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.

George R. Poulin

In May 1993 George R. Poulin was appointed Associate Director of the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital (ENRMVH) in Bedford, MA, a division of the VA New England Healthcare System, with the responsibility of managing the daily operations of this facility. 

During his tenure at the ENRMVH, Mr. Poulin has served three extended details within the VISN.  The first was into the VISN Office to lead the successful development and implementation of the Boston Area Consolidated Laboratory and then its transformation into the Network Consolidated Laboratory.  The second was to the Brockton/West Roxbury Division to serve as its Acting Associate Director for a period that spanned the closure of two fiscal years as well as the conclusion of the Boston Area Tertiary Care project and the initial implementation phase of the Boston/West Roxbury consolidation effort.  The third was as Acting Medical Center Director at the Northampton VAMC for a five month period that encompassed the closure of one fiscal year and the VISN's transition to Care Line budgeting.

In addition to his current assignment, Mr. Poulin has been serving as the East Market Team Leader for the CARES Project as well as Acting VISN Chief Logistics Officer.

He joined the VA in 1973.  He served as Assistant Director at the VAMC Boston from June 1992 to May 1993 and Associate Director Trainee at VAMC Boston from April 1991 to June 1992.  Those appointments were preceded by assignments as Chief, Acquisition & Materiel Management Service at the VAMC Brockton/West Roxbury from 1988 to 1992, at the VAMC, Salt Lake City from 1981 to 1988, and at the VAMC, Batavia from 1979 to 1981; Chief, Purchase and Contract Section from 1978 to 1979 at the VAMC in Togus, Maine; Chief, Purchasing and Contract Section from 1976 to 1978 at the VAMC Manchester, NH and Contract Specialist from 1975 to 1976, Purchasing Agent from 1974 to 1975 and Psychiatric Nursing Assistant from 1973 to 1974 all at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts.

Gregory Binus, MD

Between 1996 and 2000 as Manager of Mental Health he radically reorganized mental health services from a hospital-based system to a community based system.  This enabled the closure of five psychiatry units and the reinvestment of staff into community based programs.  This was done while preserving quality care to patients and facilitating the additional reorganization of mental health into a single entity instead of separate services.  Dr. Binus was one of the first Mental Health Managers in the Network to have and manage his own budget based on labor mapping and DSS.  Under his leadership he has worked collaboratively with Psychology Service to build one of the largest and most successful CWT Programs in the Country.  He was also successful in competing to establish at Bedford one of the first three MIRECC's in the country in collaboration with West Haven and Northampton. In 1999 under his leadership Bedford won 4 out of 7 of the Undersecretary's National Innovation Awards, all in Mental Health.

In addition to his facility administrative responsibilities, Dr. Binus serves on the Clinical Leadership Council of the Network, the Mental Health Advisory Board of the Network, and the Compliance Steering Committee of the Network. He also serves on the Residency Training Committee at Boston University School of Medicine, Division of Psychiatry and on the Bedford VA Dean's Committee.  Dr. Binus has major teaching responsibilities as the Bedford Director of Psychiatry Residency Training and Medical Student third year Psychiatry Clinical Clerkship Program from Boston University.  He also teaches a variety of psychiatric subjects to psychiatry residents and medical students.  He constructed a Fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry based at Bedford and earned ACGME Accreditation of that Fellowship in 2000. He holds the position of Director of Geriatric Psychiatry in the Boston University Psychiatry Residency Program. He also constructed and directs a Fellowship in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder based at Bedford in conjunction with the Medical School and the Trauma Center in Boston.

Bedford was awarded a new substance abuse expansion program from Headquarters under his aegis in 2001.
 

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.