Jessica O’Neal will be the chief executive officer of Medical City Las Colinas starting January 6. She has been CEO of Medical City Children’s Hospital and Medical City Women’s Hospital Dallas since 2018.
She helped launch and expand the congenital heart, and fetal surgery programs led the facility to achieve Level IV maternal and Level IV NICU designations. She will follow Daniela Decell, the CEO of Medical City Las Colinas, since 2005.
From 2016 to 2018, O’Neal served as chief operating officer of West Florida Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, before her tenure at Medical City Children’s Hospital. That hospital is owned by Medical City’s parent company, HCA Healthcare. She was also vice president of operations and chief operating officer of Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
“I’ve always been enamored with healthcare,” she told D CEO magazine last year in an interview for our feature about working moms during the pandemic. “As a kid, I was hospitalized, and from that point on, I’ve been super interested in doing something in healthcare.”
She was drawn to HCA because of its leadership development and participated in the national hospital operator’s leadership program early in her career. “There are incredible opportunities for advancement,” she told D CEO last year. “One of the benefits about HCA is that they set the standard for operational and clinical excellence and focus on developing and mentoring leaders within the organization.”
O’Neal will now lead the 100-bed Las Colinas hospital after heading up the children’s and women’s facilities, with 225 and 222 beds, respectively. North Hills has a team of more than 900 physicians and includes a Level III Trauma Center.
“Jessica has a proven track record of strategic leadership and dedication to compassionate, patient-centered care certain to benefit patients from the greater Irving and Las Colinas area,” says Erol Akdamar, FACHE, president of Medical City Healthcare via release. “With more than 15 years of healthcare experience, I am confident that Jessica will lead Medical City Las Colinas to the next level of healthcare excellence.”
O’Neal is not one to slack and will surely jump into the position with both feet in 2022. “From a pretty young age, I’ve just always filled my plate,” she told D CEO. “I guess that’s just who I am, and that is my natural makeup. I don’t have a lot of downtime ever, but I like it that way.”
