SYRACUSE -- There is a new person in charge at St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center. Kathryn Howe Ruscitto was appointed the hospital's 13th President and CEO, effective January 1, 2011.

Ruscitto has worked at St. Joseph's since 2001, serving as Senior Vice President for Strategic, Development and Governmental Affairs. She was named Executive Vice President in 2009. She spearheaded the hospital's involvement in the revitalization of the city's North side and was instrumental in leading the multi-million dollar renovation project that improved the Prospect Hill neighborhood.

She previously worked for Loretto as senior vice president of strategy, where she implemented the Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). In 1988, she was appointed the Administrator for Human Services for Onondaga County where she oversaw the development of the Emergency Communications Center (E911). She also helped reform the Department of Social Services and Children's Division, and helped develop a plan that aided in lowering the county's infant mortality rate.

Ruscitto received her Bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Le Moyne College, and a Master's degree in public administration from Syracuse University's Maxwell School.

"The Sisters of St. Francis are delighted to share in this announcement," said Sister Patricia Burkard, general minister of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities, the religious sponsor of St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center. "We have long known Kathryn Ruscitto and recognize her as someone competent in healthcare administration and aware of its present day challenges, while at the same time imbued with the mission of compassionate care begun by the Sisters of St. Francis in 1869."