NEWMARKET — Lamprey Health Care has welcomed Gregory White as its next chief executive officer.<br /><br />White comes to Lamprey Health Care after an intensive search process to find a successor for CEO Ann Peters, who recently retired after three decades with the organization.<br /><br />He began his new position Oct. 15.<br /><br />"I've been here just 34 days," he said last Wednesday in his Newmarket office. "Ann was here 34 years."<br /><br />However, White brings more than two decades of experience with community health centers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.<br /><br />In his last position, White was chief financial officer for the Lowell Community Health Center, in Lowell, Mass. Previously, he served as the chief financial officer of Manchester Community Health Center.<br /><br />He will oversee Lamprey's three centers in Newmarket, Raymond and Nashua.<br /><br />"I look forward to meeting with members of each community and getting to know their needs and how we can meet them," White said. "I want to advocate for our patients and staff alike."<br /><br />White said it's always a challenge to balance the budget for a health center while meeting its mission to serve the community with access to quality care.<br /><br />"We have about 16,500 patients and a quarter of them are uninsured," White said. "The numbers are higher in Nashua."<br /><br />It is also not clear how many patients will be eligible for the ACA marketplace for health insurance.<br /><br />White said substance abuse and behavioral health issues are seen in patients across the three locations, although those needs are higher in Nashua. He would like to see behavioral health being offered in all the health centers.<br /><br />"We could integrate care for the patient and have it all in the same location," he said.<br /><br />Lamprey follows the "medical home" model of health care. On a basic level, a medical home is the primary place patients go for health care services. In 2008, the Citizens Health Initiative chose Lamprey to be one of nine pilot medical home sites in the state. The medical home model focuses on three core principles — continuous care, comprehensive care and coordinated care.<br /><br />White has been involved in numerous nonprofit agencies in the southern New Hampshire, including serving as board treasurer for The Way Home in Manchester and as a volunteer EMT and staff officer with the Milford Ambulance Service.<br /><br />He is also a certified public accountant and attended Babson College, where he received a bachelor of science degree in accounting.<br /><br />White is a lifelong resident of Milford, where he resides with his wife, Michelle, and their two teenage children