• MedCath (Charlotte, North Carolina) reported that David Covert will join its senior management team as senior VP, operations and will have operations responsibilities for MedCath hospitals located in Arizona, California, New Mexico as well as TexSan Heart Hospital (San Antonio, Texas). Covert most recently was president/CEO of Catholic Healthcare West's East Valley Service Area and Chandler Regional Medical Center. MedCath is a healthcare provider focused on high-acuity services, with the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease being a primary service offering.

• Irv Lichtenwald was named CFO of Medsphere Systems (Carlsbad, California). Lictnewald has more than 25 years' experience in finance and information technology. From 1995 to 2003, he was CFO for Advent Software. Medsphere is a healthcare IT company.

• John West was named president/CEO and board member of Novocell (San Diego). Previously, West was CEO of Solexa. Novocell is a stem cell engineering company.

• St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) reported that John Brown and Daniel Starks were re-elected to the company's board for three-year terms.