Eastern State Has New Director

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

The Commissioner for the state's Department of Behavioral Health and Development Services has named Jack Wood as the new director for Eastern State Hospital.

Wood, who has been director at Catawaba Hospital outside Roanoke since 2001, fills the role left vacant after previous director John Favret was removed earlier this year because he “created an environment that suppressed the active monitoring of areas of risk to the detriment of both the staff and the patients,” according to Inspector General for Behavioral Health and Human Services G. Douglas Bevelacqua.

“Eastern State will benefit from the strong leadership Jack demonstrated at Catawba hospital,” said Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services Commissioner James W. Stewart. “His experience has enabled him to gain a wide variety of management skills that will be of great service to the department in the larger setting at Eastern State and to its surrounding community.”

Wood will begin his new position full-time on January 1, 2011; until then he is currently spending part of each week at Eastern State. Yad M. Jabbarpour, M.D., Catawba’s medical current director, will serve as that hospital’s acting facility director until a permanent replacement is found.

Before working at Catawaba, Wood worked at the Medical University of South Carolina, the Charleston Memorial Hospital and with the U.S. Navy. He holds an undergraduate degree from the College of Charleston and a Master of Business Administration from Averett University.

DHHDS made the announcement about the hospital’s new director in a press release dated November 22, but did not send the release to local media.