Alton Memorial Hospital President Shares Plans for Retirement

Following 46 years of exceptional service, Dave Braasch, president of Alton Memorial Hospital and BJC’s senior pharmacy executive, will retire at the end of 2026.

During his 20-year tenure as president, Braasch has played an instrumental role in Alton Memorial Hospital’s growth. In 2010, the hospital opened the new Duncan Wing, a major bed tower expansion, which houses 76 state-of-the-art private rooms and six observation rooms as well as spacious new lobby, patient registration, pharmacy, laboratory and medical imaging. The hospital has continued to grow and flourish with new physician office building expansions in 2013 and 2017.  

Braasch also led the development of the Alton Memorial Cancer Care Center, expansion and renovation of the Heart & Vascular Center, and implementation of the Human Motion Institute. In 2019, Braasch helped establish the hospital’s affiliation with Siteman Cancer Center, which has positioned Alton Memorial as a local leader in advanced cancer prevention and treatment. And in 2021, the Family Medicine Residency Program was started in partnership with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. The physician training program includes 18 residents and continues to bring more access to primary care in the greater Illinois Metro-East community.  

Since 2018, Braasch has also served as BJC’s senior pharmacy executive, providing oversight for East Region hospital pharmacies, 15 retail pharmacies, specialty pharmacy, home infusion, and central mail-order pharmacy operations. He has guided Pharmacy Services toward a more integrated academic health system model by centralizing and streamlining the organization. Braasch originally began his career at Alton Memorial as a staff pharmacist, eventually becoming regional director of pharmacy for Christian Hospital and Alton Memorial.