Dignity Health Central and West Valley Market Welcomes New Chief Medical Officer

(PHOENIX – Oct. 13, 2021) – Victor Waters, MD, JD, FCLM, has joined Dignity Health’s Arizona Central and West Valley Market as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Waters will provide strategic leadership for patient care, safety and quality and physician oversight at Dignity Health St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Westgate Medical Center, the Dignity Health - Cancer Institute at St. Joseph’s, and two freestanding emergency departments in the West Valley.  

“I'm proud and honored to join the Dignity Health’s Arizona market with a commitment to excellence in patient safety and quality, especially during one of the most challenging times in health care - the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Dr. Waters.

Dr. Waters is a distinguished physician with more than 30 years of clinical experience in emergency medicine and internal medicine and approximately 20 years of administrative leadership experience. Before joining St. Joseph’s Dr. Waters served as chief medical officer of Dignity Health St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, Calif. Prior to joining St. Bernardine, Dr. Waters served as interim president and chief executive officer of Nexus Fort Washington Medical Center in a suburb of Washington D.C.

“I am delighted to welcome Dr. Waters to our incredible team,” says Gabrielle Finley-Hazle, President and CEO of Dignity Health Central and West Valley. “Dr. Waters is well known for his strong leadership and humankindess; and he will continue to build on St. Joseph’s unwavering dedication to medical excellence and providing world-class patient care. His leadership will be critical as we continue to build our specialty services and graduate medical education.”

A proven leader, Dr. Waters is well versed in graduate medical education and serves as a faculty member and Dignity Health physician liaison at University of California Riverside Medical School. Dr. Waters leads Law-4-Docs, which he founded to provide online mitigation courses for providers. He is also the CMO of HanGenix Solutions, a start-up digital healthcare company with an ultrasound-based monitoring system that’s designed to improve compliance with hand hygiene.

Dr. Waters earned his undergraduate degree from Brown University, is a graduate of Temple University School of Medicine, and obtained a Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University School of Law. He is passionate about issues related to health inequities and is a member of the CommonSpirit National Diversity and Inclusion Council. He is also a National Board Member of the American Lung Association.