ALBANY — Joel Wernick, president and CEO of Phoebe Putney Health System, has been named by Georgia Trend magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. Each year the magazine selects leaders whose leadership affects lives and livelihoods across the state.
In its January 2016 issue, the business magazine listed only three other health system leaders who are based in and around Atlanta at Northeast Georgia Health System, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and WellStar Health System. Others listed lead such organizations as Delta Airlines, Coca Cola, AFLAC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“It is an honor to be included among Georgia leaders I respect and admire,” said Wernick who was first named to the Georgia Trend list in 2006. “It has been my good fortune to work side by side with the 4,500 Phoebe Family members who strive perpetually to improve quality of life and health of southwest Georgians we serve. Any recognition bestowed upon me is theirs as well.”
The magazine points out “this Albany-based organization has been the recipient of the Healthgrades Vascular Surgery Excellence Award for five years in a row, and Phoebe’s Cancer Center has earned a three-year approval with commendation for its cancer program from the Commission on Cancer and was designated a Breast Imaging Center of Excellence.”