Page 15 - March GNCCnewsletter

News Release

For more information: contact bret.berigan@bjc.org

Pooja P. Vyas, DO, named vice president and chief medical officer for Christian
Hospital

Christian Hospital is pleased to announce that Pooja P. Vyas, DO, has been
named vice president and chief medical officer for Christian Hospital, effective
Feb. 27, 2022. Dr. Vyas will oversee the daily operations of medicine workflow
and delivery at Christian Hospital. She has been with BJC Medical Group since
2019 and for the past year has served as medical director of hospital medicine
as an internal medicine hospitalist at Christian Hospital. Prior to this, Dr. Vyas
served as an internal medicine hospitalist at Missouri Baptist Medical Center.

Dr. Vyas has proven leadership and success in managing hospital medicine workflow and patient throughput. Over the
past year, Dr. Vyas has been instrumental in implementing a patient satisfaction pilot program at Christian Hospital to
engage physicians to sit during patient evaluations to help improve HCAHP scoring for physician communications with
patients. She also created an algorithm to help reduce the rate of readmissions and unnecessary admissions to the emer-
gency department, as well as to improve inpatient versus observation status accuracy.

Before joining BJC, Dr. Vyas was an internal medicine hospitalist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New
York for two years, at the same time serving as an assistant professor of medicine at nearby Hofstra Northwell School of
Medicine, which is where Dr. Vyas also completed a one-year physician administrative fellowship and two-year inter-
nal medicine residency. Dr. Vyas completed her internal medicine internship at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville,
Pennsylvania.

Dr. Vyas is a graduate of Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Stratford, New Jersey, and received her
undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is currently working toward a mas-
ter’s in business administration from Webster University through the BJC cohort. Interestingly, Dr. Vyas began her med-
ical career as an emergency medical technician for three years before entering medical school.

Dr. Vyas currently serves on the Christian Hospital by-laws committee, medical executive committee, medical quality
review committee and the utilization review committee. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Execu-
tives, Society of Hospital Medicine and the American College of Physicians.

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About Christian Hospital
Christian Hospital is a 240-staffed-bed community hospital located in north St. Louis County and a founding member of BJC HealthCare, one
of the largest nonprofit health care organizations in the United States. Located six miles west of Christian Hospital is Northwest HealthCare,
which offers the community 24-hour emergency care and a variety of outpatient services to complement hospital services. With both locations,
Christian Hospital operates the busiest emergency department in Missouri and one of the busiest hospital-based ambulance service in the state.
Christian Hospital received the St. Louis Regional Chamber’s Arcus Award for Achievement in Health for its commitment to ongoing growth,
improvement, community outreach and economic opportunity. To find out more, visit christianhospital.org and facebook.

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