Dr. Ishak stepped into her new role as chief nurse and operations executive at University of Michigan Health in December 2025. The role blends nursing and clinical operations into one seamless point of leadership. Prior, she was chief nursing executive for the health system since March 2024, providing strategic direction for the growth and evolution of nursing practice across the adult hospitals, children’s and women’s hospitals, and ambulatory care. Under her leadership in the CNE role, the system sustained a nurse vacancy rate of around 3%. In 2025, she launched “Shared Governance 2.0,” a redesigned nursing governance structure intended to further empower frontline nurses in evidence-based decision-making. She built broad interdisciplinary alignment for this work, partnering with teams such as pharmacy, patient relations, union leadership, security, social work and spiritual care to strengthen cohesion and impact at the bedside. Dr. Ishak previously served as U-M Health’s CNO from 2020–24, and has held senior operations and service-line leadership roles in neuroscience and critical care.
