Amy Shlossman got her start in health care at 13 working at her father’s periodontal office in Tempe, Arizona.
“I grew up in a patient care environment and always wanted to go into health care,” said Shlossman, now 40.
A wide-ranging career in public service and top positions at academic medical centers set the stage for her newest role, a leadership position at LifeBridge Health.
This summer, Shlossman, who is Jewish, was named president and chief operating officer of Sinai Hospital and Grace Medical Center, which are part of LifeBridge Health.
“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to lead the deeply committed team of frontline caregivers who take outstanding care of all our patients,” said Shlossman, who is in the process of moving across the country to Baltimore City.
“There’s something very special about LifeBridge and the connection and the commitment to the community that drew me back to the East Coast,” Shlossman continued. “There’s a big focus on how we can take the best care of patients and keep them out of the emergency department and hospital unless they really need to.
“Our goal is to take the best care of patients in the lowest-cost setting and keep them healthy and out of the hospital. Of course, there’s always going to be a need for hospitals, but the focus is really on preventative management, chronic disease management and primary care so our patients have access to health care services whenever, wherever they need them.”
LifeBridge also serves the community through grants to local organizations working in housing, education, workforce development and food insecurity.
“It’s about the holistic approach of how we take care of people to ensure that they have the livelihood to be able to support themselves and their family members,” Shlossman said.
Shlossman studied public administration at The University of Arizona in Tucson. After college, she became special projects director and then policy director for then-Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano. In 2009, Napolitano became the United States secretary of homeland security under former President Barack Obama. Shlossman moved to Washington, D.C. in 2009 and served as Napolitano’s deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“I had never lived or worked outside of Arizona, and, at age 26, it was an exciting adventure to be part of a new administration and continue to be in public service and government,” Shlossman said.
Shlossman transferred to the White House in 2013 and served as chief of staff for the Office of Management and Budget.
She then moved to the nonprofit sector, becoming CEO of the Red Cross of Oregon and Southwest Oregon. She transitioned to health care administration and served as executive director and adviser to the president at the University of California San Francisco Health.
In 2020, right before the pandemic, she joined Banner Health, a nonprofit health care system, as COO of the 600-bed Thunderbird Medical Center.
“I led our COVID-19 response throughout the pandemic along with a very talented team of leaders across the hospital,” she said.
Shlossman recalled scaling up to 140% of bed capacity, turning single-occupancy rooms into double occupancy. She led the move to relocate the emergency department to a parking lot in order to use the emergency department for ICU, or intensive care unit, overflow patients.
“My career path started to make sense,” she said. “I spent years in emergency management and responding to disasters. Nothing could have prepared us for the magnitude, duration and surges of COVID-19.”
Shlossman became COO at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix, the flagship academic medical center affiliated with The University of Arizona.
“I was in the post-pandemic recovery phrase, getting back to whatever our new normal looks like, rebuilding our staff, our stability and our quality metrics,” she said.
Then she was recruited by LifeBridge. She said she is excited to be returning to the East Coast where she has family and friends.
Shlossman had a Conservative and Reform upbringing. Her family belonged to Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation in Tempe. She attended Camp Pearlstein in Prescott, Arizona, and URJ Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York, for three summers.
“My Jewish identity really ties back to the family I grew up in,” Shlossman said. “My parents instilled the values of service to the community and thinking beyond yourself. So those are really the Jewish values I think are so important and have helped drive me and inspire me throughout my career.”
