Matthew R. Foster, MD, MMM, has been appointed CEO and president of Dartmouth Health members Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) and Valley Regional Hospital (VRH). He makes this transition from Johnson Health Center in Lynchburg, VA, where he has been the interim chief medical officer since March 2024.
Before his role at Johnson Health Center, Foster served as senior vice president and chief physician executive at Centra Health, an independent health system with over 550 hospital beds. At Centra Health, he managed clinical integration and service line development for the system’s four hospitals, long-term acute care hospital, regional standalone emergency department, regional cancer center, Centra College of Nursing, and Piedmont Community Health Plan.
In this new combined role, Foster will provide leadership across a range of diverse organizational operations and strategic initiatives, including promoting patient service and safety, regulatory and legal compliance, financial management, and employee, patient and community relations across MAHHC and VRH.
From 2002 through 2021, Foster served as a pathologist, full partner and owner at Pathology Consultants of Central Virginia. In 2005, he took on a variety of administrative roles at Centra Health, including serving as associate medical director, and later cancer medical director, at the Alan B. Pearson Regional Cancer Center.
Foster was recently elected to the Board of Governors of the College of American Pathologists.
Foster received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology and surgical pathology fellowship, both at Vanderbilt University. He also completed a cytopathology fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia, later obtaining his master of medical management from Carnegie Mellon University.
Foster’s tenure begins this month.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s only academic health system and the state’s largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and is recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 57 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes the state’s only children’s hospital and multiple locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene, Claremont and New London, NH, and Windsor and Bennington, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory and specialty services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.
About Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center
Founded in 1933, Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center (MAHHC) is a not-for-profit community hospital network in Vermont, including the critical access-designated Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Historic Homes of Runnemede, a senior residential care campus, in Windsor, as well as the Ottauquechee Health Center in Woodstock. A member of the Dartmouth Health system, MAHHC provides primary care and a comprehensive suite of specialty services, along with 25 inpatient beds, a therapeutic pool and an acclaimed, fully modernized 10-bed Acute Rehabilitation Center. Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center is dedicated to improving the lives of those it serves and is at the hub of a wide network of community resources that have partnered to cover gaps in services and improve overall population health. One of the largest employers in the area, MAHHC acknowledges its employees as its greatest asset and has been recognized by the Governor's Office with an Excellence in Worksite Wellness award.
Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF), is a recent recipient of Best Practice recognition by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) for health care quality, and is recognized by the American Hospital Association (AHA) as one of the "Most Wired" hospitals for integration of technology to boost clinical performance. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has awarded MAHHC with Level 3 status, the highest level of medical home designation.