HONOLULU – The Queen’s Health System (QHS) has announced the appointments of three new directors.
Mary Bedell, APRN, ACNS-BC, MSN, has been named Director of Vaccination Clinics at The Queen’s Medical Center (QMC).
In this role, Bedell has overall accountability for the vaccination clinics throughout the organization, including all areas of administrative, operational and financial responsibility. She is also responsible for developing and maintaining effective partnerships with community institutions, agencies, organizations and providers.
Bedell’s career in health care started in Oregon where she worked for Salem Health in the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department. She then went back to school and earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Science in Nursing, and Adult Clinical Nurse Specialist Certification (ACNS-BC), and took on the role of Heart Failure Clinical Nurse Specialist.
Bedell then returned to her hometown of San Gabriel, California where she worked at Huntington Memorial Hospital as an Emergency Department/Psych/Procedural CNS. She moved to Hawai’i in November 2018 and joined The Queen’s Medical Center as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist in the Acute Care Surgical Units.
Laura Kau‘ionalani Nishizaki, LCSW, LMSW, has been promoted to Director of Native Hawaiian Health at QHS.
Nishizaki will provide leadership in the development and implementation of strategic and innovative initiatives to further the organization’s mission to improve the health and well-being of Native Hawaiians and all of the people of Hawaiʻi.
Nishizaki joined QMC in 2017 as a Project Coordinator/Social Worker for the Ke Ku‘una Na‘au Native Hawaiian Patient Navigation Program. Two years later, she was named a Manager for the Native Hawaiian Health Department where she led the successful implementation of the Native Hawaiian Health Strategic Plan, Kahua Ola.
During the pandemic, Nishizaki has risen to the challenge to serve as co-lead for the Social Support and Recovery Committee, and remains a member of both the Data Committee as well as the Testing, Tracing, Isolation and Vaccine (TTIV) Committee for the Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (NHPI) COVID-19 Recovery Response Resilience (3R) Team, a consortium of organizations working to reduce the impact of COVID-19. Through this effort, she has not only forged important relationships with the NHPI community, but has become a key advocate and community liaison for the Queen’s Corps mobile vaccination efforts.
Warren Yamamoto has been named Director of Administrative Services for Queen’s Medical Group (QMG), which comprises more than 230 employed physicians covering 17 subspecialties, including hospital-based and primary care services.
In his new role, Yamamoto will provide leadership in the development and implementation of strategic and innovative initiatives to further the mission of The Queen’s Health System.
Yamamoto has been with QHS since 2009, having served in various roles including Contract Liaison, Contract Specialist, Manager of Physician Contracts and Compensation, and Manager of Medical Staff Services. He is a graduate of the University of Hawaiʻi’s William S. Richardson School of Law.
