“I’m so pleased to welcome Debbie back to the board of directors,” said Lori J. Morgan, MD, MBA, president and CEO, Huntington Hospital. “Debbie is an experienced healthcare professional and a leader in our community. I look forward to her valuable perspective as we begin a new year.”
A retired Kaiser Permanente administrator with more than 33 years’ experience in the field of healthcare, Debbie is sharing her knowledge and talents on Huntington Hospital’s board of directors once again (her previous term was from 2016-2018). “When I think of the lack of other healthcare resources in our community and the tremendous need for Huntington Hospital’s services, I feel compelled to serve,” she says.
At Kaiser Permanente, Debbie worked with programmers to implement that organization’s first operating system for admissions, discharges and transfers. She had a leadership role in the system’s region-wide rollout and helped coordinate implementation thereafter.
Her subsequent career included leadership positions at various Southern California Kaiser hospitals and within Kaiser’s health plan. She rose to the position of Practice Leader for Governance Support of Information Technology Systems — managing a team of business consultants who supported governance of the health plan’s information-technology systems — before retiring in 2011.
Debbie received her bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing sciences from Michigan State University and her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California.
Debbie lives in Altadena and is an avid supporter of efforts to promote leadership and growth for girls. She also is a board member for Planned Parenthood Pasadena, as well as the Pasadena-Altadena Community Endowment Fund. She is a past president and a longstanding member of the Pasadena Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. where she has chaired the annual Young African American Women’s Conference (YAAWC) for more than 400 participants, among a host of other roles. One of the activities that she most treasures was serving as a mentor with the “Links-Up Mentoring for Success” program at John Muir High School. Debbie cherishes her membership in the Altadena Guild and the support that it provides for Huntington Medical Research Institute and Huntington Hospital.