ETSU spring commencement
Levine and Behringer to speak at spring commencement ceremonies
JOHNSON CITY (April 21) — Alan Levine will be the speaker at East Tennessee State University’s 10 a.m. spring commencement exercise, and Bruce Behringer will deliver the 2 p.m. address on Saturday, May 9, in the ETSU/Mountain States Health Alliance Athletic Center (the Minidome).
Levine is the president and chief executive officer of Mountain States Health Alliance, a not-for-profit, 14-hospital integrated health care system serving 29 counties in Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina.
In his 20-year career, Levine has served as CEO of hospitals and health systems from the rural north Florida town of Perry to the fifth largest public not-for-profit health system in the nation. He has served as secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals and managed the largest medical evacuation in the history of the nation in response to hurricanes Gustav and Ike. He was also part of Governor Jindal’s response team for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
A health policy advisor to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Levine was appointed by the governor to serve as secretary of Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration. During his tenure, Levine was part of the response team for eight major hurricanes making landfall in Florida. In addition, he led the state’s effort to reform the Medicaid program in Florida.
Levine has also served as CEO of Florida’s Broward Health, one of the nation’s largest public, not-for-profit hospital systems assisting with upgrading of debt ratings while improving financial performance and patient satisfaction ratings.
Behringer was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Continuous Improvement and Training for the Tennessee Department of Health in 2012. Prior to that, he served for 20 years at ETSU as associate vice president and executive director of the Office of Rural and Community Health and Partnerships in the Division of Health Sciences. As a member of the ETSU faculty, Behringer helped develop ETSU‘s nationally recognized interprofessional, community-based programs.
Behringer has published his work on community-based participatory research concerning Appalachian disparity issues such as substance abuse, cancer and diabetes.
Before coming to ETSU, Behringer was executive director of the Virginia Primary Care Association and administrator of Tri-County Health Services in Aurora, N.C.
Among his numerous national health committee and council memberships are the Appalachian Regional Commission’s Health Policy Advisory Council, presidency of the National Rural Health Association, the Tennessee Institute of Public Health and the Tennessee Rural Health Recruitment and Retention Center (The Rural Partnership).
Behringer also assisted with formation of CareSpark, the regional health information exchange, as well as the Hispanic community coalition, Puertas Abiertas, and the African American coalition, Minority Access to Community Health.
A graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health degree, he also holds a bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University College of Human Development.