Dr. Shilpa Patel has been named chief quality officer of Hawaii Pacific Health. She assumes the role from Dr. Melinda Ashton, who retired June 30 after a 25-year career at HPH.

Patel brings a wealth of clinical, administrative and educational leadership experience to the position. She joined HPH in 2004 and has served as physician liaison to the organization’s Department of Patient Safety and Quality since 2015.

In 2021, she became HPH’s associate chief quality officer. Working closely with Ashton, Patel helped to lead system- and communitywide efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as many other systemwide initiatives focused on ensuring patients receive safe, high-quality care.

Patel is passionate about designing systems of care and communication that place the patient and family voice at the center of patient care. Her work in this and other areas earned her membership in the American Pediatric Society, the first and most prestigious academic pediatric organization in North America that includes child health leaders of extraordinary achievement who work together to shape the future of academic pediatrics.

Patel will continue to care for patients as a pediatric hospitalist at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. She also will continue to mentor the next generation of physicians as professor of pediatrics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine, where she formerly served as director of the Pediatric Residency Program.

Patel earned her bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from Vassar College. She received her medical degree and completed her pediatric residency training at the University of Vermont’s Robert Larner College of Medicine.