Ms. Njau leads patient care operations and nursing strategy across Children’s Minnesota’s two major pediatric hospitals, with responsibility for nursing education and professional development. She is also tasked with ensuring care teams have the resources to deliver exceptional family-centered care. Joining in 2021, she quickly emerged as a critical operational leader during surges in respiratory syncytial virus and pediatric Covid-19, building and leading a situation response team to stabilize staffing and maintain safe access to care. One signature innovation was the “helpers” program, which mobilized non-clinical staff to support frontline teams across emergency departments, inpatient units and clinics, resulting in volunteers covering roughly 500 shifts. Ms. Njau also modernized demand anticipation by adopting a volume-and-staffing forecasting model that is approximately 95% accurate, extending staffing decision lead time and providing weeks of planning visibility. Recognizing the direct link between staff wellbeing and patient outcomes, she prioritized a wellbeing resource team to address moral distress and supported resiliency workshops. She has also built a long-term pipeline strategy by deepening partnerships with local nursing schools, meeting regularly with deans to address capacity and diversity, and serving as an affiliate professor to strengthen clinical readiness.
