Chief Operating Officer/Vice President for Care Innovation

Mary Blackburn brings more than 30 years of healthcare management experience to her roles as Chief Operating Officer at Hugh Chatham Health in Elkin, NC. HCH is an independent, 81 bed hospital with 26 physician practices and a large home health agency. Since joining HCH in 2007, she has held several positions, including Chief Practice Officer, VP for Growth and Market Development, Chief Clinical Officer and Acting CEO.

Mary has been at the forefront of HCH’s focus on sustainability through innovation, responsible for clinical services, provider recruitment, regulatory compliance and risk management, and strategic planning initiatives focused on growth and care transformation. This has included population health strategies such as partnering for care with local employers, establishing new access points for unscheduled care, and joining a multi-state accountable care organization.  HCH has forged various shared-services and programmatic partnerships including a joint venture with a tertiary partner to own and operate a critical access hospital.

A respected thinker and influencer in the field, Mary serves on numerous boards and currently is the board chair for the CHESS Value ACO and for the Strategic Partners Board of the North Carolina Healthcare Association.

Mary has extensive experience as a licensed emergency nurse.  As a U.S. Army Captain, she held leadership and clinical instructor roles at Fort Sam Houston, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; and at Eisenhower Army Medical Center.  Mary is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Georgetown University and a Master of Science in Nursing from Duke University.  When not working, Mary is an avid reader, she is active in the community, and enjoys time with her husband and five children.

Brianna Hitchner was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She completed her undergraduate degree in Exercise Physiology at the University of Delaware and returned to Philadelphia for medical school at The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. As the daughter of a carpenter, she was specifically drawn to the hands-on component of Osteopathic Medicine and knew that she would like to incorporate it into her practice one day.

Brianna completed her residency at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, NC. During residency, she had a focus on women’s health, maternity care, and Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT). While in Wilmington, she also worked at a local Federally Qualified Health Center and a Hospice Care Center.

Shortly after residency, Brianna moved to New Mexico to work with the Indian Health Service. There she provided inpatient, outpatient and obstetric care. As with Family Medicine physicians across the country, during the COVID pandemic, she served the Navajo Nation in a wide variety of roles. She provided care on COVID wards, developed a low acuity respiratory ER, and developed a COVID car clinic that served hundreds of patients per day. Although a very difficult time in medicine, she is proud of the care that she provided and cherishes the patients and colleagues that she met during that time.

In 2022, Brianna moved back across the country to North Carolina. Alongside, Dr. Meg Arboleda, she has helped to build a practice that is providing newborn through geriatric care, including obstetric care.

Her hobbies include spending time with her husband and 2 young children, hiking, gardening, and anything outdoors. Her medical interests include multigenerational care, Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT), nutrition, and Lifestyle medicine. She truly believes that sitting side by side with a patient and holding space for their story can often be more healing than medication. She finds that this is the most rewarding part of the practice of medicine.

Program Director, Family Medicine Residency

Mary-Emma Beres is the Medical Director of Primary Care at Hugh Chatham Health and the founding Program Director of the Hugh Chatham Health Family Medicine Residency Program. Originally planning on pursuing a Med/Peds and Hem/Onc career upon entering medical school at the University of North Carolina, Mary-Emma followed her heart partway through the residency application season and transitioned to family medicine. The stories of families, coupled with the “womb to tomb” philosophy of care and the opportunity to serve underserved communities, solidified her passion for family medicine.

Mary-Emma completed her residency at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Family and Community Medicine. Her continuity clinic was based in an urban community health center serving the Latinx and Tohono O’odham communities. She further honed her skills and cultural understanding by electing to study Spanish in Guatemala, fostering a deep appreciation for the Spanish language and Central American culture.

Post-residency, Mary-Emma pursued a surgical obstetrics fellowship at the University of Rochester, after which she practiced in Health Provider Shortage Areas in Southwestern Virginia and Northwestern North Carolina. In this capacity, she founded the Farmworker Health Program in Alleghany and Ashe County, NC, where she provided evening clinics and vaccines to some of the hardest working individuals she had ever encountered.

Throughout her career, Mary-Emma has been dedicated to full spectrum family medicine, including inpatient care, hospitalist medicine in a Critical Care Access Hospital, nursing home care, and home visits in Independence, VA. In addition to her medical practice, she found time to coach soccer, play music, and raise three children with her husband.

Joining Hugh Chatham Health in 2017, Mary-Emma has contributed significantly to Medical Informatics, Electronic Health Record improvement and selection, adult vaccine standards of care, adolescent care, child/adolescent psychiatric care, and the education of healthcare professionals. She remains deeply committed to providing comprehensive care to families spanning multiple generations, to immigrant families, and to anyone seeking care, embodying the ethos of “whatever comes through the door.”