Get To Know The COO Of UH Parma Medical Center

James Hill, MD, MBA, is a highly visible leader at University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, a high-volume community hospital that takes cares of many high-acuity patients. He can often be seen walking the nursing floors, getting a coffee at Healing Grounds in the hospital lobby or taking care of patients in the Intensive Care Unit. A practicing anesthesiologist, he worked in the ICU one full week each month on the pandemic front lines while also serving as Chief Medical Officer at UH Parma.

UH Parma is a high-volume hub for cardiac and vascular surgery through UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, as well as for gastroenterology and bariatric surgery through the UH Digestive Health Institute. The first Comprehensive Pain Center in the UH system was established at UH Parma, and the hospital has built up a busy Sleep Center and an outpatient Wound Center, as well as becoming a Level III Trauma Center under Dr. Hill's tenure.

We're a community hospital that does a lot of things really well," says Dr. Hill, who personally witnessed the second highest COVID-19 volumes in the UH system after main campus.

The son of a nurse and an electrical engineer, he learned early and often the example of serving others and solving problems with compassion, humility and respect. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine, Dr. Hill has mentored numerous medical residents and fellows. He also has conducted grand rounds for anesthesia residents at main campus and internal medicine residents at UH Parma.

Dr. Hill has two patents and has been invited to lecture nationally and internationally. He received NIH and state grants for the invention and development of Hemalogix, a program that looks at each transfusion and helps determine clinically appropriateness to reduce patient harm. His start-up company Hemaptics has received support from UH Ventures as it seeks to commercialize this patent for artificial intelligence, allowing Hemalogix to develop a more robust and accurate algorithm based on review of outcomes.

With several years each as the former UH System Medical Director of Transfusion Services and Blood Management and Division Chief of Trauma Anesthesiology, Dr. Hill has also presented at numerous national meetings of the Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists and published several peer-reviewed articles. Last year, he was invited to lecture to an international audience on blood management during the pandemic.

When Dr. Hill isn't managing operations at UH Parma, he is busy at home with his wife and three young children. He lives in the nearby community of Independence, the hometown of his wife, Katie Day Hill, a former speech therapist. He is widely visible in the hospital's larger community, such as participating in the City of Parma's Independence Day parade.

At UH Parma, we care for family members, friends, the loved ones of people we know," Dr. Hill says. We have a vested interest in the larger community we serve."