Meet Jannet Ward, executive director of Laboratory at Kettering Medical Center. Jannet was born in Jamaica and migrated to the United States to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. After graduation, she worked as a clinical scientist for the George Washington University Hospital before working at a few other health systems across the country as she advanced her career. In the summer of 2017 she began working at Kettering Health Network as the Kettering Medical Center interim laboratory director, before taking on the role of executive network director in March of 2018.
Jannet had planned on continuing to be interim laboratory leader or consultant—come in, observe, assess, recommend and move on to the next engagement—but once she had a taste of the Kettering culture, it was difficult to not want to stay and take on this journey of growth and development at Kettering Health Network. Not only did she love the opportunity to help advance laboratory technology, but she appreciated that meeting devotions were the norm and there was a genuine practice of welcoming God into the workplace. There were many times that she thought to herself, “where is this place? What is this place called, Shangri-La? Closer to heaven?”
Among many accomplishments throughout her career she specifically recalls two of her greatest as being able to transform the laboratories by providing advanced testing and facility technology and implementing the Dayton area’s first total robotic/automation laboratory system. Despite those achievements, the most rewarding accomplishment of her career has been the ability to lead the challenges of providing COVID-19 testing to support patients, clinicians, and the community during this pandemic. “The laboratory scientists, CCRT, and Incident Command teams were caring, considerate, and collaborative which made a tremendous difference in what must be one of the most physically and emotionally charged health care experiences of our time.”
The collaboration and teamwork from her team and their yearning to learn and grow as they deliver the best care they can to our patients is what inspires her and keeps her team fully charged each week. A piece of advice she leaves us with is to, “Follow you dreams. As an African American woman, it has not always been a smooth ride—as a matter of fact, far from it. I am most grateful to have been trusted to achieve. I often share that we must persevere through difficulties and always, always seek and hold on to a God-given purpose.” Ward is also a mom of two children, daughter Mercedes and son Martin.