BD Appoints UCH Head Dr. Carrie Byington to Board

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced that Dr. Carrie L. Byington has been appointed to the company’s board of directors, bringing the total number of directors to 13.
 
Byington, 58, is executive vice president and head of University of California Health (UCH), where she leads the nation’s largest academic health system. UCH’s six academic health centers and 20 health professional schools form a more than $20 billion enterprise providing nationally ranked care, health professional training and biomedical research. UCH’s academic health centers specialize in complex care, including providing half of all transplants and one-fourth of extensive burn care in California. UCH operates or staffs five Level 1 trauma centers, five nationally designated comprehensive cancer centers and five clinical and translational science institutes.
 
“Dr. Byington’s deep experience gained through her leadership positions at some of the nation’s largest health systems brings highly relevant and complementary integrated delivery network perspectives to BD and our board of directors,” said Tom Polen, chairman, CEO and president of BD. “Dr. Byington is joining BD at one of the most exciting times in our company’s history, as we work to advance our BD 2025 strategy and accelerate innovation in smart connected care, enable the transition to new care settings and improve chronic disease outcomes.”
 
Prior to UCH, Byington held leadership roles at Texas A&M University System, including serving concurrently as dean of the College of Medicine and senior vice president of Health Sciences for Texas A&M University and vice chancellor for health services for the Texas A&M 11-campus system. She is the first Hispanic woman to serve in these health leadership roles in the United States. Prior to Texas A&M University System, she spent more than 20 years in teaching and leadership positions with the University of Utah.
 
Byington, an infectious diseases specialist, has received awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and Drexel University College of Medicine’s Institute for Women’s Health and Leadership. Her research has focused on respiratory pathogens, molecular diagnostics and pandemic preparedness. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and National Academy of Inventors. She was the Chair of the Infectious Diseases Advisory Group for the U.S. Olympic Committee, responsible for protecting Team USA athletes and staff from the Zika Virus during the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
 
Byington received her Bachelor of Science in biology from Texas A&M University and Doctor of Medicine from Baylor College of Medicine, both with honors. She is board certified in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases.