BERKELEY, Calif., July 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of LifeLong Medical Care announced the selection of Ms. Cecilia Aviles, MBA, BSN, RN, as its new Chief Executive Officer. Her start date is August 5th.
In a letter to LifeLong staff announcing the news, Board Chair John L. Jenkins said, “Cecilia combines strategic and operational expertise with empathy and passion. She has a record of boldly reimagining the ways in which health systems operate to make better health even more accessible. The Board looks forward to collaborating with her to continue providing high quality healthcare to our community.”
Current CEO David B. Vliet announced his retirement from the position last year in order to pursue a long-held dream of establishing a nonprofit mobile health and tropical medicine outreach in Guatemala.
Aviles has worked for more than 20 years transforming healthcare operations and clinical services. Over the last decade she held a variety of operational roles with Sutter Health, a multi-state, integrated health system with 24 acute care hospitals and 200+ clinics in urban and rural communities.
Since 2018 she served as Operations Executive for Sutter Health Bay Area Medical Foundation/Palo Alto Medical Foundation. Overseeing the system’s largest ambulatory division serving 350,000 patients, she led 2,400+ staff and 750+ clinicians through organizational transformations including rollouts of new services and shifts in healthcare delivery models. Her achievements include integrating five newly acquired specialty care centers into the organization and developing the program that produced the highest possible patient experience scores, steering Sutter Health to two Integrated Health Care Association awards.
Aviles is thrilled to be joining LifeLong Medical Care. “Leading an organization with such a rich legacy of service is a profound honor, and I am inspired by the shared values and commitment to excellence that define LifeLong’s team. Starting my healthcare journey as a trauma nurse taught me that patients are our ‘why.’ As I transitioned into leadership roles to improve patient experience, access to care and operations, patients’ needs remained my guiding principle,” she said. She plans to meet employees in the places where LifeLong delivers care -- its health centers, mobile vans and supportive housing sites -- in her first 90 days.
Prior to joining Sutter Health, Aviles developed a high-performing cardiovascular service at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. Previously, she served in administrative roles at Kaiser Permanente’s Medical Group in Oakland, Richmond and Redwood City. With Kaiser she ultimately led 600+ staff in all clinical and non-clinical departments from primary care and medical/surgical to technology. Her early career experiences as a registered nurse were in the emergency room, operating room and trauma intensive care unit.
A native San Franciscan and fluent Spanish speaker, Ms. Aviles earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from San Francisco State University and her Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
ABOUT-- Established in 1976, LifeLong Medical Care (https://lifelongmedical.org) is a non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) providing medical, dental, mental health and urgent care to underserved communities in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties in San Francisco’s East Bay region.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f511bb83-c9df-449d-a6c1-bc7363a2f635
