Palomar Health CEO and leadership

Ryan Olsen is a Chief Executive Officer - Palomar Health Medical Group at PALOMAR HEALTH and is based in Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. He has worked as Chief Operating Officer at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center; Vice President of Operations, St Jude Medical Center at Providence; and Fellow & Intern at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Ryan studied at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and UC San Diego.

Experienced CEO and CFO with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital & health care industry. Strong executive and finance professional skilled in Healthcare Management.

Sheila Brown is a health care executive with more than 25 years of experience in health care administration. She began her career in St. Louis, MO at BJC Health System where she served on the management team before branching into California where she joined Palomar Health in 1992.



In her role as Chief Operations Officer, Sheila is responsible for all operational aspects of Palomar Health, which includes 395 licensed acute care hospital beds and a 129-bed skilled nursing facility, as well as Ambulatory Services.



Prior to becoming Chief Operations Officer, Sheila was Vice President, Continuum Care. Her responsibilities included overseeing the operations of the Inpatient Acute Rehabilitation Unit, Skilled Nursing Facility, Home Health Services, Ambulatory Care Services, and Palomar Health Expresscare Clinics where she developed the Health Districts’ first retail health clinics in California, along with the development of a hospital campus outpatient pharmacy, retail center and Starbucks.



She led the Service Excellence initiative, resulting in a movement from 11th percentile ranking to the 81st percentile ranking in Patient Satisfaction nationally (Press Ganey measurement), throughout a three-year period. In addition, she led the Palomar Health team in obtaining the Community-Based Care Transitions Program (CCTP) with CMS, Scripps, Sharp, and UCSD hospitals, and the San Diego County Aging and Independent Services, the largest project to date funded by CMS. Recently, she established the Behavioral Health Hospitalist program and secured the Palomar Health/Kindred partnership to establish a rehabilitation hospital.



Sheila received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. Louis University and a Masters in Business Administration from University of Phoenix. She is a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives and served as a Board Member-At-Large for San Diego Organization of Healthcare Leaders. Sheila is a past Chair (2009) for the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce and more recently (2018) the Chair of North County Health Services. She has also been a member of California Hospital Association, Post-Acute Care Services Board. Additionally, she serves on the California State San Marcos University Community Council.



On a personal level, Sheila is extremely proud of her supportive husband and two wonderful children, and is a keen advocate for strong family and community values.

Palomar Health welcomed Geoff Washburn as the Chief Human Resources Officer in fall 2018. He brings more than 30 years of experience to our team.

Geoff has spent his entire career in the healthcare field and has worked in nearly all facets of human resources. He is a highly regarded leader with extensive experience and strength in labor/employee relations, recruitment and retention, compensation and benefits, leadership development and HR information.

Most recently, Geoff was the Vice President of Human Resources in Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, California where he was responsible for more than 1,700 employees and 600 physicians across four locations. In this role, he led the shift of the HR department to a comprehensive HR business partner model, advanced their Lawson reporting and worked to improve regular compliance.

With a focus on being high-touch, responsive and customer-focused, Geoff brings the knowledge and leadership skills that will not only sustain, but improve our HR process.

Kevin Debruin is an Interim Chief Legal Officer at PALOMAR HEALTH.

Prior to assuming his current role as Chief Nursing Officer, Mel Russell served as the Director of Clinical Operations and the Director of Critical Care Services. He is a nursing leader with more than a decade of leadership experience in hospital settings.

Russell is committed to quality and safety, patient experience, and employee engagement. He has a proven record of accomplishment in process improvement, finance, and survey readiness.

His nursing career began in 1996 and he has been involved in a multitude of clinical, operational, and leadership roles. Russell has provided direction in concurrent roles as the Director for Critical Care, Trauma Program, Joint Dialysis Operations and the Float Pool.

Russell holds a Master’s of Science in Nursing with a reputation for aligning and building high-performing and outcome-driven teams.

Omar Khawaja, MD, MBA, was named Chief Medical Officer for Palomar Health in 2018. Previously, he served as the Medical Director of the Interventional Platform for Palomar Health as well as the Medical Director for Supply Chain Services. Dr. Khawaja currently oversees the Interventional Platform and Physician Development for the Organization and is member of the Executive Team.



He received his Doctor of Medicine Degree from the University of California San Francisco, completed his residency at the Harvard School of Medicine and earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University. Dr. Khawaja began his medical career in Anesthesiology with Anesthesia Consultants of California Medical Group in 2009 and continues to practice with the group.



Dr. Khawaja resides in San Diego with his wife and two children.