Margaret "Denny" DeNarvaez has served as president and CEO of Wellmont Health System in Kingsport, Tenn., since August 2010.
Ms. DeNarvaez first got into healthcare after hearing about the field from her grandfather, who was a physician, and her mom, who was a nurse, she told Chuck Lauer in an interview posted on IDN Summit's website.
"I was good at math and business, so this was the way to take what I had always heard about at the dinner table and apply my strengths," she said.
As Wellmont Health's leader, Ms. DeNarvaez launched the Healing Environment initiative to improve patients' and visitors' experiences. The initiative focuses on healing patients physically, mentally and spiritually and involves the use of "shepherds," or specially trained caregivers, according to Wellmont's website.
Though she instituted the Healing Environment at Wellmont when she joined the system almost four years ago, Ms. DeNarvaez has been on a "healing environment" mission for roughly 15 years, she told Mr. Lauer.
Ms. DeNarvaez is a certified public accountant and has leadership certifications from the University of Michigan Business School in Ann Arbor and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.
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