St. Luke’s University Health Network has announced that Frank Ford has been appointed President of St. Luke’s Sacred Heart Campus, Allentown.

“Frank Ford has agreed to take on the role at the Sacred Heart Campus and to continue to build on the great foundation established by John Nespoli over the past decade,” St. Luke’s Chief Operating Officer Joel Fagerstrom said.

Nespoli, who joined St. Luke’s upon St. Luke’s merger with Sacred Heart HealthCare System in March 2018, has been President and CEO of Sacred Heart since 2009.

Nespoli has been appointed President of the St Luke’s Gnaden Huetten - Palmerton campuses, Carbon County, assuming the role from St. Luke’s West President William Moyer, who was overseeing the campuses on an interim basis.

“John [Nespoli] joined us at a time when the future of Sacred Heart was uncertain. He has done a remarkable job of expanding services at the hospital, meeting the needs of our community, creating a quality profile that is outstanding and partnering to improve the neighborhood surrounding the hospital,” said Paul Huck, Chairman of the St. Luke’s Sacred Heart board. “He also led our process to join St. Luke’s University Health Network, ensuring the long-term future of the hospital in a time of great change in health care.”

“While we will most certainly miss John, we are pleased to welcome Frank and look forward to working with him in his new role,” Huck said.

Ford has been responsible for facilitating Sacred Heart’s assimilation into St. Luke’s since he became the Network’s Chief Integration Officer earlier this year.

Previously, Ford was President of St. Luke’s Allentown Campus for 12 years, overseeing a major expansion of services at the hospital.

Since joining St. Luke’s earlier this year, the Sacred Heart and Gnaden Huetten - Palmerton campuses have undergone substantive improvements.

St. Luke’s has invested tens of millions of dollars to raise salaries, upgrade infrastructure and install Epic, an electronic medical record system considered the gold-standard of the health-care industry.