The VCU College of Health Professions’ Department of Health Administration will soon bid farewell to two accomplished faculty members, who are set to retire in the near future.  

They include Jan Clement, Ph.D., Cardwell professor and director of the doctoral program in health services organization and research, and Carolyn “Cindy” Watts, Ph.D., Sentara professor in the Department of Health Administration.

Clement has dedicated more than 30 years to the department, serving as a faculty member, as well as program director and interim chair during a time of transition between chairs. In 1994, Clement was the first female faculty member to earn tenure in the department.

Specializing in healthcare financial management, she has published numerous articles about the financial performance of hospital firms, strategic alliances and subsidiaries of larger firms. She has also studied not-for-profit firms extensively, including the returns provided by not-for-profit acute care hospitals to communities, financial management tools for not-for-profit firms, and provision of charity care in the face of market competition. Clement also completed studies with regard to the relationship of financial performance of skilled nursing facilities to their quality of care.

Watts joined VCU as the Richard M Bracken Chair of Health Administration in 2010 and served as department chair until 2019. She is currently the interim MSHA program director.

Watts studied economics at the Johns Hopkins University, and her research has focused on organizational, reimbursement and regulatory issues in healthcare markets. Her previous research explored the impact of various legislative initiatives on health insurance risk pools and the implementation of various hospital reimbursement models and medical home demonstration projects in Washington State.

She has worked with the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association on a project to measure value in Virginia hospitals. She also was an inaugural member of the planning committee for the Virginia Healthcare Innovators Awards, and served on an Institute of Medicine Task Force to evaluate the Lovell Federal Heath Care Center Merger. Watts has completed several projects on various aspects of prison health care for the Virginia State Department of Corrections. She serves on the Board of Health Brigade, a free clinic in Richmond, as well as various committees with AUPHA (Association of University Programs in Health Administration).

“I am thankful to these two remarkable individuals for their longstanding commitment to fostering and building exceptional leaders in healthcare,” said Paula H. Song, Ph.D., Richard M. Bracken Chair of the Department of Health Administration. “The success of our programs and numerous accomplishments throughout the department are a testament to the strong foundation they have each helped to build.  I sincerely wish Jan and Cindy the best as they each begin a well-deserved and exciting new chapter.”

The VCU Department of Health Administration is a premiere research department geared toward creating innovative, compassionate, and business-savvy leaders to reimagine healthcare. The Master of Health Administration program is rated in the top five among its peers in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

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Malorie Burkett
VCU College of Health Professions
mgburkett@vcu.edu