The DMU Board of Trustees welcomed three new members in 2014 and will add two more in March.
At its December 2014 meeting, the board approved the appointments of Marcia Grassman Hammers, B.H.A.’88, R.N., FAHM, CHC, and Nicki Nigro, D.P.M.’89, FACFAS. Hammers is a senior health care consultant at Wellmark Inc., Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa in Des Moines. She works with large employers to analyze and address factors driving the health of employees as well as their costs. She joined the company in 1988 and has held a variety of positions in which she has monitored data and trends, recommended strategic initiatives and driven continuous quality improvement for Wellmark customers. Hammers joined the DMU College of Health Sciences (CHS) Alumni Board in September 2006 and, in 2011, became the first president of the unified DMU Alumni Board. She was named CHS Alumna of the Year in 2012.
Nicki Nigro has a private practice, Nigro Foot and Ankle Care, and has been serving patients in the Pittsburgh area since completing her surgical training at the Podiatry Hospital of Pittsburgh in 1991. Also a lecturer at West Penn Hospital, she is board-certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery and a fellow of the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons. She has served on numerous podiatry boards and is a founding board member of the Western Pennsylvania Foot and Ankle Society. As the chief executive officer and treasurer of the Podiatry Foundation of Pittsburgh and chair of its awards and grant committee, she guides the annual distribution of more than $130,000 in scholarships to first- through fourth-year podiatric students from Pennsylvania. Nigro served on the DMU Alumni Board and was named the College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery Alumna of the Year in 2009.
New DMU board members in 2014 were Robert Ritz, M.H.A., Stanley Skopit, D.O.’77, M.S.E., FAOCD, and Michael Witte, D.O.’77. Ritz is president of Mercy Medical Center-Des Moines, an 802-bed hospital with three campuses. Before he took that position in 2013, he was division president of Hospital Sisters Health System and president/chief executive officer of St. John’s Hospital, both in Springfield, IL. His achievements with those organizations included developing a comprehensive, long-range plan for the hospital; developing a medical group to support the creation of a primary care referral network; and implementing alignment of specialty group practices with several practices, including an independent physician network with more than 200 members.
A diplomat of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Ritz also has served as president/CEO of health systems in Connecticut and West Virginia.
Stanley Skopit is a board-certified dermatologist with Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery in Pompano Beach, FL. A fellow of distinction and past president of the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, he also is chair of the dermatology department at Larkin Community Hospital and clinical professor of dermatology at Nova Southeastern University health professions division. In addition, he is the director of the dermatology residency training program and the Mohs and dermatopathology fellowships affiliated with Larkin Community Hospital in conjunction with Nova Southeastern’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Skopit has authored numerous articles for prominent dermatology journals and has co-authored a chapter on dermatologic diagnosis in a major textbook.
Michael Witte trained in internal medicine and pulmonary and critical care at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver. He is board-certified in internal, pulmonary and critical care medicine. After his Army duty was completed in 1987, he joined the multispecialty practice Chest, Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Associates PC in Des Moines. Witte’s interests are critical care medicine and all aspects of pulmonary diagnostics.
Individuals typically are elected to three-year terms on the DMU board, after which they may be considered for an additional term.
