Diana Hendel, CEO of Long Beach Memorial, Community Hospital Long Beach and Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, was recently honored with the Women in Health Administration’s Woman of the Year Award, becoming the eighth person to receive the honor during the group’s 32-year history.

Hendel, PharmD, has been an executive with the MemorialCare Healthcare System for more than 20 years and has been leading the not-for-profit’s Long Beach hospitals since 2009, after serving as COO. She is CEO of the largest hospital campus headed by a female executive in the West.

Previously, Hendel was an administrator of Saddleback Memorial Medical Center San Clemente and executive director of MemorialCare’s Physician Integration & Strategy. She holds a B.S. in biology from University of California Irvine and a Doctor of Pharmacy from University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and serves on many boards including Hospital Association of Southern California, California Children’s Hospital Association and the Long Beach Police Foundation Advisory Board. Last year, the Post named her one of Long Beach’s most powerful people.  

Women in Health Administration of Southern California is a nonprofit professional association dedicated to supporting the growth and advancement of women working in administrative healthcare positions. Since 1981 it has provided education, development and mentoring for women in healthcare as well as promoted the visibility of women in the industry. Hendel’s honor was presented at the organization’s annual event which was held in Long Beach on May 22.