Dr. Johnson joined Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in 2023 as senior vice president of patient care services and CNO, providing strategic direction across nursing, advanced practice professionals, rehabilitation, psychology, social work, care coordination, and patient and family experience. She leads initiatives to strengthen quality and safety, optimize workforce recruitment and retention, and build a caring culture aligned with CHLA’s mission and strategic goals. Across a 40-plus year career, she has held CNO roles at leading pediatric institutions including Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco. She has also successfully led multiple Magnet designations and redesignations. Known for advancing compassionate, high-performing work environments, she has also supported health systems through high-stakes periods, including pandemic-era leadership in Hawai‘i. Earlier in her career, her clinical and advanced practice work in spinal cord injury informed a longstanding commitment to underserved communities, including launching innovative access points like a specialized nurse advice line. She currently serves on the boards of the Watson Caring Sciences Institute and the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House, and was recognized as a 2025 “Women of Influence in Health Care” by the Los Angeles Business Journal.
