MediTelecare Executive Team
Our leadership team has an exceptional track record within the behavioral healthcare industry. However, they each also encompass qualities that matter to us: compassion for the patients we treat, commitment to delivering evidenced based medicine via the most current technology, and consistency in representing our mission, services, and customer support. Each member of our executive team contributes to the success and growth of MediTelecare, ensuring that we embody the high standards we expect of ourselves, and that we change the life of each patient who we treat.
Ed Mercadante, BSPharm, R.Ph., D.Sc.(Hon)
Chief Executive Officer
Through his experiences in delivering premier behavioral health services to over 1500 long term care facilities he recognized that there was significant shortage of quality care in rurally situated facilities. He founded MediTelecare to improve access to world class clinical services and to introduce new mobile telemedicine technologies to patients in these facilities.
Ed’s management focus is customer and patient centered. He believes that what MediTelecare does for its patients is relevant to their overall quality of life and MediTelecare should always be striving to improve, whether in its clinical services or technologies to create better patient outcomes.
Blake Searight
Chief Financial Officer
Prior to joining MediTelecare, Blake was a Vice President at Donnelly Penman & Partners (“DPP”), an investment banking firm focused on merger and acquisition transactions, valuations, and financial advisory services. Prior to DPP, Blake was an Analyst at Wolverine Capital Partners, a private investment company. Blake has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. degree in Economics and Political Science.
Randy DioGuardi
Executive Vice President of Operations
Mr. DioGuardi stands at the forefront of the fastest moving health care technology trend: Telehealth Services. Throughout his tenure Randy has built a reputation for developing cutting edge business strategies, incubating new clinical models, and building out telehealth specific programs. He joined Medoptions in 2015 to help integrate a successful telehealth model for Skilled and Assisted living facilities. Prior to that he has spent 6 years working within the federal government as a health systems specialist as a leader in the use of telemedicine and other telehealth strategies to improve the quality of veteran patient care.
After enormous industry growth and successful spinoff off Medoptions Connect to form Meditelecare Randy will help Meditelecare to set an industry standard of care.
Randy holds a MBA and bachelors degree in Management. He is also a veteran of the United States Air Force. Away from the office, Randy enjoys running, sailing, downhill skiing and spending time with his family.
Sherri Perry, MS, APRN, FNP-BC
Chief Nursing Officer
Sherri Perry serves as Chief Nursing Officer with Meditelecare. She is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with extensive psychiatric experience. She received her Bachelor of Science in nursing at Plymouth State University in NH and her master’s degree from Chamberlain College of Nursing in IL. Sherri has always appreciated working with the geriatric population and has focused much of her career on helping to improve the quality of life to those in long term care. Her clinical history includes in-patient geriatric psych and geriatric med-surg at Lakes Region General Hospital in NH as well as many years’ experience in long term care facilities.
Sherri started as a clinician with MedOptions Behavioral Health in June of 2016 and transferred to tele-health with MedOptions Connect, which would become Meditelecare in the fall of 2017. She strongly shares the company’s vision of providing quality psychiatric care to residents in rural LTC facilities who otherwise would not have it.
Sherri assists the clinical team in continued development of skills needed to stay experts in our field. She provides a supportive work environment with mutual respect and collaboration thus leading the team in achieving the best care possible for our patients.
Sherri served in the United States Coast Guard search and rescue team out of Newport Rhode Island. She is originally from Tampa, Florida, spent 35 years living in the Lakes Region of NH and moved to Ocala Florida in August 2017 with her husband, daughter and 2 Labradors.
She enjoys Cross-Fit, walking her dogs, enjoying the Florida sun and beaches, and spending time with her family.
Dr. Sherie Friedrich
Chief Psychology Officer
Dr. Friedrich completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire and received her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University. Her dissertation explored the topic of character formation, specific to the mother and infant child relationship. She completed an APA internship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NYC, working with adult patients on a long-term secure psychiatric unit. Additional training experiences include a formal Postdoctoral Fellowship at Seacoast Mental Health Center and a one-year advanced Psychotherapy Fellowship at Boston Psychoanalytic Institute. Her past work experiences have been in psychiatric hospitals, community mental health settings, and in private and group practice.
She has also worked as a psychological consultant conducting comprehensive evaluations for state and private institutions. Dr. Friedrich has a special interest in lifespan development and prior to joining the MedOptions team she was the Clinical Director at a child and family practice. She joined MedOptions nearly three years ago, starting as a consulting psychologist. Over the past year Dr. Friedrich has worked in the capacity of Clinical Director at MediTelecare, focusing on the growth and development of the Department of Psychology. Her clinical interests include ethics, the psychological implications of trauma, personality formation, group dynamics, and lifespan development. In her work she enjoys developing and fostering meaningful relationships both with her patients as well as with the facilities she serves.
She lives at home in NH with her husband Jesse and their two sons Julian and Quinn and a giant Great Dane. In her free time she loves camping, gardening, and baking.
Dr. Jessica Badichek PharmD
Director of Drug information and Compliance Director
Dr. Badichek completed her undergraduate studies at Fairfield University in CT and her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Sciences in Philadelphia. She has previously worked at Bryn Mawr Hospital in the greater Philadelphia area, ComprecareRx Pharmacy working with Opioid Use Disorder Patients and Arrow/Partners Long Term Care Pharmacy working with hospice and senior patients. She has significant experience and knowledge in all aspects of psycho-pharmacology and the use of psychotropic agents in geriatric populations.
She authored our comprehensive drug formulary and has been involved in creating Key Performance Reports for clinical prescribing and antipsychotic gradual dose reduction in SNF’s. She lives in Farmington CT with her husband Derek and their 2 cats.