Keisha Mullings-Smith named the University of Chicago Medicine’s new Vice President, Chief Experience Officer

Keisha Mullings-Smith has been named the University of Chicago Medicine’s new Vice President, Chief Experience Officer, effective October 17, 2022.

Mullings-Smith has nearly two decades of experience in healthcare operations and strategic planning, including the development of patient experience improvement platforms. She has worked in hospital and clinic settings, gaining considerable expertise with performance improvement cycle, patient relations, complaint and grievance management, healthcare privacy compliance, health services operations and practice management.

Mullings-Smith comes to UChicago Medicine from Johns Hopkins Medicine, where she served as executive director of patient experience. In this role, she led the planning, design and implementation of patient experience strategy across 52 ambulatory care sites. She also managed a successful entity-wide patient experience strategic improvement campaign that helped transform the organization’s culture and improved patient-centeredness within the first year of oversight.

Before Johns Hopkins, Mullings-Smith worked at Press Ganey/Healthstream Inc., providing counsel to healthcare systems, outpatient practices and post-acute care clients on operational planning and strategic improvement. She also held executive positions leading patient experience at Wellstar Health System in Atlanta, as well as with The George Washington University Hospital and George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates.

"Keisha’s experience will be invaluable at UChicago Medicine, where she will be a visible role model for our mission as well as an advocate for the 'voice of the patient' across the enterprise," said Krista Curell, Esq., RN, Executive Vice President and Chief Integration & Transformation Officer. "This will involve developing strategic initiatives that promote culturally responsive service excellence, strengthen engagement with patients and families, and aim to reduce health disparities."

Also as part of her role, Mullings-Smith will collaborate with senior leadership and partners to establish relationships with community leaders and patient advocacy groups and will oversee the Patient and Family Advisory Councils infrastructure.

Mullings-Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in human communication and organizational culture from Howard University and an MBA in healthcare management from The George Washington University Graduate School of Business. She has a Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and the Health Care Compliance Association.