POTSDAM -- St. Lawrence Health System recently hired Jan S. Close as medical director of physician practice management at Canton-Potsdam Hospital. Close will lead and guide CPH and Gouverneur Hospital physicians, physician assistants, nurse midwifes and nurse practitioners.

He will also have a leading role in recruitment and credentialing of new practitioners. He will work in collaboration with Robert Rogers II, medical director for CPH.

Close, an emergency medicine physician, received his medical degree from Albany Medical College and completed his internal medicine residency at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury, Conn. He also completed a certificate course in medical management from the American College of Physician Executives, and followed that with a master of medical management degree at Tulane University in New Orleans, La.

After completing his residency in internal medicine, Close began his career in the North Country in 1982, establishing an internal medicine practice in Norwood. In 1992, he transitioned to the emergency department at CPH and became the director of emergency services, a position he held for 15 years. He was also regional medical director for Team Health during that time and oversaw six North Country hospital emergency departments for that emergency services group. He was instrumental in developing practice guidelines for the emergency department and inpatient care at CPH, St. Lawrence Health Systems said.

Close has served as chief of medical staff at Canton-Potsdam Hospital, chief medical officer at Alice Hyde Medical Center, and at times has served as the chair of the departments of emergency medicine at Massena Memorial Hospital and CPH. He has served as college physician for Clarkson University in Potsdam.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Close is a artist who was recognized with an honorable mention in the 22nd and 23rd Annual Northeastern Woodworkers Association’s Fine Woodworking Show, and who shows and sells his work throughout the Northeast region, SLHS said.