Executive Leadership at Children's Hospital Colorado

Jena Hausmann is president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Children’s Colorado. Children’s Colorado is a pediatric healthcare system that includes more than 11,000 professionals delivering the highest levels of care from four hospitals in the Denver metro area and Colorado Springs and 14 additional specialty care locations throughout the state.

Under Jena’s leadership, Children’s Colorado has been routinely identified as one of the top 10 pediatric hospital systems in the country. It is recognized nationally and internationally for its medical, research, education and advocacy programs. It also is at the forefront of research in childhood disease and pioneering treatments that are shaping the future of pediatrics. It offers everyday care for kids throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.

As president and CEO, Jena has been a champion for increasing research and innovation, as well as improving pediatric mental health. She has led initiatives to reduce the cost of care, increase transparency and build a powerhouse advocacy organization that improves the quality of life for patients and their families through legislative efforts.

Prior to being named president and CEO, Jena served as senior vice president and chief operating officer at Children’s Colorado. In that role, she helped to identify opportunities and efficiencies that allowed the organization to expand its System of Care sites. Prior to that, she served as vice president of strategic planning and System of Care operations at Children’s Colorado. Before returning to Colorado, she was as an administrative fellow and held several senior management positions at Fairview Health System in Minneapolis.

Jena is an active member in the Denver business and philanthropic communities. She serves on the boards of the Colorado Hospital Association, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Colorado Forum and serves on the Center for Global Health executive committee.

Jena earned her master’s degree in healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota and her bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado College. She has been recognized with numerous healthcare industry and leadership awards and frequently presents on important topics related to pediatric healthcare.

Lalit Bajaj, MD, is chief quality, equity and outcomes officer for the Children’s Hospital Colorado System. Dr. Bajaj has served many roles over the years including ED research director, medical director of the Research Institute and medical director of clinical effectiveness. His current focus is on the implementation and measurement of evidence-based care into practice, with an emphasis on improving the care of patients across the pediatric care continuum and promoting the growth of pediatric value-based care.

Dr. Bajaj went to UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley for a combined MD/MPH. He then moved to Denver, where he completed a pediatric residency, chief residency and pediatric emergency fellowship.

David Brumbaugh, MD, is chief medical officer and oversees inpatient operations at Children’s Colorado. He currently serves on the executive committee of the Section of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Brumbaugh was previously the Clinical Medical Director for the Digestive Health Institute at Children’s Colorado. Prior to Children’s Colorado, he was part of the clinical faculty at University of Washington School of Medicine.

Dr. Brumbaugh earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University and completed his residency at Children’s Colorado, where he was also Chief Resident in Pediatrics. He was a general pediatrician for three years in the Yakima Valley, WA, before returning to Children’s Colorado for a fellowship in gastroenterology.

Stephen (Steve) Daniels, MD, PhD, ensures that Children’s Colorado’s services and programs are patient- and family-focused and clinically excellent. His area of expertise is preventive cardiology. Dr. Daniels’ studies have focused on better understanding the causes of blood pressure elevation and cholesterol abnormalities in children and adolescents, particularly the role that obesity may play in these health issues.

Dr. Daniels has served as associate editor for the Journal of Pediatrics since 1995. He is also co-author of Medical Epidemiology, an introductory textbook for medical students.

Dr. Daniels received his MD from the University of Chicago, his master’s degree in public health from Harvard University and his PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina.

Mike DiStefano, MD, works with the medical staff and administrative staff to ensure the best care for patients. He oversees the medical operations of the more than 100-bed pediatric hospital at Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs.

Prior to being named chief medical officer, Dr. DiStefano was the interim section head of emergency medicine at Children’s Colorado on Anschutz Medical Campus and director of clinical operations, emergency departments and urgent cares. In those roles, he improved health outcomes through process efficiency, decreasing provider variability and operationalizing evidence-based medicine.

Originally from Texas, Dr. DiStefano attended Baylor College of Medicine. He completed his medical residency and fellowship at Texas Children’s Hospital and spent four years there as a faculty member.

