Board of Directors

Nancy Johnson, Ph.D.

Nancy Johnson is the former Chief Executive Officer for El Rio Community Health Center, one of the largest federally qualified health centers in the country. She is a registered nurse graduating with a BSN from Illinois Wesleyan University. Dr. Johnson also holds a Master's degree in Nursing from the University of Illinois and a Master's in Marketing and Business from the University of Arizona Eller College.  Her doctoral research focused on provider perspectives in caring for the uninsured population, leading to her Ph.D. in Health Care Administration. 

Nancy has held positions as a clinician, a faculty member in nursing, business, and medicine, and an administrator. She spent over 15 years with Tucson Medical Center, building community health and wellness programs, acquiring and managing medical practices for the TMC system, and expanding community networks. Today, after 14 years of service to El Rio Health, she continues to serve as an adjunct clinical professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the College of Nursing. She has authored a textbook with her husband, entitled “The Care of the Uninsured in America,” and, most recently, an article in Nursing Administration Quarterly on Healthcare for the Homeless. Dr. Johnson is a recent recipient of the University of Arizona’s Cecil B. Hart Humanitarian Award as well as the 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award from Illinois Wesleyan University. Dr. Johnson was named Greater Tucson Leadership’s Woman of the Year in 2021. Since her Fall 2022 retirement as El Rio’s CEO, she has a part-time position at the University of Arizona focused on healthcare workforce strategy.