Published on March 23, 2011

Washington Adventist Hospital Names Joyce Portela as President

Former President Takes New Adventist HealthCare Role

Takoma Park, MD – Joyce Portela, a health care executive with more than 20 years of experience, has been named President of Washington Adventist Hospital, charged with leading the 281-bed tertiary health care facility that serves tens of thousands of patients in a region that includes much of Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

Portela first joined Washington Adventist Hospital in 2009 as Senior Executive Officer and since then has overseen many of the day-to-day operations of the hospital. She was formerly the Chief Operations Officer at Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Kansas City, KS and Tennessee Christian Medical Center in Madison, TN. She has also worked at hospitals in California and Florida.

“Joyce has demonstrated a deep commitment to our mission and leading Washington Adventist Hospital in continually delivering safe, high-quality, compassionate care,” said William G. “Bill” Robertson, President and CEO of Adventist HealthCare in Rockville. “Joyce will play a key role in helping the hospital continue to expand access to care for the communities we serve as part of its Vision for Expanded Access.”

The Vision includes the development of a new 21st century Washington Adventist Hospital campus next to the U.S Food and Drug Administration in White Oak and the redevelopment and continued use of the hospital's Takoma Park campus as a Village of Education, Health and Well-being.

“I look forward to working and connecting with the communities in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties that Washington Adventist is privileged to serve,” said Joyce Portela, President of Washington Adventist Hospital.  “We are here to serve everyone – those with and those without health insurance. “We must prove ourselves each and every day with each and every patient.  I look forward to being of service to the community.”

In the past two years, Washington Adventist Hospital provided $69 million in charity care and community benefit. In 2009, this was more than any other hospital in Montgomery County and also ranked among the top 5 hospitals in Maryland. State data is not yet available on hospital comparisons for 2010.

Jere Stocks, who has served as the president of the hospital for the past six years, has been named Adventist HealthCare Senior Vice President and Chair of Next Century Health. In this new role within Adventist HealthCare, Stocks will focus on forging expanded collaboration with the FDA and developing additional research and health care partnership initiatives around health care delivery in the 21st century. Stocks is charged with bringing the initiative from concept to practice.

"I am excited about the future for Washington Adventist Hospital and look forward to the success that both Joyce and Jere will bring to the hospital and Adventist HealthCare through their new roles,” added Robertson.

Washington Adventist Hospital is a 281-bed acute-care facility located in Takoma Park, Maryland. Washington Adventist Hospital is Montgomery County’s first cardiac center, performing more than 400 open-heart surgeries and more than 4,500 heart catheterizations each year. The Hospital is the first accredited Cycle III Chest Pain Center in the DC Metro Area. Washington Adventist Hospital is part of Adventist HealthCare, an integrated health-care delivery system based in Rockville, Maryland, that is one of the largest employers in the state of Maryland.