CHOC Children’s Chief Nursing Officer Honored for Excellence in Leadership

Melanie Patterson, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer (CNO) at CHOC Children’s Hospital, was recently honored with the Excellence in Leadership award by the Association of California Nurse Leaders. Given to an inspirational leader committed to providing expert, compassionate care for children and their families, the honor is awarded for making a significant contribution to nursing leadership.

In Patterson’s three years as CNO— within a total of 24 years at CHOC—she has focused on building leadership skills for nurse managers and ensuring the highest level of patient care quality. She supported the Nursing Research Fellowship and Evidence-Based Scholars programs to empower nurses to develop competency in the research process. She also helped launch Innovation Beach Day, an off-site summit of registered nurses and other health care professionals, facilitated by innovators including representatives from Google. Melanie is also a strong proponent of CHOC’s nurse residency program, dedicated to training the next generation of pediatric nurses.

“This award is a testament to CHOC’s overall commitment to support our world-class patient care staff as we work to nurture, advance and protect the health and well-being of children in our community,” Patterson says. “I feel honored to have seen CHOC through so much growth, and to be part of caring for the hundreds of thousands of children entrusted to us.”

Patterson originally joined CHOC in a volunteer capacity and has served in various roles through the years: bedside nurse, charge nurse, clinical coordinator, nurse manager, and executive director of neonatology, Heart Institute and the Hyundai Cancer Institute. She also served as executive director of south tower activation when CHOC opened a new state-of-the-art patient care tower in 2013.