MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN:
Dear Colleagues,
I am very pleased to announce that Johnese Spisso has been named clinical operations officer (COO) for UW Medicine and vice president for medical affairs (VPMA) for the University of Washington, effective July 1. This new COO/VPMA position was created to provide greater clinical and operational coordination among the clinical components of the UW Medicine system - the medical centers, clinics, and clinically active faculty. The UW Medicine system includes Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medical Center, UW Medicine Neighborhood Clinics, UW Physicians practice plan, and the UW School of Medicine.
In her new role as COO/VPMA, Johnese will provide executive leadership that supports the vision, mission, and values of UW Medicine while fostering effective and efficient UW Medicine clinical program operations, growth, and development. She will be responsible for optimizing the operational effectiveness of the various UW Medicine clinical units, while balancing efficiency, quality, safety, cost, and access. She will also serve as chair of the UW Physicians Network (UWPN) Board, the Airlift Northwest Board and UW Medicine Human Resources Steering Committee. In addition, she will work with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Children's University Medical Group. Johnese will report directly to me in my position as CEO for UW Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs for the University of Washington.
Since David Jaffe decided recently to retire from his position as executive director of Harborview Medical Center (HMC) effective this past Monday, Johnese is serving currently as interim executive director of HMC. Johnese and I will work with the Harborview Board over the next several weeks to develop an effective transition plan for the leadership of HMC as she begins to assume the responsibilities of the COO/VPMA position in July. One of the first steps will be to establish a search committee to identify candidates to serve as executive director. The outstanding and experienced leadership team at HMC is committed to the mission of the medical center and is confident that HMC will move forward in a seamless transition.
Johnese has been at HMC for 14 years and since May of 2000 has served as Harborview's chief operating officer. In that position she oversees all inpatient hospital departments, outpatient clinics, and support service operations; human resources and personnel management; process improvement, patient relations, capital projects, regulatory affairs, and strategic planning. She joined Harborview in January 1994 as the assistant administrator for patient care services, overseeing critical care, burns, emergency medicine, operating rooms, post-anesthesia care and ambulatory surgery. In November 1996 she was promoted to the position of chief nursing officer and associate administrator for patient care services at Harborview. She also holds a clinical faculty appointment in the UW School of Nursing.
Johnese spent 12 years at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento prior to coming to Harborview. While at the UC Davis Medical Center, she was steadily promoted to positions with increasing levels of leadership and organizational responsibilities. She began her career as a critical care nurse at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Johnese holds a master's degree in health administration/public health from the University of San Francisco, as well as a bachelor's degree in health sciences from Chapman College in Orange, Calif. She completed her training as a registered nurse at St. Francis School of Nursing, New Castle, Pa.
Johnese has a number of state and local government appointments including the Governor's Steering Committee on Trauma and EMS Cost TAC, the Washington State Central Region Hospital Trauma Advisory Council, Washington State Central Region EMS and Trauma Quality Improvement Committee, and she is chair of the Seattle King County Healthcare Coalition for Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness. She serves on a number of community boards, including the YMCA, American Heart Association, and Youthcare. She has served on a national basis as a site reviewer for trauma systems and has lectured and published extensively.
In 2006, Johnese was named one of the 20 most influential women in business in Washington state by the Puget Sound Business Journal. She is married to Dr. Ross Hartling. They have a daughter, Veronica, age 10.
I look forward to working with Johnese as she begins this important new administrative position in the leadership of UW Medicine. Please join me in welcoming her to this new role.
Sincerely,
Paul G. Ramsey
CEO, UW Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and
Dean of the School of Medicine,
University of Washington