New CEO Named for Queen of the Valley Medical

(QVMC) and St. Joseph Health System (SJHS) this week announced that Walt Mickens has been named Queen of the Valley’s new President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Mickens has been serving as Chief Operations Officer (COO) for QVMC since 2008. He is a senior healthcare executive with more than 25  years of experience at acute care facilities, including teaching, faith-based, non-profit, for-profit, trauma center and community hospitals.

Mickens succeeds retiring CEO Dennis Sisto, who is leaving after a 13-year tenure at QVMC. Sisto began his career with St. Joseph Health System 24 years ago. 

The move was announced on the QVMC website, and you can read the complete version here. Further excerpts below:

Before coming to Queen of the Valley, Mickens served as CEO of West Boca Medical Center in Boca Raton, Florida. His previous administrative experience also includes a role as an executive for another hospital in the St. Joseph Health System – Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California.

Dennis Sisto departs QVMC after a period of unprecedented progress at the medical center. Under Sisto’s direction, Queen of the Valley has made advances in the quality, accessibility, and depth of the services it offers to the community.

Among the most impressive technical achievements resulting from Sisto’s continuing emphasis on state-of-the-art services have been the addition of a comprehensive robotically assisted surgery program, re-establishment of a Neuroscience program, and development of unparalleled diagnostic capabilities within the Napa Valley Imaging Center.

Under his leadership, Queen of the Valley has also opened a 20,000-square-foot, stand-alone Outpatient Surgery & Procedure Center; completed remodeling and expansion of the Obstetrics Department; and embarked on a 72,000 square-foot building expansion that will create six new, state-of-the-art surgical suites. In tandem with Sisto’s efforts to enhance the Queen’s range of medical and surgical services, he has championed projects aimed at disease prevention and management.

He led the development process for the Queen of the Valley Medical Center Wellness Center, opened in 2007, to provide wellness, disease management, medically based fitness, and additional rehabilitation services to the community.