About Us

Leadership Team

Rocklon B. “Rocky” Chapin is administrator and chief operating officer of SMDC Medical Center. He also serves as Executive Vice President of SMDC Health System’s Hospital Division, overseeing four hospitals: SMDC Medical Center in Duluth, St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, St. Mary’s Hospital of Superior, and Pine Medical Center in Sandstone. Chapin came to SMDC in 2005 from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of St. Luke's Methodist Hospital. He also spent a significant part of his career at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, where he served in a number of administrative capacities. He has more than 30 years of experience in hospital operations, planning, and program development, as well as special expertise in mental health programming, ambulatory surgery centers, service quality improvement, and operations improvement. You can email him: rchapin@smdc.org.
 
Thomas G. Patnoe, MD, serves as Chief Medical Officer for SMDC Medical Center. Dr. Patnoe became president of SMDC Health System on January 1, 2009, and became president of the Duluth Clinic on July 1, 2007. He joined the clinic, which employs more than 400 physicians in 55 specialties and subspecialties, as an orthopaedic surgeon in 1989. Dr. Patnoe has served in a number of leadership roles, including Section Chair, Associate Chief of Surgery and Director of the Bone, Joint and Spine Program. An honors graduate of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he received his MD degree Magna cum Laude from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic. You can email him: tpatnoe@smdc.org
 
Michael C. Metcalf is Executive Vice President of Ambulatory Services. He also serves as Executive Vice President of the Duluth Clinic and Dr. Thomas Patnoe’s partner in administrative management. Before rejoining Duluth Clinic in 2006, Metcalf was Chief Operating Officer for Ministry Medical Group and Western Division Administrator for the Marshfield Clinic. He served as the Duluth Clinic’s Director of Regional Operations from 1995 to 1997. Metcalf earned a bachelor’s degree in business education from the University of Wisconsin-Superior in 1981 and a master’s degree in business administration from Lake Superior State University in 1993. You can email him: mmetcalf@smdc.org.
 
Terri Ruberg is Vice President of Patient Care Operations. She also serves as Vice President of Patient Care Operations for St. Mary’s Medical Center. Ruberg joined St. Mary’s Medical Center in 1983 as a staff nurse in Neurology and later served as a head nurse and nurse manager. In 1997, she became Nurse Director for acute and ambulatory services in Neurosciences, Orthopaedics and Trauma. Ruberg went on to become Director of NMS Clinics and Director of Clinic Operations for the surgical sections before being named a vice president in 2006. Ruberg earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the College of St. Scholastica in 1983 and a master’s degree in management and business from Scholastica in 2002. You can email her: truberg@smdc.org.
 


BOARD MEMBERS

Rocklon B. "Rocky" Chapin
Chair

Mathew J. Eckman, MD
Secretary/Treasurer

Thomas G. Patnoe, MD
Chief Medical Officer

Barb R. Wessberg
Director of
Rehabilitation Services

Tim J. Egan, MD
Division Chair
Behavioral Health

Michael C. Metcalf
Executive Vice President
Clinic Division

Patricia Burns
President
Miller-Dwan Foundation

502 E. 2nd Street, Duluth, MN 55805 | 218-727-8762