Dr. Sara Kelly named chief medical officer

Rapides Regional Medical Center has named Sara Kelly, DO, chief medical officer. She began in mid-October.

An emergency room physician with more than 15 years of hospital experience, Dr. Kelly most recently served as a physician consultant for Christus Health in the Louisiana and Southeast Texas region, where she coordinated initiatives for inpatient length of stay reduction and enhanced ancillary services throughput strategies for inpatient and emergency department care. She also assisted with educational improvements for physicians and helped establish a clinical clerkship program for medical students at Christus Cabrini Hospital.

Dr. Kelly is board certified in emergency medicine and serves as an adjunct assistant clinical professor at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine in Monroe, Louisiana. She earned her medical degree from Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines, Iowa, a Master’s in Healthcare Administration from Louisiana State University Shreveport, and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Kelly has lived and practiced in Alexandria for 16 years. She previously owned CenLa Urgent Care and worked as the facility’s medical director and lab director.

She is the founder and president of CenLa Alliance for Animals, on the board of directors for River Oaks Arts Center and an active member of 100 Women Who Care.