Patricia (Pat) Givens, DHA, RN, has served as the senior vice president of patient care services/chief nurse executive at Children’s Colorado since 2016. Pat has served in executive leadership positions since 2002 and in a variety of nursing leadership, academic, educational and direct care roles over the past 30 years.

Her experience and practice settings have included children’s hospitals, adult healthcare systems and academic medical centers across the U.S. and Canada.

Pat’s undergraduate degree is in nursing from the University of Calgary. She holds a master's degree in administration, planning and social policy from Harvard University and a doctorate in health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina.

Jeff Harrington was appointed chief financial officer in 2013 after serving as Children’s Colorado’s vice president of finance.

He was also corporate director of finance for the Atlantic Health System in Florham Park, New Jersey, and partner and site CFO for CurranCare, LLC, a start-up healthcare consulting company in Chicago. He held various finance and administrative positions, culminating in director, finance and operations, for Scripps Health.

Jeff holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration – finance from the University of Colorado and an MBA from San Diego State University.

Suzy Jaeger provides operational management and strategic direction for outpatient clinical practice operations for Children’s Colorado on Anschutz Medical Campus and throughout the System of Care. She also provides operational management and strategic direction for inpatient, emergency department and urgent care services.

Previously, Suzy was the senior vice president of ambulatory services and our System of Care (formerly known as the Network of Care), after having served as vice president of ambulatory services. She also served in managerial and director-level roles in ambulatory services.

Suzy received her bachelor’s degree in business management from the University of South Dakota.

As the Mental Health-in-Chief Dr. Liaw shapes and oversees the child mental health vision, strategy, operations, quality, safety and workforce development system-wide for Children’s Colorado. A child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Liaw also serves as the chair of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Colorado, where she holds the Cannon Y. & Lyndia Harvey Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Previously with Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone, Dr. Liaw was director of the Sala Institute’s Child-Family Services and Resilience Programs and Chief of Service for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Liaw earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at Rice University, her MD at Baylor College of Medicine, her psychiatry training at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and McLean Hospital, and her child psychiatry training at NYU Langone Health and Bellevue Hospital. She completed improvement science training at the Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence at Cincinnati Children’s, research training at the Mind/Body Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and a clinical fellowship in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. 

Michelle M. Lucero serves as the chief legal counsel for Children’s Colorado. Prior to this position, she was the vice president and assistant general counsel – employee relations for Centura Health in Denver.

Michelle began her legal career as an associate for Davis Graham and Stubbs in Denver. She served as legal counsel for several public and private entities, including the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, Graphic Packaging, US West and the City and County of Denver.

Michelle received her undergraduate degree from Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, and her Juris Doctor (JD) degree from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Jerrod Milton is chief clinical officer and senior vice president of professional services at Children’s Colorado, where he is responsible for the strategic and operational performance of clinical services. The clinical services division includes the departments of pharmacy, radiology, clinical nutrition and laboratory services, in addition to emergency management (disaster readiness), security, food services and patient transport.

In his 30-year tenure at Children’s Colorado, Jerrod has held broad leadership responsibilities in addition to clinical services oversight. He has worked in areas such as facilities management, respiratory care and executive leadership for the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. Jerrod held the position of interim senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Children’s Colorado from 2017 to mid-2018.

Jerrod is a registered pharmacist who was formally trained in pediatrics. He holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from North Dakota State University and earned his MBA at Regis University.

Ann-Christine Nyquist, MD, is the chief safety and epidemiology officer at Children’s Colorado, where she has an infectious disease clinical practice. Her research interests include healthcare epidemiology and infection control, quality and safety, health equity and pediatric infectious diseases.

From 2009 to 2015, Dr. Nyquist was the inaugural Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in addition to serving in multiple national leadership roles within the Association of American Medical Colleges’ diversity and inclusion programs.

Dr. Nyquist attended the prestigious integrated premedical-medical six-year combined BS/MD program at the University of Michigan. She completed her pediatric and chief residency at UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Nyquist completed a pediatric infectious diseases fellowship and earned her master’s degree in public health at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Greg Raymond provides leadership for Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs’ 115-bed pediatric hospital and supports clinical programs in Southern Colorado. His previous work included administration for the Center for Children’s Surgery as well as the Neuroscience Institute at Children’s Colorado.

