Deborah Baker, D.N.P., C.R.N.P.

Credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Deborah Baker, D.N.P., C.R.N.P., has been appointed to the newly created position of senior vice president for nursing for the Johns Hopkins Health System. She will also serve concurrently as the vice president of nursing and patient care services for The Johns Hopkins Hospital, an interim role she has held since September 2015.

In her new role, beginning July 1, Baker will partner with the chief nursing officers across Johns Hopkins Medicine to ensure integration of services and alignment with the health system’s strategic goals and objectives, including the provision of quality services and strengthening of the enterprise as a true full-service, integrated health system.

“Throughout Deb’s accomplished career here, she has exhibited a talent for building coalitions and leading in complex environments, leveraging her extensive institutional and clinical knowledge, and developing constructive business relationships across diverse groups,” says Ronald R. Peterson, president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System and executive vice president of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Deb is a truly devoted visionary, a collaborative leader and distinctly qualified to help coordinate and advance our nursing practice in The Johns Hopkins Hospital and across the health system.”

After a national search that attracted excellent candidates from a number of academic medical centers and health systems, Baker was selected because of her deep appreciation for the culture of Johns Hopkins, the excellent relations she has built within The Johns Hopkins Hospital and throughout the health system, her excellent clinical acumen, and natural leadership instincts she brings to the role as a progressive nursing executive.

In her most recent role as interim vice president for nursing and patient care services for the hospital, Baker has been instrumental in expanding the professional practice and clinical standards of nursing, as well as advancing the hospital’s recruitment, education, and patient safety and research efforts.

With more than 24 years of service at Johns Hopkins, Baker has served in a variety of roles, including clinical care nurse, clinical instructor, acute care nurse practitioner, advanced practice manager, co-director of the postgraduate surgical physician assistant residency program, assistant director and director of nursing.

“I am honored to receive these appointments, and I carry a tremendous amount of respect for this institution,” says Baker. “My path into the field of nursing began at Johns Hopkins, and I am pleased that the journey will continue. I look forward to working with our Hopkins teams to advance the mission of a world-class health system.”

Baker first came to Johns Hopkins as a student, earning her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

Baker has been married to Ron de Guzman for 23 years. They have three children: Roxanne, 21, a rising senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Peter, 19, a rising junior at Tufts University; and Elizabeth, 14, an eighth grade student.