began in 1997 as a clinical coordinator at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Gaylord, headquartered at 50 Gaylord Farm Road, said it provides medically complex care and rehabilitation services to 10,000-plus patients a year.
The health system has three outpatients centers, including a hub for concussion care, and a 137-bed long-term, acute-care hospital known for its expertise in spinal cord and brain injuries, stroke and cardiopulmonary care, it said.
