New Chief Medical Officer Announced At St. Joseph's Hospital

BLOOMINGDALE — RIVERVIEW, FL — Christopher E. Bucciarelli has recently been named chief medical officer of St. Joseph's Hospital—South.

Bucciarelli's responsibilities at St. Joseph's includes training new physicians on the hospital's policies and keeping staff current on health regulations. He'll provide clinical oversight to physicians, ensure regulatory compliance and evaluate quality of services. BayCare Hospital will also be represented by Bucciarelli at community meetings.

Bucciarelli said he is prepared for medical leadership at St. Joseph’s Hospital-South in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“People will say it is an unfortunate time and stressful to start this new position,” Bucciarelli said. “But the way I look at it is that the opportunity and ability to learn from it is exponentially large. We’re learning as much as we can from this experience and we’ll be ready if it ever happens again.”

He is a board-certified emergency medicine physician and affiliated with Bay Area Emergency Physicians in Clearwater. He has practiced as an emergency medicine doctor at both Morton Plant Hospital and BayCare’s Bardmoor Emergency Center in Largo since 2016.

Bucciarelli served as assistant chief medical officer at BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater since March 2020. He will continue to practice as an emergency medicine physician while working as St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s CMO.

“St. Joseph’s South has that hometown feel,” he said of the 223-bed hospital with more than 1,200 team members. “Despite what’s going on right now, everyone still has a smile. You can see their smiles through the masks. This is a very tight-knit group. Walking with executive leadership and doing introductions, everybody literally knows everybody. Everyone has a personal story to tell. They are a cohesive group. It is a team effort.”

Bucciarelli succeeds Dr. Mark Vaaler, St. Joseph’s Hospital-South’s CMO since January 2017. Dr. Bucciarelli will report to Vaaler, BayCare vice president and chief medical officer.

“He (Dr. Bucciarelli) has prepared for his role by getting his MBA from Duke University in order to understand in more depth the business aspects of health care,” Vaaler said. “He is enthusiastic, forward thinking and has participated in BayCare-wide projects in order to get involved outside the ER. He strongly believes in evidence-based medicine and collaborates well with his colleagues in formulating solutions to everyday issues.”