ATHENS--Sister Jane Gerety, RSM, senior vice president for sponsorship at St. Joseph’s Health System, Atlanta, is one of three new members of the board of directors of St. Mary’s Health Care System in Athens.

It was announced Oct. 20 that sponsorship of St. Mary’s will be transferred from the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas of Baltimore in late summer of 1999.

Also joining the board are Jacqueline S. Kinder, Ph.D., director of the University of Georgia Health Center, and J. Michael West, M.D. Appointments were announced by E.J. Fechtel, Jr., president and chief executive officer of St. Mary’s.

Sister Gerety, a Sister of Mercy, has served in her present role with St. Joseph’s since 1992. Prior to that, she was academic dean and associate and assistant professor of English at Carlow College, Pittsburgh. A former teaching fellow and lecturer at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Sister Gerety earned her doctoral degree in English from that university. Sister Gerety’s other board memberships include St. Joseph’s Health System; St. Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta; St. Joseph’s Mercy Care Services; Mercy Medical in Mobile, Ala., and St. Joseph’s Mercy Foundation.

Dr. Kinder has been director of the University Health Service since 1985. An average of 600 patients per day are served by the center’s various clinics and ancillary services, which are staffed by more than 200 people, including 33 clinicians. Prior to 1985, she was senior vice president and chief operating officer for BroMenn Healthcare, Inc., Bloomington, Ill.

Dr. West is a gastroenterologist and a long-time member of St. Mary’s medical staff. Dr. West completed his medical education at the University of Miami in 1974, his internship at Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1975 and residences at Jackson Memorial Hospital in 1977 and the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in 1979.