Kimberlee Sherbrooke was perfectly happy working as chief operating officer for Indiana University Health Physicians, a large multispecialty group practice in Indianapolis, when she heard from Johns Hopkins. An Indiana native, Sherbrooke already had spent 20 years with the university in various health administration jobs and had been ignoring every other call from a headhunter.

But intrigued by Johns Hopkins’ reputation and environment, Sherbrooke says, “it became clear that it would be a great fit for the next phase of my career.” Last July, she became chief operating officer of the Office of Johns Hopkins Physicians and vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

In her previous post, Sherbrooke brought together about 60 private groups and academic departments, and oversaw practice operations in some 150 locations and physician services in 11 hospitals. She also helped develop a centralized call center focused on singlecall resolution.

She admits her niche is helping to create effective and efficient operations for the delivery of patient care: “I really enjoy working with physicians. They’re brilliant individuals. They have a tough job. I connect well to them, and I want to come alongside of them and really help their practice.”

At Johns Hopkins, Sherbrooke manages many core functions, including the revenue cycle, practice management, physician training, Access Services and telemedicine. She has been working to develo alternative affiliation models with referring and community physicians for the benefit of patients.

“What the marketplace is telling us is physicians are looking for tighter alignments and want options for what that looks like,” she says. “Our work with community physicians must align with our tripartite mission around teaching, patient care, and research, and also support their need for autonomy and control over their own destiny in times of significant change.”

She’s also been studying ambulatory operations at Johns Hopkins and doing some targeted planning for areas where physician services should grow. “I’m loving it,” Sherbrooke says. “Hopkins is everything that I hoped and expected it to be—a fantastic culture, one that is always striving to be the best in the right ways. The focus on quality and safety here is second to none.”

Sherbrooke earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Purdue University and a master’s degree in health administration from Indiana University. She is a fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives and the chair of the American Medical Group Association’s Chief Operating Officer Leadership Council.