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Moves Across Methodist
METHODIST HOSPITAL | METROPOLITAN WELCOMED A NEW CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant welcomed new Chief Medical Officer, Koji Nishimura, MD As CMO, he partners with physicians, nurses, administrators, and staff members on quality, safety, health, and excellence initiatives. In addition, he serves as the liaison between the medical staff and the hospital. Prior to joining the Methodist Healthcare System, Dr. Nishimura worked for the Defense Health Agency, where he developed policies and programs to standardize care across the Military Health System worldwide. He also served our country in the United States Army for 34 years as an engineer and medical corps officer. Dr. Nishimura is board certified in Family Medicine and Sports Medicine. He has extensive experience in clinical, administrative, and leadership roles with the U.S. Army, Veterans Health Administration, Department of Defense, and a for-profit medical center, including many CEO and CMO roles.
Methodist Hospital | Metropolitan welcomed Dr. Suraj Maraj as their new Chief Medical Officer in May, after he served in the same role at Methodist Hospital | Texsan. With a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in Healthcare, Dr. Maraj has over 11 years of experience in healthcare. At the beginning of his career, Dr. Maraj worked at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center as the Clinical Cardiologist and Director of the NonInvasive Cardiovascular Department. He then served at the Valley Coastal VA as Clinical Cardiologist and Cardiology Section Chief. Before joining Methodist Healthcare, he worked as the Physician Advisor and Manager at R1 (Accretive Health). While at Methodist Hospital | Texsan, Dr. Maraj partnered with clinical staff to help set up a Heart Team process for reviewing potential cardiovascular surgical procedures. This resulted in the hospital earning the highest 3-star rating in 2021 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons for quality outcomes in coronary artery bypass surgery. His focus on quality outcomes and a multidisciplinary team approach resulted in consistently low morbidity and complication rates. Additionally, Dr. Maraj was key in creating hospital infection control processes when Methodist Hospital | Texsan received the first COVID-19 patient in Texas in 2020, and he led continual quality and safety improvement, leading the hospital to five consecutive Grade A safety ratings for patient safety and quality.
Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak announced the return of Dave Allen to Methodist Healthcare as Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak’s new Chief Nursing Officer. Dave most recently served as the Vice President of Clinical Leadership for the HCA enterprise where he successfully collaborated on the development of a robust retention strategy focused on RN and nurse support staff retention. He also created a CNO Council charged with the implementation and execution of HCA’s nursing strategy, as well as developed an executive rounding guide targeted at non-clinical executive leaders.
Prior to serving at HCA’s corporate headquarters, Dave held several positions within Methodist Healthcare including Chief Nursing Officer and Associate Vice President of Clinical Operations at Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant. There, he spearheaded a cultural transformation that led to ten consecutive quarters above the 75th percentile for patient experience with a three-year average of 83%, as well as earning the coveted Pathways to Excellence designation by AACN. With 20 years of healthcare experience, Dave successfully developed evidence-based solutions that improved clinical and system outcomes as noted by a 86% decrease in CLABSI, 92% decrease in CAUTI, 88% decrease in C-Diff and a 30% decrease in falls. He has numerous publications along with local, state and national presentations on leadership and evidence-based practice initiatives.
Methodist Hospital | Texsan welcomes new Chief Nursing Officer, Tonja Thigpen, MSN, CCNS, CCRN-K, NEA-BC. Tonja most recently served as Chief Nursing Officer at Methodist Hospital | Atascosa. Tonja has held several other leadership roles throughout her career, including Administrative Director of Nursing Operations and Practice at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Virginia. During her time at Methodist Hospital | Atascosa, Tonja helped lead through the last major COVID-19 surge, while continuing to aid in the achievement of high employee engagement and patient satisfaction scores. Having served as a Nursing Director over several departments including, Critical Care, Emergency Department, Trauma and Adult Care Services, Tonja brings extensive experience to the hospital. Tonja holds a BSN from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MSN from Liberty University and earned her Doctorate degree from Virginia University of Lynchburg. She has also completed the AONE Nurse Director Fellowship Program in 2016 and is a board-certified Critical Care Nurse Specialist certified in Critical Care Nursing and Nursing Administration. Tonja has a proven track record of fostering a culture of ownership through accountability, respect, innovation, and shared governance. Tonja also served in the United States Army for nine years. Under Tonja’s leadership, Methodist Hospital | Texsan will continue to provide exceptional care to the community while growing to meet the needs of the patients and families in our community.
