Nurse Executive Team
Christine Williams, RN, M.S., C.N.S.
Patient Care Services
Christine Williams, RN, M.S., C.N.S. is currently the Chief Nursing Executive and the Chief Nursing Informatics Officer for UC Davis Health. Most recently Christine was Associate Chief Nursing Officer of Critical Care, Trauma, and Informatics for UC Davis Health. Christine has 33 years of nursing and nursing leadership experience with expertise in clinical care, quality management, program development, patient throughput, and system development. Christine is active in the American Nurses Association, American Trauma Society, Society of Trauma Nurses, American Association of Critical Care Nurses, the Emergency Nurses Association, and Sacramento Sierra Nursing Leadership. Christine received her Master of Science degree as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with a focus in Critical Care and Trauma from the University of California, San Francisco, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing at Humboldt State University. In addition, she completed the Wharton Nursing Leaders Program at the Wharton School of Business in 2012. Christine has received numerous accolades, including an award for Outstanding Achievements from the UC Davis Health and the Daisy Nursing Excellence Award.
Jane D. Peña, RN, M.S.N./Ed, N.E.A.-B.C.
VP, Associate Chief Nursing Executive
Patient Care Services
Jane’s nursing career began as a nurse in Alaska prior to joining the Float Pool at UC Davis Health in 2001. Her clinical experiences include ER, ICU, Med/Surg, Post-Partum, PACU and GI Lab before assuming her leadership roles on T8 Transplant in 2007 as an ANII and then Nurse Manager.
Jane led T8 in the achievement of two PRISM Awards for care of Telemetry and Medical/Surgical patients with expanding care responsibilities in Kidney Transplant, Kidney-Pancreas Transplant, Liver Transplant, Primary Pulmonary Hypertension, and Oncology. She is a co-creator of the pre-op and post-op kidney transplant education that are now translated in multiple languages. In addition, Jane has been instrumental in her roles as a Project Manager for our Nursing GRASP Acuity, Project lead for Cipher Health Rounding, and as an Epic Manager Champion.
Jane has attended the Wharton Nursing Leaders Program in 2016, is currently a Board of Director of the Philippine Nurses Association California Capital City (PNAC3), a member of the International Transplant Nursing Society, Infusion Nursing Society, Northern California Vascular Access Network (NORVAN), American Nurses Association and the American Academy of Family Medicine.
Jane is a recipient of several awards including a Daisy Nurse Leader Award, Team Daisy Award, and Quality and Safety Department Good Catch Recognition. She holds certification as a Nurse Executive Advanced-BC.
Jane graduated from Quezon City Medical Center & Colleges (Philippines) in 1992 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, and went on to obtain her Master’s of Science in Nursing/Education in 2014.
Brenda Chagolla, RN, Ph.D., C.N.S., F.A.C.H.E.
Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Brenda has over 20 years of healthcare leadership experience and a Ph.D. in nursing science and healthcare leadership from the Betty Irene More School of Nursing. Over the last eight and a half years Brenda has managed daily operations of four cost centers at UC Davis Medical Center including Davis 3 and Tower 3. During Brenda’s time as the nurse manager for Davis 3 and Tower 3, she worked to obtain national Baby-Friendly certification, Best Maternity Hospital award from Newsweek, and Center of Excellence award from the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology for UC Davis Health Prior to coming to UC Davis Medical Center, Brenda was the Program Manager for Patient Safety and Clinical Risk at Dignity Health managing systemwide perinatal programs and projects at over 30 hospitals in California, Nevada, and Arizona. Additionally, Brenda has participated as a consultant and expert panel member on several state-wide projects to improve women’s health and decrease maternal mortality.
Amy Doroy, RN, Ph.D., M.S., N.E.A.-B.C.
Intensive Care Unit
Amy first joined UC Davis Medical Center in 1998 as a Nurse Intern in the Medical ICU. In the Medical ICU, she has held the CNI, CNII, CNIII, and ANII positions. Since 2010, she has served as the manager of the Medical ICU. Throughout her career at UC Davis, Amy has participated in several key hospital projects, such as Epic go-lives, ICU throughput initiatives, and numerous quality and safety projects. Amy is currently the co-chair of the code blue committee, co-facilitates the Critical Care New Graduate Fellowship Program and is the co-lead of the ICU early mobility program initially started through grant funding from the Gordon and Betty Irene Moore Foundation in 2012. Amy is also a graduate of Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing MS-L program in 2012 and PhD in 2016.
