Dr. David L. Pierce became chief medical officer at Millard Fillmore Suburban and DeGraff Memorial hospitals during the holidays and a nationwide flu epidemic.

Every hospital from Buffalo to Rochester was jammed for most of his first couple of weeks on the new job, and it was up to Pierce to help find the most effective ways to deal with the influx in Amherst and North Tonawanda.

Its like a baptism by fire the way you started, nurse leader Sue Huffer told Pierce earlier this week when he paid a visit to the medical/surgical unit on 2 East at Millard Fillmore Suburban.

He told her that he embraced the excitement and would work with staff in the coming months to improve efficiencies for the medical staff at the two hospitals.

Pierce, 42, a North Tonawanda native who lives in East Amherst, is glad to be in his new post after spending most of the last decade working as an emergency room doctor at Buffalo General and Erie County medical centers.

I loved working downtown but it didnt have the community feel it does here, said Pierce, who has worked in the Suburban emergency department for the last two years. He joins a Kaleida Health leadership team that he said is bent on improving patient-centered care as it helps reshape the regional health care system.

Heres a quick glimpse of the guy whos taking a big-picture look at medical operations at Suburban and DeGraff:

He started college at SUNY Fredonia State as an art major and shifted gears halfway through, after a cousin at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine suggested he volunteer for a summer in the ECMC emergency department.

He started medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico, and finished at New York Medical College near White Plains.

He did so well at a joint Harvard medical and business school health program several years ago that he now helps teach the program.

Originally posted here:

New chief medical officer at Millard Fillmore Suburban undergoes baptism by fire