St. Elizabeth Healthcare announces the selection of Dr. Latonya Brown as Vice President Chief Quality Officer/Site Administrator of Florence. A longtime leader at St. Elizabeth, Dr. Brown brings 15 years of experience and looks to provide innovative and quality care for the community.
In this role, Dr. Brown will be responsible for overall system quality and patient safety and experience. Additionally, she will be tasked with daily administrative oversight and operations to support our Florence campus as the second busiest acute care hospital within the St. Elizabeth system. An $85 million expansion of St. Elizabeth Florence was completed earlier this year. The hospital has 204 patient beds and 15 operating rooms to support services including specialized orthopaedics, inpatient surgery, gastroenterology and a new endoscopy center and general and bariatric surgeries. In 2023, Florence had 118,000 outpatient visits, 49,000 emergency room visits, nearly 9,000 inpatient discharges and more than 1,100 associates providing excellent patient care.
Dr. Brown worked as a Pulmonologist and Intensivist serving all campuses of St. Elizabeth throughout her 15-year career. She also played a key role as a member of the system’s infectious disease response team, providing care and critical leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Administratively, Dr. Brown has provided her valuable expertise for St. Elizabeth throughout the years, serving as Critical Care Medical Director, President of the Medical Staff, Chair of the Quality Improvement Committee, and, most recently, as the Assistant Vice President of Medical Specialties for St. Elizabeth Physicians.
“Dr. Brown has been a vital part of our medical team for over a decade, contributing significantly as a pulmonologist and intensivist and serving as a crucial leader during our COVID-19 response,” said Vera Hall, Chief Operations Officer. “Her empathetic and attentive care embodies St. Elizabeth’s commitment to comprehensive and compassionate care. She will be an excellent addition to the leadership team in Florence and will provide exceptional leadership to the quality efforts and outcomes for our system.”
“My goal in entering medicine was to positively impact the world around me,” said Dr. Brown. “I am grateful to St. Elizabeth for allowing me to continue working on my impact. I look forward to working with the physicians, associates and patients at our Florence hospital.”
Dr. Brown earned her medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill. After her internal medicine residency, she completed a pulmonary/critical care fellowship at the University of Miami, Florida. A continuous learner, Dr. Brown is working towards her Masters of Science in Health Services Administration at Xavier University, with an expected graduation date of May 2025.