Hershey Medical Center names new senior vice president and chief nursing officer

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center named Michele Szkolnicki as its new senior vice president and chief nursing officer. She will start in September, following the retirement of the current Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Judy Himes.

Szkolnicki is currently serving as the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center’s vice president of nursing, acute and ambulatory care. She has more than 25 years of experience that spans for-profit, not-for-profit, private equity and academic settings in hospital, ambulatory and medical practice environments in both adult and pediatric medicine. Prior to joining the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Szkolnicki was the chief operating officer of Crozer Keystone Health Access Network.

She has held numerous health care and nursing leadership roles, including chief nursing officer and senior vice president of Patient Care Services for Cancer Treatment Centers of America, chief operating officer for Drexel University Physicians and several management and nursing leadership roles with the University of Pennsylvania Health System. She began her career with nursing roles in clinical research and patient care.

“Michele cares deeply about nursing and searching for new and innovative ways to support nurses as they care for our patients,” said Deborah Berini, president of Hershey Medical Center. “I am looking forward to working with her to continue developing our nursing workforce and improving the work environment.”

Szkolnicki says she is passionate about the powerful role that nursing can play to help shape the future of health care. She was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s Healthcare Innovation Awards recipients, and received the Nurse Administrator of the Year Award, Neumann University’s John Neumann Alumni Award and the Nursing and Health Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award.

Szkolnicki holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Neumann University and a master’s degree in education from St. Joseph’s University. She is board-certified as a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and is a Certified Medical Practice Executive with the Medical Group Management Association.

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