CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Health System welcomes new medical director

Jose M. Zapatero, M.D., MBA, AOS, has joined CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Health System as the new Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs.

Dr. Zapatero brings a wide range of skills and experience to Central Louisiana, including an impressive business education, a reputation for advancing quality outcomes and even some culinary expertise. He’s been known to trade in his white lab coat for chef’s whites with a commitment to nutrition and heart-healthy eating for himself, his patients and even his colleagues.

Dr. Zapatero is the Associate Editor of the Journal of College of Nutrition and has personally lost more than 70 pounds in order to fend off heart disease.

His impressive education started when he earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He later completed post-graduate work at SUNY Stonybrook, where he earned his medical degree, and at Duke University, where he completed his Master of Business Administration. His passion for nutritious gourmet, healthy cooking and helping patients live healthier lives is evident with his graduation from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America.

He joined CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini Health System from Centra Health, where he served as Medical Director of Clinical Coding, Documentation and Education and developed numerous favorable initiatives for improving a patient’s quality of care.

“I am very passionate about the complex details of delivering health care,” said Dr. Zapatero. “There are some aspects of care that may not always get the most attention – but there are small details like our work in a patient’s chart that are so important to our exceptional delivery day-in-day-out of health care to our patients. We are here to make tremendous impacts on lives. It is almost like a recipe for providing our patients with great care: some ingredients can make a huge difference in how things turn out.”

CHRISTUS St. Frances Cabrini’s Chief Medical Officer’s first days on the job couldn’t be timed more perfectly. As he hits his stride after February’s Heart Month and as we move into the spring season, Dr. Zapetero couldn’t be more pleased.

“The focus on heart health and healthy living during this time of year gives me a wonderful chance to tie together so many of my passions. I am excited to really dig into my work with the medical staff,” he explained. “Heart disease is something that we are absolutely tackling head on – looking at how we treat our patients, how they are handled in the hospital and how we can keep getting better every day in order to get their hearts healthy and happy. Diet is such a huge part of living a heart healthy lifestyle, and I plan on working with my team here as much as possible to share information and serve as an example of how nutrition can lead to heart healthy living – and though I am not from Louisiana, I absolutely look forward to swapping recipes!”