Candace Ifabiyi MHA,MSBA,FACHE

Ms. Candace Ifabiyi was appointed as CEO/Director of the St. Louis Health Care System, in St. Louis, Missouri on January 29, 2023. In this role, Ms. Ifabiyi oversees a level 1A complexity system with two hospitals, the John Cochran hospital in St. Louis and Jefferson Barracks hospital in South St. Louis County. The St. Louis VA System is a 337-bed hospital and includes 8 community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) with a $880 million budget and more than 3,200 employees.

Ms. Ifabiyi was previously the first woman CEO/Director of the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, in Wichita, Kansas, since August 2020. In that role, she oversaw a level 2 complexity hospital with 5 CBOCs, with an operating budget of over $360 million, and more than 1,500 employees. Prior to Wichita, Ms. Ifabiyi was the Associate Director/COO of the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, IL. In that role, she had oversight of the facility’s $730 million budget and ensured operational efficiency for a Level 1A, 483-bed hospital with 6 community-based outpatient clinics and 3,700 employees.

Ms. Ifabiyi is a Veteran of the U.S. Army Reserves that started her VA career in 2006 as a GS-5 supply specialist at the Memphis VA Medical Center. During her VA career, Ms. Ifabiyi has held various positions to include serving as Acting Hospital Director at the Northeast Ohio Healthcare System in Cleveland Ohio. In this capacity, she managed a VHA healthcare system that was among the top 5 most complex in the country.  At the Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, she oversaw a $1.1 billion budget and provided strategic leadership for a Level 1A, 674-bed hospital with 13 CBOCs, 1 stand-alone outpatient surgery center, 1 stand-alone dialysis center, and over 5,400 employees. Ms. Ifabiyi also served as the Acting Hospital Director of the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital and the Illiana Health Care System in Illinois.

Ms. Ifabiyi has held positions at VA Central Office in Washington, DC, to include VHA’s Office of Policy and Planning and VHA’s Office of Patient Care Services. While in the Office of the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Workforce Services, she managed a $1.2 billion budget and supported the integration of policy and operations for 5 national programs that impacted more than 300,000 VHA employees and over 120,000 health profession trainees. Ms. Ifabiyi obtained a Master of Science in Business Administration (MSBA) and Master of Health Administration (MHA) from The University of Memphis. She is a recipient of the 2021 Wichita Business Journal’s 40 under 40 and was named 2022 Executive of the Year in Wichita, KS. In 2022, under her leadership, Wichita’s Dole VA Medical Center received the prestigious Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Dole VA is one of three hospitals in the entire state of Kansas to receive the recognition.