ROCKPORT and BELFAST — MaineHealth Pen Bay and Waldo Hospitals have announced the addition of Meredith Jones; Brad Samojla, DPM, FACFAS; and Nir Harish, MD, to the Pen Bay-Waldo Community Board.

"Local boards are organized as committees of the MaineHealth Board and have an important role in our community, participating in quality oversight, oversight of local medical staffs, planning, budgeting and the hiring of key executives, local fundraising initiatives, among other duties," said MaineHealth.

Jones has lived in Belfast for the past 26 years and is the retired president and CEO of the Maine Community Foundation, a statewide public foundation with approximately $700 million in assets.

Under her leadership, assets more than doubled, and the foundation engaged in a number of special initiatives focused on strengthening social capital, increasing higher education attainment, promoting the civic engagement of baby boomers and supporting Maine’s growing population of people of color.

Before joining the foundation in 1999, Jones directed training programs for the Maine Health Care Association. She also worked for the Maine Development Foundation, where she co- created Leadership Maine, the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education, Educator-in-Residence program and the Maine Policy Leaders Academy.

Jones has worked as senior staff for Bob Woodbury’s gubernatorial primary campaign, served on Angus King’s gubernatorial transition team and staffed the Maine legislature’s Committee on Public Utilities.

Dr. Samojla moved to Maine in July 1994 and was in private practice from that July until the summer of 2008. From 2007 through the summer of 2008, he was on the active medical staff at Pen Bay Medical Center (now Pen Bay Hospital) and courtesy staff at Waldo County General Hospital (now Waldo Hospital), the former Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville and Northern Light Mercy Hospital in Portland.

He has served on numerous committees at Pen Bay and Waldo Hospital and is currently on the Maine Board of Podiatric Medicine. He has also served in other capacities including as president of the faculty senate, where he was a non-voting member of the board of trustees, served as a member of the Maine Foot and Ankle Society as vice president for 10 years and president as three years, the state’s delegate to the American Podiatric Medical Association and to the National Podiatric Political Action Committee.

Dr. Samojla currently resides in Winterport and has raised two children in the Midcoast. In his spare time, he enjoys running, snowboarding, fly fishing, painting and woodworking and surfing when the conditions are right.

Dr. Harish is currently an attending physician in Emergency Medicine at Pen Bay Hospital and has been at the hospital since 2016. Prior to that, he was an attending physician in Emergency Medicine for two years at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Conn.

He is currently a member on the Advisory Committee for the Roux Institute Future of Healthcare Founders Residency, vice chair of the MaineHealth Medical Group Strategy and Growth Committee and co-lead of the MaineHealth Coastal Innovation Space. In the past, he has been on numerous other committees including the Pen Bay Hospital Value Oversight Committee, MaineHealth Clinical Advisory Council, MaineHealth ACO Physician Engagement and Alignment Committee, the AMH Health Provider Advisory Councial and more.

He earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston and holds a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School, a Master of Health Science from Yale University School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Arts in biology and international studies from Yale University.

MaineHealth is a not-for-profit, integrated health system whose vision is, “Working together so our communities are the healthiest in America,” and is committed to a mission of providing high-quality affordable care, educating tomorrow's caregivers and researching better ways to provide care. MaineHealth includes a Level 1 trauma medical center, eight additional licensed hospitals, comprehensive pediatric care services, an extensive behavioral health care network, diagnostic services as well as home health, hospice and senior care services. With more than 2,000 employed providers and approximately 23,000 care team members, MaineHealth provides preventive care, diagnosis and treatment to 1.1 million residents in Maine and New Hampshire. MaineHealth hospitals include MaineHealth Behavioral Health at Spring Harbor in Westbrook, MaineHealth Franklin Hospital in Farmington, MaineHealth Lincoln Hospital in Damariscotta, MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland, Biddeford and Sanford, MaineHealth Memorial Hospital in North Conway, N.H., MaineHealth Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport, MaineHealth Stephens Hospital in Norway and MaineHealth Waldo Hospital in Belfast. MaineHealth also includes the MaineHealth Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital in Portland, MaineHealth Behavioral Health in Westbrook, MaineHealth Home Health and Hospice in Saco, the MaineHealth Institute for Research in Scarborough, the MaineHealth Medical Group and MaineHealth NorDx in Scarborough. MaineHealth affiliates include Maine General Health in Augusta and Waterville and St. Mary's Health System in Lewiston. It is also a significant stakeholder in the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization in Portland and a joint venture partner in the New England Rehabilitation Hospital in Portland.