Leadership Rounds with Dr. Mindy Estes and Claire Zangerle, RN

Please join AHA Board Chair Melinda Estes, M.D., for the tenth in a series of Leadership Rounds — short conversations on a range of key issues Dr. Estes will have with hospital and health system leaders from across the country.

Dr. Estes is joined by Claire Zangerle, MSN, MBA, RN, Chief Nurse Executive at Allegheny Health Network (AHN), to discuss how hospitals can move from relief, recovery, and rebuilding to reimagining and innovation.

This Leadership Rounds was recorded on Thursday, December 3, 2020.

Joining Dr. Estes on Her Rounds

Claire Zangerle, MSN, MBA, RN

Chief Nurse Executive at Allegheny Health Network (AHN)

Claire Zangerle is the Chief Nurse Executive for Allegheny Health Network, responsible for the practice of nursing across the continuum.

As a member of executive leadership, she supports and facilitates the patient-centered care delivery model by creating an environment that promotes high quality and consistency in the standard of practice across all AHN facilities and clinics. She serves as the executive nursing voice of AHN’s more than 3,000 nurses.

Before coming to AHN in 2016, Dr. Zangerle had been the CEO of the Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Ohio, where she led the state’s largest independent non-profit home health and hospice provider. Prior to the VNA, she served in various capacities at the Cleveland Clinic including Chief Nursing Officer and Chair of the Nursing Institute, Director of Quality and Accreditation, and Director of Preventive Cardiology.

She began her nursing career at Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston in cardiothoracic surgery and trauma, and while a nursing student served as a nursing assistant in coronary care at The Methodist Hospital in Houston.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Physiology from Texas A&M University, an Associate Degree in Nursing from Houston Baptist University, a Master of Business Administration from Lake Erie College, a Master of Science in Nursing from Kent State University, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Texas Christian University.

In 2017, Dr. Zangerle was elected to the American Hospital Association’s Board of Trustees for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2018. She serves as President of Southwest Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders and is a board member of the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Nursing Management, coordinating the “Transitions of Care” column.

She also serves on the board of the Nightingale Awards of Pennsylvania, Robert Morris University College of Nursing and Sciences Board of Visitors and United Way Women’s Leadership Council of Pittsburgh. She is a former board member of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, where she now serves on the Chief Nurse Executive Committee.