Amy has received several awards including a Leadership Award from ACNL, Dean’s Team award and a Daisy Nurse Excellence Award. She is a member of several professional societies including the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, American Nurses Association, American College of Healthcare Executives and HIMSS.
Joleen Lonigan, DNP, RN, N.E.-B.C., F.A.C.H.E.
Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Patient Care Services
Joleen Lonigan received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Dominican College of San Rafael in 1999 and her Master of Science in Nursing degree from Holy Names University in Oakland, California in 2004. Joleen attended the Wharton Nursing Leaders Program in 2012, FEMA Health Care Leadership Training in 2015, and the AONL Director Fellowship in 2020. She completed her Doctorate in Nurse Practice in Executive Leadership in May 2024 from Old Dominion University.
She is a member of the American Nurses Association, American Organization of Nurse Executives, American College of Healthcare Executives, and California Association of Healthcare Leaders. Joleen was an active board member of CAHL from 2017-2020 and remains a member of the Clinical Leaders Council post her board activity. She was invited to serve on the regional ACHE RAC in 2023-2024. Joleen is a Sacramento native who started her new graduate nurse career at UC Davis Medical Center in Pediatrics. Joleen worked in Pediatrics inpatient nursing for ten years. She transferred to Patient Care Resources in 2009 as assistant nurse manager and then in 2010 she accepted the nurse manager position for the department. In 2016 she accepted her current ACNO & Executive Director position in Patent Care Services.
She is active in organizational-wide initiatives such as Length of Stay Reduction, Patient Flow Improvements, Care Management & TOC, Governance, Magnet Designation, Suicide and Ligature Workflow and Succession Planning, and Sustainability. She actively disseminates the outcomes of the work she has led and shares the findings in regional and national level venues.
Melissa Soderlund, RN, M.S.
Clinical Director of Oncology Services
UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
Melissa Soderlund has been a nurse for over 25 years and during this time has been a nurse leader for over 11 years. The last 15 years she has served the outpatient oncology population and has a passion for mentoring new leaders and team members, program development, and bridging cancer care services throughout the health care system. Melissa earned her BSN at Chico State University and a Masters in Nursing Leadership at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. She joined the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Team in January 2021 as the Adult Clinic Nurse Manager and looks forward to continuing to support oncology operations in the her new role as the interim clinical director.
Rupy Sandhu
Wendy Willson, RN, M.S.N., N.E.A.-B.C., C.N.O.R.
Executive Director Perioperative Services
Wendy Willson oversees: All Operating Rooms (ORs) and Pre-op and Post-Anesthesia Recovery Units (PACU) in the main Pavilion, Children’s Surgery Center and the Same Day Surgery Center, as well as the Surgical Admissions Center, Central Sterile Processing functions, the GI Endoscopy Lab and Interventional Pulmonary Services.
Responsibilities include the day to day operations of 34 ORs, with over 25,500 surgical cases per year. In spring 2021, we will open six additional ORs with 27 PACU bays in the University Tower Surgery Suite. Wendy works in a collaborative model with the Perioperative Medical Director.
Wendy joined UC Davis Health in May of 2017 after relocating from Chicago where she was the Director of Surgical Services at Northwestern Memorial.
Wendy’s career has focused on Perioperative Services and she has progressed through leadership positions from staff nurse, team leader, clinical nurse specialist, manager and director. She graduated with her Nursing Diploma in Toronto, Ontario, Canada where she worked in an academic medical center. She spent several years working in an active trauma center at King Fahad Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia prior to relocating to Chicago.
Wendy received her Master’s in Nursing from Loyola University in Chicago. She maintained her advance practice status as a Clinical Nurse Specialist focused in Perioperative Nursing for many years. She holds certifications in OR nursing and Nurse Executive Advanced Certification. Wendy is a member of the following professional organizations: American Nurses Association (ANA), American Association of Nurse Executives, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses and the American College of Healthcare Executives and California Association of Healthcare Leaders.
Leah Mejia, M.P.A., P.H.R.
Director, Business Operations
Patient Care Services
The Business Office handles the financial, budgetary, and business related operations for the Patient Care Services Division. This includes development and oversight of operating expense and revenue budgets, financial analysis and reporting, census and budget analysis projections, as well as development of FTE, budget control, and budget implementation procedures.
The Nursing Unit Support Services department coordinates, maintains, evaluates, researches and corrects any issues that pertain to safety, medical products and environment for all departments within Patient Care Services. This includes procurement of complex or highly technical supplies, capital and non-capital equipment, capital improvement projects, equipment inventory, and development and renewal of vendor contracts.
