The MHA announced the 2024 winner of its highest achievement award during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 27. Receiving the award for his decades of healthcare leadership is Loren Hamel, MD, president, Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan.
Hamel has been closely involved with the MHA for 18 years, highlighted by serving as MHA Board Chair for the 2017-18 program year. His tenure on the board lasted seven years and ended in 2019. He has continued serving in a leadership role as the co-chair of the MHA Public Health Taskforce since 2022. He also served on various MHA committees, councils and task forces, including the Legislative Policy Panel, the Safety & Quality Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee and the Task Force on Future Health Insurance Markets.
Dr. Hamel has been closely involved with healthcare in southwest Michigan, where he practiced medicine as a family physician for 23 years. He currently leads care delivery for three hospitals, 53 outpatient locations, telehealth initiatives and approximately 500 independent, affiliated and employed physicians in Southwest Michigan. Hamel also served as Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Health for nine years and held various other executive roles with the organization prior to their integration with the former Spectrum Health in 2018 and his current position with Corewell Health.
Lakeland Health was formed through the integration of Watervliet Hospital, Southwestern Medical Clinic and Hospice at Home, which Dr. Hamel led. He also helped drive investments in several facilities that include the Pine Ridge Rehabilitation Center, Merlin and Carolyn Hanson Hospice Center and the Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals Marie Yeager Cancer Center. Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals – St. Joseph Hospital also completed a 260,000-square-foot renovation and expansion in 2022.
In addition to his role as a healthcare executive, Dr. Hamel served his alma mater Andrews University in Berrien Springs in several roles, including as a clinical professor, director of the university’s health services, president of the alumni association and board member. Dr. Hamel retires from his role at Corewell Health June 30, 2024.