• The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP; Chicago) has elected Judith Palfrey, MD, FAAP, of Boston, as its president-elect. Palfrey, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, directs the Children's International Pediatric Center, Children's Hospital (Boston). AAP bills itself as the nation's largest pediatric organization, with a membership of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists.

• Steve Smith has been promoted to the newly created position of VP of interactive for ConnectivHealth (Nashville, Tennessee). Smith has been with ConnectivHealth since October 2007. ConnectivHealth is a provider of digital health information.

• John Papandrea has been named senior VP of the healthcare business unit of SAP (Walldorf, Germany). Papandrea joins SAP from Deloitte Consulting, where he advised healthcare organizations on information technology strategy and innovation.

• Mark Schafer, PhD, has been named chief technology officer and VP of R&D for Sound Surgical Technologies (Louisville, Colorado). Sound Surgical said that Schafer has more than 25 years of design and development experience. Sound Surgical makes the VASER lipo system, which uses ultrasonic energy to break apart fat, while preserving important connective tissue.