CSUSB Thanks Former Desert Regional Medical Center CEO For Help

The following was submitted for publication by CSUSB Palm Desert:

Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus honored Karolee Sowle, former Desert Regional Medical Center chief executive officer, with a commemorative engraved brick, which was laid in a special ceremony at the campus on Jan. 11.

The brick was to recognize Sowle’s many contributions to CSUSB’s Palm Desert Campus. As chief executive officer of Desert Regional Medical Center, she was instrumental in guiding and supporting the nursing programs on the campus.

In 1997, Sowle arrived in Palm Springs to become chief nursing officer for Desert Regional Medical Center and would hold the posts of chief operating officer and interim chief executive officer before being named president and chief executive officer in 2008. She was an integral part of the leadership teams that led the hospital to receive many awards, including the Tenet Healthcare Corp’s Circle of Excellence Award four times and the 2012 California Award for Performance Excellence.

During her tenure, Sowle oversaw many expansion projects, including the opening of the hospital’s new Joint and Spine Pavilion, the expansion into the eastern Coachella Valley with three clinics in La Quinta, the development of an outpatient imaging center on campus and the opening of an affiliate clinic of the Joslin Diabetes Center on the hospital’s campus.

She is an active member of the community, involved with many area non-profits and on the board of directors of the Hospital Association of Southern California, the Health Assessment Resource Center, the United Way of the Desert and the Desert AIDS Project.

Sowle retired on July 24, 2012, after 50 years in the health care industry, including 15 years with Desert Regional Medical Center.

To support Cal State San Bernardino’s Palm Desert Campus, members of the community, including parents, alumni and friends, can purchase an engraved brick to be installed in either the campus’s Mary Stuart Rogers Gateway Building plaza or the Palm Desert Health Sciences Building plaza. The purchase of a brick demonstrates a permanent commitment to the mission of the CSUSB Palm Desert Campus.

Large bricks cost $500, smaller bricks cost $250.