Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center names new president

Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in Woodbridge has named Katherine A. Johnson as its new president.

Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is a 183-bed, not-for-profit community hospital in Prince William County. It is part of Sentara Healthcare, a Norfolk-based health-care system.

Johnson joined the medical center in June as vice president and chief operating officer. In August, she assumed the day-to-day oversight of the hospital while it searched for a new president. She will become president on Dec. 5.

Before joining Sentara, Johnson was president of Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center in Thomasville, N.C., for eight years.

During  her career, Johnson also was chief nursing officer and vice president for patient care services for Novant Health Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C,, and vice president of patient care services for Frye Regional Medical Center in Hickory, N.C.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing and master’s in adult-health nursing/nursing administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo, an MBA from the University of South Carolina and a doctorate in health-care administration from Kennedy-Western University in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Sentara Healthcare has 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina. The health system also includes four medical groups, ambulatory campuses, post-acute care services, the  Sentara Quality Care Network and the Sentara College of Health Sciences. The company’s Optima Health Plan has members in Virginia, Alabama and Ohio.