Cassandra Howard, MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer, Methodist University Hospital
Cassandra Howard, MD, MBA, is the chief medical officer for Methodist University Hospital. She assumed this role in April 2022, after serving as the CMO at Methodist Le Bonheur Germantown Hospital since 2017. Prior to that, she served as the Emergency Department Medical Director and worked as a staff ED physician since 2003. As CMO, she provides leadership for areas including medical staff, quality and performance improvement, clinical risk management and regulatory compliance, and case management to ensure patients receive the highest quality care.
Dr. Howard earned a bachelor's degree in medical technology from Howard University, Washington, DC, her doctorate of medicine from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, a dual residency training certificate in internal medicine and pediatrics from the UT Health Science Center, and a master of business administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In 2014, Dr. Howard was an inaugural graduate of the Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare Physician Leadership Academy.
Dr. Howard is also a Brigadier General (0-7, 1 star) in the United States Air Force, Air National Guard with over 35 years of exemplary service. She is currently the Director of the Joint Staff, Joint Forces Headquarters Tennessee, a member of the senior staff leading 13,000 TN National Guard soldiers and airmen. Prior to her current assignment, Brig Gen Howard was a Pentagon’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff-nominated Reserve Component flag officer, appointed to serve as the Assistant for Mobilization & Reserve Affairs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/Health Affairs at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. She was the senior Health Affairs Policy and Oversight Advisor to the Director of the Defense Health Agency on program and policy issues affecting the health of reserve component service members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.