Michelle L. Edwards, DNP, FACHE, FAANP, currently serves as the first chief experience officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, which operates 51 hospitals and nearly 1,100 clinics in seven states. In this role, Edwards is responsible for ensuring a seamless, modernized and differentiated consumer experience with augmented, digitally enabled access and navigation. This includes designing an enhanced end-to-end experience for patients, while simultaneously simplifying care for system’s 120,000 caregivers.

She previously served as the system senior vice president of advanced practice at Catholic Health Initiatives, now CommonSpirit Health, the largest nonprofit health system by revenue in the United States. In her position at CommonSpirit, Edwards developed the health system strategy for advanced practice care across all clinical sites in all geographic areas for the 21-state enterprise. She was responsible for implementing innovative care models, improving care team performance and integrating advanced practice providers throughout the organization.

Edwards, a family and acute care nurse practitioner by background, became CommonSpirit Health’s first advanced practice executive leader in 2013. Prior to assuming her role with CommonSpirit, she was the founder and managing director of PICC Health Institute LLC, a novel, nurse practitioner-led primary care center, for which she received numerous awards.

As a former clinical operations leader with Walgreens, she directed a new market launch for one of the leading convenient care clinic operators in the country, resulting in the opening and growth of 12 retail health centers in the Houston metropolitan area. Edwards leverages her unique background as an experienced clinician and business leader to enhance service delivery and consumer satisfaction, allow better precision with predicting patient outcomes, and ensure efficient use of limited human capital and financial resources.

Her extensive healthcare experience and progressive track record spans more than two decades in clinical practice, business and program development, public speaking, professional writing and consulting. Her commitment to clinical excellence, enthusiasm for innovation, inclination to challenge the status quo, and unique ability to build strong, collaborative, interdisciplinary partnerships has earned her a reputation as a leader in the industry. In October 2018, she was featured as the Leader to Watch by the American Organization of Nurse Executives, becoming the first advanced practice leader to grace the cover of the organization’s journal.

Edwards is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. She earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, her master’s degree from The University of Alabama at Birmingham and her doctorate from The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.