Modern Healthcare Names Scripps’ Dr. Ghazala Sharieff to List of Year’s Leading Women

Modern Healthcare magazine has given one its 2026 Leading Women awards to Ghazala Sharieff, MD, MBA, Scripps Health corporate executive vice president and chief medical and operations officer for acute care. The honor celebrates outstanding health care leaders across all sectors of the industry.

Dr. Sharieff, a corporate executive vice president for Scripps, was chosen from among nominees representing hospitals, health systems, insurers, associations, government agencies, investment firms, suppliers, digital health startups and patients' rights groups.

Modern Healthcare's editorial team selected the winners based on their contributions to advancing their organization's financial, operational and clinical goals, along with their efforts to champion gender equality within their organization and across the broader industry.

"I am honored to be recognized by Modern Healthcare and included among such an impressive group of women leaders in our industry," Dr. Sharieff said. "This award rightly highlights the important role that women play in the delivery of care to patients everywhere. And it celebrates the opportunities created by organizations like Scripps Health for women to succeed at all levels of health care."

Modern Healthcare announced the winners online on March 9. The magazine's upcoming print edition also will feature the women, and the winners will be honored in June at a conference and luncheon in Chicago.

"Everyone at Scripps Health is proud of the important work that Dr. Sharieff has done throughout her career, first as a physician and now as a senior leader with our organization," said Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder. "Scripps has a long history of female leaders that stretches back over 100 years to our founding by a pair of pioneering women - Ellen Browning Scripps and Mother Mary Michael Cummings. Dr. Sharieff is part of that legacy, and her inspirational leadership is reflected in Scripps' ranking among the best places to work for women in the United States."

Dr. Sharieff has served as Scripps' CMO for acute care since 2020, overseeing a wide range of areas across the San Diego-based health system, including quality, information services, pharmacy, support services and employee assistance.

Under her leadership, Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores rose to No. 82 nationally over the past two years; quality improvement initiatives reduced falls, pressure ulcers, blood clots and pneumonia, while lowering readmissions, decreasing hospital infections and reducing the overall cost of patient care; and cost-savings initiatives in areas that she manages helped Scripps achieve all of its financial targets last fiscal year.

Dr. Sharieff initiated "sprint teams" - highly focused, multidisciplinary groups that work to improve a specific element of patient care over a short period of time - that produced profound results in reducing surgical site infections, central line infections and patient falls.