BJC Center for Clinical Excellence announces leadership changes

DRS. BRUCE HALL AND HILARY BABCOCK TO ASSUME NEW ROLES NOV. 1

Leadership changes taking place within the BJC Center for Clinical Excellence (CCE) include the promotion of two physicians who have been instrumental in coordinating BJC’s successful response to unprecedented challenges during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

As of Nov. 1, BJC vice president and chief quality officer Bruce Hall, MD, PhD, MBA, assumed the role of BJC chief medical officer, and BJC infection prevention and occupational health medical director Hilary Babcock, MD, MPH, assumed the role of BJC vice president and chief quality officer.

In his new role, Dr. Hall will provide physician executive leadership to ensure the quality and effectiveness of clinical care across BJC, including directing the BJC Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Council. Dr. Hall will continue leading efforts to standardize and integrate clinical services across the system. He also will work with physicians and nursing leaders to standardize and integrate shared support systems related to resource stewardship, care coordination, utilization management, clinical documentation and medical staff service functions.

In her new role, Dr. Babcock will assume responsibility for BJC quality programs, including oversight of BJC-wide measurement systems and quality improvement initiatives. She will also have physician executive responsibility for BJC patient safety and infection prevention efforts and occupational health.

“I’m very excited about the future of BJC and the Center for Clinical Excellence team,” said Clay Dunagan, MD, BJC senior vice president and chief clinical officer. “These changes will help position BJC for even greater success as we work to continuously improve the way we care for our patients and the communities we serve.”

Dr. Hall, who is also a professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine, joined BJC as chief surgical information officer in 2010. He was appointed vice president of patient-centered outcomes in 2013 and then vice president of quality in 2016. He is also a professor of health care management in the Olin Business School at WUSM and consulting director of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program for the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Babcock came to Barnes-Jewish Hospital and WUSM in 1994 for internal medicine training. She then completed an infectious diseases fellowship at BJH/WUSM and joined the infectious diseases faculty at WUSM in 2002. She became BJH assistant director of occupational health in 2003 and then medical director (infectious diseases) for BJH and St. Louis Children’s Hospital a year later. In 2010, Dr. Babcock was appointed medical director of the BJC infection prevention and health care epidemiology program. She assumed expanded responsibilities for BJC occupational health during the pandemic and is a member of the CDC Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), currently serving as the committee’s co-chair.

Both Dr. Hall and Dr. Babcock also maintain clinical practices.

The CCE will begin a search for a new infection prevention and occupational health medical director to replace Dr. Babcock in that role.