Chief clinical officer of INTEGRIS Health, Julie Watson, M.D., MPH, has a long tenure with the health system – previously serving as Chief Medical Officer at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center and as Vice President of Medical Affairs. A native Oklahoman, Watson received her medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, after which she completed her pediatric residency at Rush University Medical Center and her neonatal-perinatal fellowship at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois – Chicago. We recently caught up with Watson and got her thoughts on …
… what interested her most about neonatal-perinatal medicine and healthcare leadership.
I grew up on a farm in Oklahoma, and even though no one in my family was a doctor or in medicine, I remember being clear from a young age that I wanted to be a doctor. I saw how both of the family doctors in my hometown, Dr. Rice and Dr. Fox, used their skill and scientific knowledge to help others in very meaningful ways and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
Growing up, you could find me in the church nursery and babysitting as often as I could, so pediatrics was always on the radar. I fell in love with neonatology on my first day in the NICU during my pediatric internship, though. Taking care of sick newborns and preterm infants became my passion, and I never looked back after that day.
I’ve sought out leadership roles throughout my educational and professional journey – from serving as the president of a volunteer fraternity at OU, serving as a trustee for Region IX of the American Medical Student Association in med school, to becoming the president of over 500 residents and fellows at Rush University Medical Center. After five years of focusing on my clinical career in neonatology when I returned to Oklahoma after fellowship, I caught the leadership bug again here at INTEGRIS Health. I served as the department chair for Pediatrics for five years before becoming the chief medical officer of INTEGRIS Health Baptist Medical Center. The opportunity to combine my clinical expertise with leadership roles has been incredibly fulfilling and aligns to my passion — improving the conditions around me so that others fulfill their purpose and collectively improve the lives of our patients, colleagues and the community.
… a day in the life.
I start every morning with a tiered huddle that allows me to get the pulse of the entire organization by 9:15. After that, it’s off to the races working on strategy and projects designed to help us deliver on our mission – partnering with people to live healthier lives.
I oversee the ‘Evidence-Based Clinical Excellence’ strategy and co-lead our ‘Partnerships for Healthy Communities’ strategy. I get to work with initiative owners who design innovative work to drive key outcome improvements. I also get to lead our teams that oversee safety, quality, infection prevention, experience, clinical programs, medical staff and APP governance, community health and partnerships and more. Suffice it to say, it is never a dull day, and it typically involves a lot of meetings.
… the best part of her day.
I feel so blessed to work with the teams around me. I don’t think you could find more dedicated, mission-driven people. The days that I get to round on our caregivers and clinicians bring me the most joy. That’s what I get up to do every day – remove obstacles and improve their conditions, so that they can take great care of our patients and each other. Seeing them in action is what keeps me going.
… advice for young physicians interested in clinical care and administrative leadership.
I have been blessed to do both. I spent a decade as a full-time neonatologist before shifting into part-time administrative work and then full-time administrative work during the pandemic. I loved the time I spent taking care of patients and their families one by one.
As my leadership roles and scope grew, I realized that I also loved solving big problems, creating teams and spaces that tackled systems needing improvement, that could lead to large-scale impact for the better. My advice is two-part: You absolutely can do both and we need physicians and APPs to do both! And you can start by raising your hand, sharing your ideas on how to make a process better, contributing your perspective to help solve a problem, volunteering for a committee or workgroup. You never know where it will lead you!
… her proudest moments.
In 2020, I lead our team of physician leaders through the journey of modernizing our medical staff governance structures and processes, which help ensure the quality, professionalism and health of the medical staff within a healthcare organization. It took 18 months to align all of our hospital medical staffs, but it has paid dividends. We have state-of-the-art processes that help physicians and advance practice providers govern themselves and the clinical care given to our patients. It has transformed our culture and contributed to how we perform clinically.
In the clinical enterprise, we have seen significant improvements in the last five years in safety and quality. We have reduced serious safety events by 74% and are performing in the top quartile and decile in central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), improving from the bottom quartile. Our ambulatory quality metrics have also improved significantly in the space of diabetes management, cancer screening and depression screening and follow up.
I am also passionate about helping develop the next generation of health care leaders — both physicians and advance practice providers (APPs). In 2021, we were the first in the state to establish an Office of Advanced Practice. In 2022, we established the INTEGRIS Health Physician and APP Leadership Institute. Our Emerging Leader Academy has graduated 92 physicians and APPs in the last three years; 26 have gone on to hold hospital, medical group and system-level leadership positions. We just started our fourth cohort and will graduate another 35 leaders in June of 2026.
… life outside work.
You can find me spending time with my family or being active. My kids are very active and it keeps us busy! Pilates, yoga, running and strength training help me keep my sanity. I love to travel any time I get the chance.
