AHN names chief medical officer for new Wexford hospital set to open this fall

Allegheny Health Network has appointed Dr. Katie Farah to serve as chief medical officer for the new 160-bed AHN Wexford Hospital scheduled to open this fall.

Farah is a practicing gastroenterologist and therapeutic endoscopist with AHN’s Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and serves as the department’s chief quality officer.

She recently led a network-wide standardization of colorectal cancer screening and developed the health network’s annual ‘Saturday Screening’ program for colorectal cancer to provide convenient access to screening for patients.

“An outstanding clinician, physician leader and patient advocate, Dr. Farah is well respected by her peers and patients alike,” said Dr. Allan Klapper, president of AHN Wexford Hospital.

“Her commitment to excellence across the continuum of care will be a tremendous asset to our team of world-class caregivers and especially to our patients at AHN Wexford,” Klapper said. ” We could not be more pleased to welcome her to our new hospital’s leadership team as we move closer to opening its doors later this year.”

Farah earned her medical degree at The George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., and completed both an internal medicine residency and a gastroenterology fellowship at AHN’s Allegheny General Hospital in the North Side.

During her time at AHN, Farah has also served as associate program director of AHN’s GI fellowship program, and as medical director of the McCandless Endoscopy Center.

She is a fellow of the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, an associate professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine and certified by the American Board of Gastroenterology.

Farah is the recipient of a number of awards for the work she has done in her field, including:

• American College of Gastroenterology Service Award for Colorectal Cancer Outreach, Prevention, and Year-Round Excellence for the past three years.

• 2020 Physician Honoree of the Year from the National Pancreas Foundation.

• Excellence in the GI Practice Operations Recognition Program from the Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

“I am very pleased to take on this new role in serving the community to provide the highest quality, safety and health care experience for our patients in keeping with the standards of AHN,” said Farah, who lives in the Wexford area. “I’m greatly looking forward to the hospital’s opening in September.”

AHN and its parent company, Highmark Health, broke ground on the 160-bed hospital in Pine Township in 2018 as part of its nearly $1 billion expansion plan that includes an additional four neighborhood hospitals and renovation of its existing facilities throughout Western Pennsylvania.

AHN Wexford is being built adjacent to the health network’s Wexford Health and Wellness Pavilion on Perry Highway, which opened in 2014 was the health system’s first major medical facility in the northern suburbs.

The new hospital is expected to employ 750 people.

The facility will serve an area with a combined population of more than 215,000 people living in communities from West View north to Zelienople in Butler County, according to hospital officials.

The mini-hospitals are in McCandless, Brentwood, Harmar and Hempfield.

The McCandless mini-hospital, which opened early last year, has a 24-hour emergency department, a 10-bed inpatient unit and offers a range of diagnostic imaging, laboratory and other medical services.