Nicole B. Thomas honored with Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare Award from Modern Healthcare

Nicole B. Thomas, hospital president of Baptist Medical Center South in Jacksonville, was recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the nation's Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare in 2018.

Thomas is president of Baptist Health of Northeast Florida's second-largest hospital and is the first female and African American hospital president in the organization's more than 60-year history.

After joining Baptist Health in 2011, Thomas successfully led a range of comprehensive programs and initiatives, including the launch of the Baptist Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center in 2013 and the Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center partnership in 2015.

Since her appointment as hospital president of Baptist South in 2016, she has led a $130 million expansion plan that has included more than a dozen campus projects. During the past year alone, she has overseen construction of an 8-story patient tower, a 1,200-space parking garage and a four-story, 100,000-square-foot medical office building for physicians and outpatient services.

"Nicole brings tremendous energy and focus to everything she does," said Baptist Health President and CEO Hugh Greene. "She has a remarkable gift for building relationships even when navigating complex situations and creating alignment while accomplishing big goals."

Thomas attended the only magnet high school for health professions in Houston and graduated magna cum laude from Dillard University, a historically black college in New Orleans, before earning a master's degree in health care administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a minority merit scholar and a recipient of an Institute for Diversity in Healthcare Management scholarship.

In its seventh year, Modern Healthcare's biennial award honors the top minority health care executives who are influencing the policy and care delivery models across the country. In doing so, they are also highlighting the continued need to nurture diversity in our organizations.

"This year's Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare exemplify resilience and tenacity," said Modern Healthcare Editor Aurora Aguilar. "These leaders have produced incredible results by elevating the quality of patient care at their organizations while supporting and advancing their peers to boost diversity in the C-suite."

The profiles of all the winners are featured in the February 26, 2018 print issue of Modern Healthcare and at ModernHealthcare.com/Top25Minorities.