Former Kaiser Permanente San Jose Director Darian Harris has been appointed to serve as the vice president of operations for the Healdsburg District Hospital and Petaluma Valley Hospital, two local hospitals under the secular affiliate of Providence.
The announcement of the new leadership was made by Providence on May 3.
“We are thrilled to welcome Darian to our health care system. His ideals naturally align with our community-focused approach to care, and he brings a set of best practices and fresh tactics to elevating patient care,” Franke Beirne, the regional chief operating officer at Providence Northern California, said in a statement.
Harris is taking over for David Southerland, who was the interim vice president of operations for the last few months for the two secular affiliate hospitals.
As a former Kaiser director in San Jose, Harris led several departments and prior to working at Kaiser he held a director position at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He holds a master’s degree in health administration from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in health services from East Carolina University.
“I’m honored to join the Providence health care system at such an exciting time as we work to build an even brighter future together,” Harris in a statement. “While many hospitals and health care systems are struggling to look beyond the immense impact of COVID-19, at Petaluma Valley and Healdsburg hospitals, we will emerge from this pandemic even stronger and better positioned to care for our communities. This is due in large part to the tremendous forethought demonstrated by our community boards, and residents at large, in joining the two hospitals to the Providence network of health care organizations.”
Healdsburg Hospital and Petaluma Valley Hospital were purchased by NorCal HealthConnect, a secular nonprofit affiliate of Providence, in January 2021.