Greg received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Utah State University and his master of healthcare administration from the University of Minnesota. He also completed an administrative fellowship with Catholic Healthcare West (now Dignity Health).

Betsy Rodriguez has served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Children’s Hospital Colorado since 2018. Her work focuses on supporting the Children’s Colorado’s mission by building teams and employee programs that make it a great place for everyone to work and thrive. She also manages boards, information systems, crises and HR-related communications.

Betsy spent her entire career in Human Resources, focusing initially on employee benefits and risk management at the University of Colorado and the state of Colorado, culminating in the role of Chief HR Officer for the university system. She has also worked as CHRO and General Officer of the University of Missouri system and as Vice President for Human Resources for Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis.

With a passion for leadership and professional development, Betsy has served on national boards, councils and committees, and as a panelist, presenter, and facilitator at numerous national conferences. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from Vanderbilt University, and her master's and Ph.D. in psychology, from the University of Missouri.

Raphe Schwartz is responsible for Children’s Colorado’s strategy and planning, physician relations, clinically integrated network, population health, business development and the hospital’s service line programs.

Prior to joining Children’s Colorado, Raphe was a senior partner with The Chartis Group and the leader of its strategic planning practice. For more than 20 years, Raphe has advised leading hospital systems, pediatric hospitals and academic medical centers as they addressed their most pressing strategic and operational challenges. His professional experience also includes leadership roles at CSC, Cisco Systems and Cerner Corporation.

Raphe holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and operations research from Yale University.

Kathleen (Kathie) Seerup serves as the regional senior vice president and chief nursing and operations officer at Children’s Colorado, Colorado Springs. Prior to joining Children’s Colorado, Kathie served as chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and as the senior director of critical care services at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Kathie is committed to developing and mentoring career nurses for generations to come and she is passionate about advocating for patients and families — especially in pediatric settings.

Kathie holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Lewis University and a master’s degree in health administration from the University of St. Francis. She is a board-certified nurse executive.

Ronald J. Sokol, MD, works to advance knowledge of childhood diseases through his work as the Chief Scientific Officer, Child Health. He leads a joint research enterprise across the CU Anschutz Campus, which aims to accelerate discovery to prevent disease, advance treatment, develop new interventions and improve the health of children.

Before being named Chief Scientific Officer, Child Health Dr. Sokol co-founded the Pediatric Liver Center, one of the first pediatric liver centers in the United States. In addition, he chaired the NIH-funded Childhood Liver Disease Research Network.

Dr. Sokol earned his medical degree from the Pritzker School of Medicine in Chicago. He completed his residency at the University of Colorado, where he was also the Chief Resident of Pediatrics. In addition to serving as Chief Scientific Officer, Child Health, Dr. Sokol will continue to lead the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute as director and principal investigator.

Duncan Wilcox, MD, directs the Center for Children’s Surgery at Children’s Colorado, which performs more than 26,000 surgeries each year.

His primary clinical interests include reconstructive urology, incontinence and patients with bladder disease and complex bladder anomalies. He also serves as a trustee of the Children’s Colorado Foundation board. Dr. Wilcox previously served as the Chief of Pediatric Urology and the Ponzio Family Chair in Pediatric Urology at Children’s Colorado.

Dr. Wilcox attended medical school at the University of London, trained in pediatric urology and pediatric surgery at the University of London, Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital and was an attending physician in London and UT Southwestern in Dallas.

As Vice President for Advocacy and Community Health at Children’s Colorado, Zach Zaslow is responsible for leading population health strategies, advancing school partnerships, and directing legislative advocacy efforts to improve the health of children. In his over ten years at Children’s Colorado, Zach has worked on a wide range of child health issues, including youth mental health, coverage and access to care, tobacco control, early childhood, injury prevention, nutrition and physical activity, payment reform, and healthcare financing.

Before joining Children’s Colorado, Zach worked as Policy Director for the Colorado State Senate, where he served for five years, and co-founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to reinventing politics for young people. Before that, he worked at a public policy think tank in Denver and has managed and worked on a number of candidate and ballot measure campaigns. Zach is a graduate of Grinnell College in Iowa, where he studied political science. He and his wife live in Denver with their three young children.