WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Karen Quinlan Turner has been named vice president of surgical services at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. She will begin her duties on Oct. 12.
Turner comes to Wake Forest Baptist from William Beaumont Hospitals in Royal Oak, Mich., where she was vice president for surgical services, for radiology, and for the Heart and Vascular Hospital. Beaumont is an independent academic medical center that serves as a teaching hospital for both the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. She was responsible for coordinating 64 operating rooms, 640 faculty and 700 staff members.
The Division of Surgical Services at Wake Forest Baptist includes the Pre-Operative Assessment Clinic, 40 inpatient and outpatient operating rooms, Nurse Anesthesia and the Nurse Anesthesia Program, the Post-Anesthesia Care Unit, Surgical Services Academy, Endoscopy, and Transplant Services.
The division includes more than 600 employees.
Turner will report to Donny C. Lambeth, president of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, the primary clinical component of the Medical Center. Lambeth reports to John D. McConnell, M.D., Medical Center CEO. She will also work closely with J. Wayne Meredith, M.D., chief of surgery for Wake Forest Baptist, and more than 160 medical staff.
“Our surgical facilities are state of the art, and we are committed to providing the latest technology and the highest-quality patient care,” Lambeth said. “We are very pleased that we have been able to secure one of the most qualified executives in the nation to help us grow our surgical services to the next level.”
Meredith was equally enthusiastic about Turner’s selection. “Surgical Services is a critical growth area for our organization,” he said. “The depth and breadth of Ms. Turner’s experience show that she is someone who can help to lead that kind of growth.”
Turner’s position is responsible for the business and financial functions and performance of the operating rooms, patient as well as staff satisfaction, quality outcomes, planning, and coordination of all Surgical Services departments to ensure their integration into the overall Medical Center operation.
Turner holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. degree from Northwestern University. Prior to joining Beaumont, she worked for 11 years at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, the faculty practice plan of Northwestern University, where she was the chief administrator for the department of surgery, primarily responsible for ambulatory practice operations, finance and research administration. Prior to that Turner spent 10 years in higher education administration at Northwestern University. She began her career at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., then a teaching hospital affiliate of Loyola University.
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Media Contacts: Mark Wright, mwright@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-3382; Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu; or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-4587.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (www.wfubmc.edu) is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Brenner Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest University Physicians, and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine and Piedmont Triad Research Park. The system comprises 1,056 acute care, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and has been ranked as one of “America’s Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report since 1993. Wake Forest Baptist also holds the Gold Seal of Approval™ from the Joint Commission, the nation’s esteemed standards-setting and accrediting body for health care quality. Wake Forest Baptist is ranked 32nd in the nation by America’s Top Doctors for the number of its doctors considered best by their peers. The institution ranks in the top third in funding by the National Institutes of Health and fourth in the Southeast in revenues from its licensed intellectual property.