• Karen Gray has been named director of the human resources department at CareTech Solutions (Troy, Michigan), an information technology and health information management outsourcing company for hospitals and health systems. She most recently served as senior employment practices manager for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals.

• Gary Walters has been elected president and CEO of NanoSignal (Las Vegas), which makes the SLICES MRI system. Scott Ervin, predecessor to Walters, will continue as a director of the company. Dr. Ruppert Perrin, chairman of the board, said Walters, described as the company's super-preferred shareholder, “has always been the financial 'angel' behind NanoSignal. Now he will be the 'angel' that will guide the company to the forefront.“

• Robert Kruger has joined NDCHealth (Atlanta), a provider of healthcare technology and information solutions, as chief technology officer. He previously was senior vice president, product development and CTO of Citrix Systems. NDCHealth's network solutions automate the exchange of information among pharmacies, payers, hospitals and physicians. Its systems and information management solutions help improve operational efficiencies and business decision-making for providers, retail pharmacy and pharmaceutical manufacturers.

• James Jordan has joined the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse (PLSG), a private/public partnership putting the Pittsburgh region's life sciences industry on a fast track for growth, as an executive-in-residence. He will support existing Pittsburgh area companies while also evaluating later-stage life sciences technologies and opportunities for the region. Jordan previously was senior vice president of marketing and business development at a $3 billion division of McKesson. At PLSG, he will focus on early stage company formation as well as the commercialization of later-stage technologies and opportunities.

• Clinical quality measurement expert Denise Remus, PhD, RN, has joined Premier Healthcare Informatics (Charlotte, North Carolina) as vice president of clinical informatics. Remus, who comes to Premier from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), where she was a senior research scientist for quality indicators, will represent Premier clients with organizations such as the AHRQ, the National Quality Forum and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Premier Healthcare Informatics is part of Premier, a strategic healthcare alliance that provides performance solutions to hospitals and other providers.

• Tutogen Medical (West Paterson, New Jersey) reported the hiring of Clifton Seliga as vice president of marketing and sales and Claude Pering as vice president of operations-U.S. Both will be based at the company's U.S. manufacturing facility in Alachua, Florida. Prior to joining Tutogen, Seliga operated a consulting firm providing guidance to senior management teams in the areas of business planning, strategy development, and new product planning, sales and distribution. From 1998-2001, he served as senior vice president and general manager of ETEX Corp, where he managed the Orthobiologics Division. Pering has had more than 25 years in corporate operations management, and most recently was a principal at CoperTech, providing consulting services to client companies in the medical device, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. From 1999-2003, he was president and COO of Hayes Medical. Tutogen is a manufacturer of sterile biological implant products made from human (allograft) and animal (xenograft) tissue.

• Glenn McDowell has been promoted from vice president of the west region for U.S. Physical Therapy (Houston) to chief operating officer of the company. McDowell previously oversaw more than 165 outpatient rehabilitation and other facilities for a large national rehab company. U.S. Physical Therapy operates 263 outpatient physical and/or occupational therapy clinics in 35 states.

• David Elliot Jr. has been named president and chief operating officer of VistaCare (Scottsdale, Arizona). In addition, it is expected that Elliot will be appointed to VistaCare's board. Richard Slager will remain chairman and CEO. Elliot formerly was president, CEO and a director of VMBC, a privately held medical device company. VistaCare provides care primarily designed to reduce pain and enhance the quality of life of terminally ill patients through interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, home healthcare aides, social workers, counselors and volunteers.

• Gregory Furness has resigned as CFO of Vital Images (Minneapolis), effective Feb. 8. Vital Images has engaged Michael Carrel of Technology Solutions (Chicago), where he is a senor vice president, as interim CFO. Most recently, Carrel served as president, CEO and chief financial officer of Zamba. Vital Images provides visualization software for use in disease screening applications, clinical diagnosis and therapy planning.

• Alex Moghadam has been named vice president of international operations at Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, Massachusetts), replacing the retiring E. J. Jones, who has led Zoll's international operations since 1998. Prior to joining Zoll, Moghadam spent 10 years with Thermo Electron in a number of positions of increasing responsibility in the international area, most recently heading the instrument business of Thermo Electron's Bioscience Technologies Division covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Zoll is a manufacturer of resuscitation devices and software solutions, including pacing and defibrillation devices, circulatory assist devices and a fluid resuscitation product manufactured by the company's Infusion Dynamics division.