Tonya brings to University Hospital her extensive health care human resources leadership experience across multiple large health care systems. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Human Resources & Organization Development at Maimonides Medical Center. Maimonides is Brooklyn’s largest health care system, providing more than 1 million patient visits a year, and it employs more than 1,800 physicians across three hospitals and more than 80 community practices and outpatient centers. At Maimonides, Tonya led enterprise HR strategy and advanced talent acquisition, labor relations, employee engagement, leadership development, compensation practices, and training/learning experiences.

She previously served as Executive Director of Human Resources and Academic Affairs at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, the academic medical center of Columbia University and affiliation with the largest campus of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, which is also the home of Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital and its Level I Pediatric Trauma Center. At Columbia, she was instrumental in supporting faculty practice operations for ColumbiaDoctors and driving governance and strategy in an academic medical center environment. As the inaugural Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, she built the Staff Diversity Council and developed a strategic approach to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, including establishing employee resource groups, leadership engagement initiatives, and other priority initiatives.

Tonya began her career at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn working in employee and labor relations. Her experience includes a strong focus on organizational development, including process improvement, union partnerships, employee satisfaction, and HR customer service. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Human Resources Management and Development from New York University.