Tarra Washington, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Kindred Hospitals/Scion Health, San Antonio
Tarra started her career as a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Rutgers University, and possesses 18 years’ experience, where she trained in the Trauma and Neuro Intensive Care Units (ICU). During her time in the ICU of Level 1 Trauma hospitals in the NJ and PA areas, she was able to drive programs sparked by her interest in improving patient outcomes, such as Early Mobility in the ICU. Her work with this program was successful, producing research articles from her work in the hospital ICUs, educating incoming medical residents on ICU early mobility and ventilator management, and being designated a Healthcare Hero for her work on a complex trauma patient. Meanwhile, she decided to pursue her MBA in Health Sector Management at Temple University and then completed an internship for the CFO at Temple Health System, a large system in the Philadelphia area
After her internship, Tarra was accepted into the Executive Fellowship program at Kindred Healthcare. This is a program that mentors individuals to become a hospital CEO, with very structured training and projects to be completed. Upon graduation, she was promoted to hospital CEO in Morris County, NJ and drove the quality, patient outcomes and employee culture to be ranked #1 nationally for the company, and the hospital remained at #1 during her time. She also completed a Kindred Leadership training program, nominated by her direct supervisor.
After almost 4 years as CEO, Tarra made the decision to expand her knowledge and sought after gaining a job in Healthcare in another country. She was able to gain a position in the International division of HCA Healthcare in London, in a business development and operations role. She was quickly promoted to Head of Corporate Healthcare Relationships within HCA Healthcare UK. After a little over 2 years, due to family reasons, Tarra needed to come back to the US and returned to Kindred Healthcare as CEO of Kindred Hospital San Antonio Medical Center.
Outside of the hospital, Tarra loves to hike and stay active, she enjoys playing the piano, and spending time with her family. Tarra is anxious to continuously improve and learn from others and hopes to bring a different perspective to the cohort.