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Donna Katen-Bahensky
has concentrated on "accumulating job skills, not job titles"
on her way to becoming chief executive officer for the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Tim Schoon photo
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Alumna
Becomes CEO of University of Iowa Hospitals
By Rich Gleba
By following an untraditional career path
— and helping others become leaders along the way —
Donna Katen-Bahensky, HMI ’82, has achieved one of the most
respected positions in health
services administration.
Katen-Bahensky was named director and chief executive officer
for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in August 2002.
For the next six months she would adjust to running one of the
largest university-owned hospitals at one of the best public academic
medical centers.
“The size of the institution is challenging. I’m the
type of person who likes working directly with people and getting
to know them, and that’s tough when you have 7,100 employees,”
she says. “On the other hand, the reputation of this hospital
and its medical college make it easier to cope with any challenge.
Everywhere I go in this state, people tell me how proud and positively
they feel about this place.”
A Kansas City native, Katen-Bahensky held her first hospital administrative
positions between 1983 and 1998 with the University of Nebraska.
She then joined the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, where
she served as executive vice president and chief operating officer
before moving with her husband and son to Iowa City.
“I always wanted to be a CEO, but to get there I followed
a very circuitous route. I took on roles in several different
areas — including managing physician clinics, capital financing,
and space planning — which is not something one would do
if he or she were solely interested in upward mobility,”
Katen-Bahensky says. “But ultimately, these experiences
helped me. I do not think I would be leading a large state university
hospital if I had not done a lot of different things in and around
health care.”
With a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from MU, Katen-Bahensky became interested in health care while
working as a patient services representative during her undergraduate
years. She received the Thomas P. Weil Outstanding Student Award
from MU’s Health
Services Management Program, which supported and coordinated
her emphasis in marketing and strategic planning. Before becoming
a coordinator of strategic planning and marketing at the University
of Nebraska, she completed an internship at Mount Sinai Hospital
in Minneapolis and a residency at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor.
At Nebraska, Virginia and Iowa, Katen-Bahensky became known for
developing leadership and management programs. In 1997, her efforts
were recognized with the Management Achievement Award from the
National Association of College and University Business Officers
and Barnes & Noble. “I’m proud that my hospitals
identified a need for these programs a lot earlier than most,”
she says. “I guess if I had any claim to fame, it would
be that I develop very good people and leave behind a culture
that motivates people to want to do good work.”
Another hallmark of Katen-Bahensky’s career is her devotion
to teaching. She has served as a faculty member or preceptor for
students from MU and elsewhere throughout her career. “I
feel a real responsibility to train and mentor others for leadership
positions out of appreciation for the opportunities and training
that I have received,” she says.
The same sensibility applies to Katen-Bahensky’s most valued
leadership qualities, which are “truly caring about others”
and being adept at developing relationships with nurses and physicians,
staff and students.
“Health care is full of smart people, so it’s especially
easy for them to tell when their leader does not truly care about
them,” Katen-Bahensky says. “When people see that
you care about them and their work, you can form the type of relationships
that make for strong partnerships between physicians, nurses and
managers. I think we have all rediscovered that the only way these
groups will succeed at their work is by working together.”
Note: This story was published originally
in the fall 2004 issue of Missouri Medical Review, a magazine
published for alumni and friends of the MU School
of Medicine.
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Last Update:
November 15, 2007
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