Interim tag removed from hospital leader’s title

BayCare has named Sara Dodds president of St. Joseph’s Hospital-North in Lutz, north of Tampa, effective April 16.

According to a news release, Dodds has served in the role on an interim basis since Jan. 2. She was also the hospital’s operations director until her appointment as president. She succeeds Tom Garthwaite, president of BayCare's Winter Haven Hospital and Winter Haven Women's Hospital.

Dodds, the release states, has been in a leadership position at St. Joseph's Hospital-North since 2016, when she led clinical decision support. In 2017, she became operations director, overseeing areas that include quality of patient care and finance.

"It is exciting to have an opportunity to promote such an amazing internal talent who has just grown through increased responsibility and demonstrated strength as a leader," states Kimberly Guy, BayCare’s co-chief operating officer, in the release. “She has done a wonderful job as interim these past three months, including being instrumental in opening our new behavioral health unit. She is one of BayCare's own."

Dodds, the release states, first joined BayCare in 2004, when she started at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa as a patient care technician while attending nursing school.

"I have had the pleasure of working with this incredible team and medical staff since the day St. Joseph's Hospital-North opened its doors," Dodds states in the release. "I am looking forward to continuing to serve St. Joseph's Hospital-North and this community in my new role as we grow better together. I feel that I know every inch of this hospital from my long time here and that will greatly assist me in my new position."

St. Joseph's Hospital-North is one of 16 BayCare nonprofit hospitals in the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions.