CLEVELAND — "A boss lady is somebody who boldly chooses her own direction. She gets stuff done, she often strays from the conventional path and blazes her own trail. She often works towards a higher purpose outside of her own personal success." - Maggie Sullivan, author of "Boss Ladies of CLE"
It takes a lot to run a hospital, and soon, Dr. Robyn Strosaker will be running three of them. Earlier this month, she was named president and COO of University Hospitals Lake Health Medical Centers.
"I am very excited for this opportunity to join the UH Lake team," Stosaker said in a statement to 3News. "Cynthia Moore-Hardy has left an incredible legacy and I am honored to be able to lead this team. I am looking forward to building clinical programs and developing teams to assure that we are delivering the highest value care close to home and continue to be the health system that our caregivers trust with their careers."
She takes this next step up the boss lady ladder in June. Previously, she was COO at UH Cleveland Medical Center, and has been with the organization her entire career.
"It has been an incredible privilege to be part of the leadership team at CMC and I am very proud of the inspirational care delivered by our CMC team," she continued. "I will certainly miss my amazing CMC colleagues but look forward to being able to support the UH mission from my new role at UH Lake."
"I came here right out of medical school as an intern at Rainbow [Babies and Children's Hospital]," Strosaker told 3News anchor Sara Shookman in a recent interview. "I always wanted to be a doctor."
In those 22 years with University Hospitals, she has continued as a practicing pediatrician while also becoming a hospital administrator.
"I love my job right now," she said. "I feel like I can touch lots and lots of people and make care better for lots of people every day, but seeing patients in the office, that really fills my soul."
The last two years have contained some of the highest and lowest moments of that journey.
"The early days of the pandemic were some of the most challenging of my career," she recalled. "There was so much. We didn't know, we didn't know how to treat COVID. We didn't know how bad things were gonna get."
Through it all, Strosaker says, it was trying to take care of the caregivers that was the real challenge.
"As a leader, you have to check yourself," she explained. "I had to be able to stay calm, stay steady, and be able to provide that reassurance and direction that we were doing everything we could to take care of them."
When vaccines became available, Strosaker was put in charge of the UH plan to get them in arms.
"The first day that vaccine clinic opened and we were vaccinating the 80-plus-year-olds, that was one of the better days of my career," she said. "People were so happy and so excited and cheering, and it was really, really fun."
Beyond the hospital you’re likely to find Robyn in on the sidelines at sports fields. She's a mom to three teenage boys—her oldest graduates this year.
"My son graduating this year is on the autism spectrum, and so that's been a real different transition," Strosaker admirred. "It's really just finding the right vocational environment for him when we graduate. Then I'm starting the college visits with my second, so yeah, a lot going on in the Strosaker house right now."
She also mentors young women interested in medicine like herself. Her best advice?
"Recognize that you can really do anything you want, but not everything you want," she answered. "You have to stay focused on what's really most important to you and, and keep your eye on that prize."
Strosaker's onto the next challenge: Managing thousands of team members at UH Lake West, UH TriPoint, and UH Beachwood Medical Centers while hoping to fill many open positions.
"We really do have a shortage of caregivers in every job category," she said. "I think our caregivers are even more tired in this stretch than they were at the beginning of the pandemic, and I think, you know, people may not see that."
A Boss Lady with the perspective, making an impact for patients and colleagues alike.
"I really enjoy every day coming to work and just being able to serve our patients, serve my team and serve the community."