Dr. Baker is the CNO at UVA Health, focused on advancing modern care models while strengthening recruitment, retention, mentorship and professional growth for nurses. She joined UVA from Richmond, Va.-based VCU Health, where she spent three decades in nursing leadership, holding roles including associate chief nurse and associate vice president of nursing. In her prior roles, she helped lead major efforts in staffing strategy, quality, safety, emergency services redesign and critical care transport expansion. At UVA Health, she has leveraged that experience to address the unique workforce and practice challenges of a large public academic medical center. She partnered with the dean of the UVA School of Nursing to establish a dyad leadership model and a refreshed shared governance structure that more tightly links nursing education with nursing practice. Under her leadership, nursing turnover has continued to decline and remains significantly below regional and national averages. In November 2024, she was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.
