Currently serving as Board Chair of World Telehealth Initiative, Ron Werft is past chair of the California Hospital Association, the Hospital Association of Southern California, and is a former trustee of the Board of the American Hospital Association. Werft served as chair of the American Hospital Association’s Task Force on Workforce and served on their Quest for Quality Committee. He was awarded the 2013 California Hospital Association’s Award of Merit for outstanding contribution to the California healthcare community, the 2015 Walker-Sullivan International Fellowship presented by California Health Foundation & Trust, and the American Hospital Association Trustee Award in 2025.
A not-for-profit multi-hospital system, Santa Barbara Cottage Health offers a broad scope of clinical services including those of the Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital and Cottage Children’s Medical Center. Cottage Hospital provides graduate medical education for medical, surgical and radiology residents and serves as a regional referral center for trauma 1, neurosurgery, cardiovascular, psychiatry, and pediatric care. Its mission includes a commitment to improve the health status of the communities it serves through its population health programs.