Leadership

Tammy A. Follensbee

On August 4, 2008 Tammy A. Follensbee was appointed as the Hospital Director of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital (ENRMVH), a division of the VA New England Healthcare System. As Director, Ms. Follensbee is responsible for the operation of a 502 bed medical center including a center of excellence in Geriatrics and Long Term Care, a full spectrum of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences programs, hospital and community based outpatient programs, educational affiliations with two major medical schools as well as over 100 auxiliary healthcare educational organizations and Research in Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), mental health status, as well as effectiveness and quality of care outcome studies. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Follensbee was appointed the Acting Network Director for the VA New England Healthcare System (VISN 1) effective March 2008. The VA New England Network includes 8 VA Medical Centers and 37 community-based outpatient clinics throughout the six New England states serving a population of over 1.2 million veterans. The Network employs over 10,000 staff. She was also the Deputy Network Director for the VA New England Healthcare System from March 2005 - March 2008. As Deputy Network Director, she was responsible for VISN operations in the network including oversight for administration, financial management, logistics/contracting, capital assets, clinical engineering, communications, education, safety, and emergency management. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Follensbee was the Network Chief Information Officer May 2001 to February 2005. She was responsible for leadership and integration of health information management, information systems and technology management, clinical applications/informatics, decision support systems, learning resources and information security. She also served as medical center chief information officer and chief of information resource management at the White River Junction VAM&ROC. She held several positions of increasing responsibility at the medical center and regional office, and began her VA career in 1984.

Ms. Follensbee is a graduate of the Federal Interagency Institute, the 2006 Leadership VA Program (LVA) and a member of the LVA Alumni Association. She is also a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), a graduate of the Harvard University School of Public Health National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, graduate of the VA Health Care Leadership Institute (HCLI) and a graduate of the VISN 1 Management Development Leadership Program. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Granite State College.

Sandra Davidson

Ms. Davidson has been appointed as Acting Associate Hospital Director.  She is a retired Air Force MSgt, and has been with VHA for seven years.  Her prior military experience consisted of healthcare administration, primarily TRICARE, HIMS and Disaster Preparedness.  While at WRJ she was Business/Health Information Manager. “I am pleased and honored to be “acting AD” at Bedford VAMC, and I look forward to working with the staff here,” Ms. Davidson said of her appointment

Andrew Budson, MD

After graduating cum laude from Harvard Medical School, Dr. Andrew Budson was an intern in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He then attended the Harvard-Longwood Neurology Residency Program, for which he was chosen to be chief resident in his senior year.

He next pursued a fellowship in behavioral neurology and dementia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, after which he joined the staff there. He participated in numerous clinical trials of new drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease in his role as the Associate Medical Director of Clinical Trials for Alzheimer’s Disease at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Following his clinical training he spent three years studying memory as a post-doctoral fellow in experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience at Harvard University under Professor Daniel Schacter. After five years as Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, he was recruited jointly by the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center and the Bedford VA Hospital. After serving for several years as the Associate Clinical Director and Director of Outpatient Services for the Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center (GRECC) at the Bedford VA Hospital, he was promoted to the overall Director of this GRECC program. He is also the Director of the Center for Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at the Bedford VA Hospital, Associate Director for Research at the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Professor of Neurology at Boston University School of Medicine, Lecturer in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, and Consultant Neurologist at the Division of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, Department of Neurology, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

He has given over 250 local, national, and international grand rounds and other academic talks, including at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Queen Square, London, Berlin Germany, and Cambridge University, England. He has published over 90 papers in peer reviewed journals including Neurology, Brain, and Cortex, and is a reviewer for more than 40 journals. His review in The New England Journal of Medicine entitled “Memory Dysfunction” has become a must-read for all clinicians evaluating patients with memory complaints. In 2008 was awarded the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral Neurology. Sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the prize is awarded yearly for outstanding research in the field of behavioral neurology. Most recently he has been awarded the 2009 Research Award in Geriatric Neurology. Also sponsored by the American Academy of Neurology, the prize is awarded yearly for independent contributions to geriatric neurology research. His current research uses the techniques of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience to understand memory and memory distortions in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders.

Lula B. Cumberlander, RN

Ms. Cumberlander began her nursing career as a staff nurse at the Washington D.C. VAMC. There she began her management career as a Nurse Manager in 1979. In 1992, Ms. Cumberlander became the Associate Chief Nurse at Prescott VAMC, a 120 bed Nursing Home and a 300 bed Domiciliary . She transferred to the Hampton VAMC in 1995 and served as the Acting Chief Nurse and Service Line Manager for Geriatrics and Extended Care. In 1998, Ms. Cumberlander became the Nursing Executive for Long Term Care at the Pittsburgh VA Health Care System.

Ms. Cumberlander holds membership in the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Sigma Theta Tau and Nursing Organization of Veterans Affairs. She holds a bachelor's degree in Nursing from North Carolina A & T State University and a master's degree in Nursing Administration from Marymount University.