Mountain View, Calif., April 21, 2010--The District Board of Directors of El Camino Hospital, the hospital of Silicon Valley, elected Patricia A. Einarson, M.D., M.B.A., as the newest member of the Hospital Board of Directors and appointed her to the District Board of Directors. Dr. Einarson fills the seat left vacant after Mark O'Connor's recent resignation and will be sworn in on May 12 at a special District Board meeting.
Several candidates were reviewed according to the board's established protocol for filling seats between elections. Once certified by the county Election Board, Dr. Einarson will serve on the boards until November, when she will be required to run for re-election along with other board members whose terms are expiring.
"We are very pleased to have Dr. Einarson join our team," said Board Chairperson Wesley Alles. "She brings a diverse background, complete with leadership experience in the business, technology and medical fields, which will support our important mission of providing quality care to the public in a community hospital setting."
Dr. Einarson is board-certified in family medicine and currently works as a child, adolescent and adult eating disorders specialist in Mountain View as well as a founding advisor to ePATIENTS, an internet start-up in Palo Alto, serving healthcare providers and chronically ill patients. Dr. Einarson was the co-chief resident at the San Jose Medical Center from 2003-2004 after which she was in private practice in Mountain View from 2005-2010.
Before medicine, Dr. Einarson's career began in the business and technology sectors in 1980 with positions in marketing and internal venture capital with Hewlett-Packard and Tandem Computers. From 1991-1996 she served as president of Ansyr Consulting based in Los Altos. Dr. Einarson is a graduate of Stanford Medical School, holds a Master's of Business Administration from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in management science from University of California, San Diego.
"I am very excited for the opportunity to serve my community and bring my expertise in medicine, technology and business to bear for the residents of the communities we serve," said Dr. Einarson. "We have an excellent team at El Camino Hospital and I look forward to working together to foster and grow this institution through the years ahead."
The El Camino Hospital District was established by voter approval in 1956 in accordance with California Local Hospital District Law. The purpose of the District is to establish, maintain and operate or provide assistance in the operation of health facilities and other health care services provider, groups and organizations that are necessary for the maintenance of good physical and mental health in the communities served by the District. The District, now known as El Camino Healthcare District, encompasses most of Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills; a large portion of Sunnyvale, and small sections of Cupertino, Santa Clara, and Palo Alto. The publicly elected El Camino Healthcare District Board of Directors approves tax dollar expenditures, including expenditures for the award winning Community Benefit program. Community Benefit funds are granted each year to local nonprofits, schools and government programs that provide critical health services to the underserved. All District Board meetings are publicly noticed, open to the public, and available for viewing on the District website.