Ann Cella is a nurse executive, in the role of the senior vice president for Patient Care at St. Francis Hospital & Heart Center, Roslyn.
Ann is known best for her leadership as the Chief Nursing Officer in achieving the prestigious Magnet Designation for four consecutive cycles for providing exemplary nursing care.
Ann attended Queens Hospital Center, School of Nursing in New York graduated and became licensed as an RN.
Ann earned Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Marymount Manhattan College and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from C.W. Post College, Greenvale.
Subsequently, Ann attended Columbia University, Teachers College and earned both a Master of Arts in Nursing Education and Master of Education in Nursing Administration.
Ann accepted her first staff nurse position at Queens Hospital Center. Ann excelled as a nurse leader and was quickly promoted to assistant head nurse and then to head nurse.
Ann’s drive for professional advancement lead her to Mount Sinai Hospital, a nationally recognized tertiary medical teaching center. Ann was promoted from a Head Nurse on a surgical unit in to a Clinical Supervisor for the hospital.
Ann, immersed in the new field of quality assurance and improvement, was prompted to join SFH. Ann was responsible for the coordination of clinical and administrative activities within the Nursing Department.
Ann was promoted to a new position as Assistant Director of Nursing – Quality Assurance and established the first decentralized Nursing Quality Assurance Program for the Nursing Department.
Ann had a clear trajectory for nursing leadership and enjoyed promotions to Assistant Vice President – Nursing, to Vice President for Patient Care and CNO. Ann soon became the senior vice president of patient care and CNO.
As the only designated cardiac center in New York State, Ann assumed responsibility for the leadership and management of all patient units at SFH.
Ann, as an established leader, assumed additional responsibility for other departments including care management, social work and all perioperative services, pre-admission testing, central sterile processing services, perfusion, pharmacy and oncology. Ann also had the responsibility for the creation of a cardiac catheterization lab generating medical and nursing research, becoming early adopters of the popular TAVR surgery.
Ann’s leadership talent was recognized by the Catholic Health System as she assumed interim CNO for Mercy Medical Center for three years while maintaining the CNO role at SFH. At Mercy, Ann assumed executive oversight of all in-patient units, cath lab, peri-operative services, emergency department, care management and patient relations to meet the hospital’s admission capabilities and improved care delivery, while safely reducing patients’ length of stay.
Ann led the opening of a SFH cardiac surgical program in another Catholic Health Hospital in addition to opening two cardiac cath labs in two Catholic Health hospitals.
Ann assumed administrative responsibility for the hospital’s physician assistant services and was able to influence the stakeholders of the worth, value and contributions of the nurse practitioners, thus creating new roles for nurse practitioners throughout the hospital.
Ann’s executive leadership contributes to the hospital’s achievements including Leap Frog A, U.S. News & World Report ranked in 5 specialties and Magnet Designation. Ann favors awards in nursing excellence, in each specialty, achieving PRISM Awards in all Medical Surgical Telemetry Units, BEACON Awards for the three Critical Care Units, Intermediate Care Unit, PACU and Cardiac Cath Lab, and the Lantern award for the Emergency Department.
Ann defines success as personal, “knowing what I have accomplished is attributable to my belief to always raise the bar and never settle.”
Ann’s philosophy is that “one can expect more when willing to give more”. The patients drive Ann to excel in leading an exemplary nursing staff.
Ann believes a nurse makes a profound difference in the lives of the patients, families and the community in which they live. The leaders of the profession have recently sought ways to change the image and status of nursing.
Ann’s hope for her legacy is that she has influenced nurses to continue to evolve, contribute and foster quality patient care through a highly educated workforce with the stamina to endure the changing healthcare environment.
