St. Luke’s Miners Campus has a new president, as Bill Moyer leaves to become the president of the health network’s Allentown Campus.

Wendy Lazo took her new position as president on Friday, Dec. 15.

Lazo has been employed by St. Luke’s since 2000. She started as a part-time employee while an undergraduate at DeSales University, and worked her way up to become the network’s vice president of operations.

St. Luke’s officials said that prior to taking the top job at Miners, Lazo already played an instrumental role in the hospital’s leadership. She helped oversee the Miners’ lung and gastrointestinal specialists.

“I have worked with Wendy in various capacities over the years, and couldn’t think of a better leader to take the Miners Campus to the next level,” Bill Moyer said.

Moyer is leaving for Allentown after seven years as the head of the Miners Campus. The former Allentown Campus president, Frank Ford, is in turn taking a new position that includes overseeing the integration of Palmerton and Gnaden Huetten Hospitals into the St. Luke’s network.

Moyer’s time at Miners campus has been marked by a number of improvements.

He is credited for turning the hospital around financially, moving from an operating loss to an 18 percent operating margin, according to St. Luke’s.

Miners Campus was also recognized as 2017 Business of the Year by the Carbon County Chamber.

The hospital received accreditation as a Level IV trauma center, the first in the state. They expanded and modernized the emergency room, a project that is still ongoing. They added a 3-D mammogram machine and opened a new 28-bed unit, called a universal care suite, with private, modern rooms.

The hospital also demolished the nurses’ residence, which while being considered historic by some Coaldale residents, had sat vacant for 40 years. At the time, Moyer said salvaging the building would not be financially feasible, and the hospital needed to focus on patient care.

Moyer, who was born in Lehighton, has expressed pride in having ties to Miners and Coaldale. His father was born at what was then Miners Memorial Hospital, and his mother grew up a few blocks away.