Women in Health Administration of Southern California (WHA) will hold its 2025 Woman of the Year Gala on Friday, May 16, at the SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills.
Each year, WHA selects an honoree who demonstrates and is aligned with its mission, vision and values from a group of outstanding candidates. The annual gala, widely attended by providers, partners and stakeholders, celebrates the honorees and their contributions.
HASC warmly congratulates the 2025 Woman of the Year, June Simmons, MSW, founding president and chief executive officer of Partners in Care Foundation (PICF). Under Simmons’s leadership, PICF has become nationally known for its Community Care Hub model, which connects providers with community-based services to create equitable health care delivery systems.
In addition, HASC is proud to note the award’s past six recipients are all current or former executives at member hospitals:
- Lara Khouri, president and chief operating officer, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (2016)
- Johnese Spisso, president, UCLA Health (2017)
- Margaret Peterson, PhD, former president, Dignity Health-California Hospital Medical Center (2018)
- Shawn Sheffield, chief strategy officer, Keck Medicine of USC (2019)
- Jill Martin, executive vice president, Cedars-Sinai (2022)
- Julie Sprengel, president/CEO, California Region, CommonSpirit Health (2023)
Khouri, Spisso, Dr. Peterson, Sheffield and Martin will also serve as panelists at this year’s event. To learn more and register for the Woman of the Year gala, please visit the event web page.
WHA is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) professional association and designated Women’s Healthcare Executive Network affiliate of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Its mission is to support professional growth and advancement for women in health care administrative positions. Learn more at https://whasocal.org.