This year has put nursing leaders to the test as they have worked to set up makeshift COVID-19 units, secure personal protective equipment for their teams and provide emotional support during some of the hardest moments of many nurses' careers.
Below are brief biographies of the chief nursing officers at the hospitals that took the top 15 spots in U.S. News & World Report's 2020-21 best hospital rankings.
1. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.): Ryannon Frederick first joined Mayo Clinic as a nurse in 2000 and has since held various leadership roles as a nurse educator, manager and administrator. She became CNO of Mayo Clinic in October 2019 after serving as CNO of Mayo Clinic in Florida since 2016.
2. Cleveland Clinic: Meredith Foxx, MSN, became executive chief nursing officer of Cleveland Clinic's Stanley Shalom Zielony Institute for Nursing Excellence in October, after filling the role on an interim basis since June. She oversees the practice and education of more than 28,000 nurse caregivers at Cleveland Clinic.
3. The Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore): Deborah Baker, DNP, has served as vice president of nursing and patient care services at Johns Hopkins Hospital since 2015 and became Johns Hopkins Medicine's first senior vice president for nursing in 2016. Dr. Baker earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and first joined Johns Hopkins Hospital as a clinical nurse in 1992.
4. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell: Wilhelmina Manzano, RN, serves as senior vice president, chief nursing executive and chief quality officer at New York Presbyterian. Ms. Manzano has held numerous leadership roles since joining the system in 1998, including COO of NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital from 2006 to 2013.
5. UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles): Karen A. Grimley, PhD, RN, serves as chief nursing executive of UCLA Health and vice dean in the UCLA School of Nursing. She previously was CNO of UC Irvine (Calif.) Medical Center.
6. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston): Debbie Burke, DNP, RN, serves as senior vice president of patient care and chief nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she oversees a team of 5,600 nurses, health professionals and support personnel. Before her current role, Dr. Burke was associate chief nurse for women and children, mental health, cancer center and community health nursing practice at the hospital.
7. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): David Marshall, DNP, RN, became senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Cedars-Sinai in 2019. Before joining the system, Dr. Marshall spent 36 years at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where he most recently served as system chief nursing and patient care services executive.
8. UCSF Medical Center (San Francisco): Pat Patton, MSN, RN, serves as chief nurse executive, chief nursing officer for adult services and vice president for patient care services at UCSF Health. Mr. Patton most recently served as CNO of UC Irvine Health and, before that, spent 16 years in various leadership positions at Englewood, Colo.-based Catholic Health Initiatives.
9. NYU Langone Health (New York City): Debra Albert, DNP, RN, is senior vice president for patient care services and CNO at NYU Langone Health. Before joining the system in April, she was senior vice president of patient care services and CNO at UChicago Medicine.
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago): Kristin Ramsey, MSN, RN, is senior vice president of operations and Wood-Prince family chief nurse executive at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Ms. Ramsey has been part of Northwestern's senior leadership team since 2003, holding various roles, including vice president of surgical services.
11. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor): Nancy May, DNP, RN, was appointed chief nurse executive of Michigan Medicine in 2019, previously serving as CNO of the University of Michigan Medical Group for four years. Before coming to Michigan Medicine, Dr. May held various leadership positions at Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health and at Cleveland Clinic.
12. Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston): Madelyn Pearson, DNP, RN, serves as CNO and senior vice president of clinical services at Brigham Health. Dr. Pearson joined the system in 2017, previously serving as regional senior vice president of patient care services and CNO of Mount Sinai Health System's downtown campus in New York City.
13. Stanford Health Care-Stanford Hospital (Palo Alto, Calif.): Dale Beatty, DNP, RN, has served as the CNO and vice president of patient care services at Stanford Health Care since 2017. His past leadership roles include serving as CNO of University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences Systems in Chicago; CNO and vice president of patient care services at San Diego-based Sharp Grossmont Hospital; and chief nurse executive and vice president of patient care services at St. Francis Hospital and Health Center in Blue Island, Ill.
14. Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City): Fran Cartwright, PhD, RN, became CNO and senior vice president at Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai Queens in 2016, having previously served as vice president of oncology nursing and clinical quality for two years. Dr. Cartwright first joined Mount Sinai in 2001, serving as director of the system's Oncology Care Center and returned to the system in 2014 after tenures at the Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., and NYU Langone Health in New York City.
15. Penn Presbyterian Medical Center (Philadelphia): James Ballinghoff, MSN, RN, became CNO and associate executive director of Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in 2012, having previously served as director of critical care and cardiology for three years.
Editor's note: This article was updated Jan. 15 at 3:30 p.m. CST.