Lynnette Watkins, M.D., is a board certified physician executive with experience in staff development, strategic planning and growth, operation management, and physician alignment.

Watkins joined Phoenix Baptist Hospital in 2013 and is responsible for medical staff affairs, credentialing, quality and safety, risk management and the Family Medicine Program.

In a previous role, Watkins served as vice president and chief medical officer at Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center in Mishawaka, Ind., where she provided oversight of quality and safety, medical staff affairs and credentialing for over 600 physicians, physician recruitment and contracting, integration of multiple collaborative service lines with Loyola University Health Systems, and the Graduate Medical Education program.

Dr. Watkins’s experience also includes CEO and ophthalmic plastic surgeon at The Eye Center Group, LLC and Surgicenter Group, LLC, in Ind., as well as director, Emergency Ophthalmology Service/ Walk-In Clinic at Harvard Medical School/ Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She was responsible for providing leadership and expertise for hospital quality and clinical effectiveness in the ER, evaluating and optimizing the care management approach, and developing processes to assure appropriateness of care including length of stay and ancillary resource utilization.

Watkins maintains numerous hospital and academic appointments, and has authored a variety of clinical article communications including reviews, chapters and editorials.

She is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, American College of Surgeons, and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Watkins received a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Missouri-Kansas City prior to completing a medical residency in ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, in Boston, MA. She is fellowship-trained in in oculoplastic surgery from the University of Iowa.