Candace ifabiyi | va st louis health care | veterans affairs

Candace Ifabiyi is the CEO/Director of the VA St. Louis Health Care System. Ms. Candace Ifabiyi was appointed as CEO/Director of the VA St. Louis Health Care System, in St. Louis, Mo., on

Jan. 29, 2023. In this role, Ms. Ifabiyi oversees a level 1B complexity system with two hospitals, the John Cochran hospital in St. Louis and Jefferson Barracks hospital in South St. Louis

County. The VA St. Louis Health Care System has 337 hospital beds and includes 4 community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) with a $1.0 billion budget and more than 3,500 employees. VA St.

Louis Health Care System continues to be a 5-Star rated system in Quality by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) in their Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings, one of only

three hospitals in this area to receive 5 stars. CMS also awarded VA St. Louis with a 4-Star rating in Patient Satisfaction, also one of only three hospitals in the area to receive 4 stars.

No healthcare system in the St. Louis area achieved 5 stars. Ms. Ifabiyi was previously the first woman CEO/Director of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, in Wichita, Kansas, since August

2020. In that role, she oversaw a level 2 complexity hospital with 5 CBOCs, with an operating budget of over $360 million, and more than 1,500 employees. Prior to Wichita, Ms. Ifabiyi was

the Associate Director/COO of the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Ill. In that role, she had oversight of the facility’s $730 million budget and ensured operational efficiency for a

Level 1A, 483-bed hospital with 6 community-based outpatient clinics and 3,700 employees. Ms. Ifabiyi is a Veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves and started her VA career in 2006 as a GS-5

supply specialist at the Memphis VA Medical Center. During her VA career, Ms. Ifabiyi has held various positions to include serving as Acting Hospital Director at the Northeast Ohio

Healthcare System in Cleveland, Ohio. In this capacity, she managed a VHA healthcare system that was among the top 5 most complex in the country. At the Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, she

oversaw a $1.1 billion budget and provided strategic leadership for a Level 1A, 674-bed hospital with 13 CBOCs, 1 stand-alone outpatient surgery center, 1 stand-alone dialysis center, and

over 5,400 employees. Ms. Ifabiyi also served as the Acting Hospital Director of the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital and the Illiana Health Care System in Illinois. Ms. Ifabiyi has held

positions at VA Central Office in Washington, D.C., to include VHA’s Office of Policy and Planning and VHA’s Office of Patient Care Services. While in the Office of the Assistant Deputy

Under Secretary for Health for Workforce Services, she managed a $1.2 billion budget and supported the integration of policy and operations for 5 national programs that impacted more than

300,000 VHA employees and over 120,000 health profession trainees. Ms. Ifabiyi obtained a Master of Science in Business Administration (MSBA) and Master of Health Administration (MHA) from

The University of Memphis. She is a recipient of the 2021 Wichita Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and was named 2022 Executive of the Year in Wichita. In 2022, under her leadership, Wichita’s

Dole VA Medical Center received the prestigious Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Dole VA is one of three hospitals in the entire state

of Kansas to receive the recognition. She was also awarded the Distinguished Young Alumni Award from the University of Memphis in 2023 and was presented with an official Key to the City of

St. Charles in 2023 for supporting Veterans.