Community Memorial Welcomes New Chief of Staff

Community Memorial Healthcare welcomed a new Chief of Staff, Dr. Alison Shuman, on January 1, 2025. Dr. Shuman is a longtime pediatrician in Ventura County.

Dr. Shuman moved to Ventura in 2008 and helped create the inpatient pediatric program at Community Memorial Hospital – Ventura. She served as Director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine from 2013 – 2023, when Community Memorial and Ventura County Medical Center merged their inpatient pediatrics programs. Throughout this time, Dr. Shuman has practiced general pediatrics in the Community Memorial Health Centers.

Dr. Shuman currently works as a newborn Hospitalist at Community Memorial Hospital – Ventura, and continues to practice at the Community Memorial Health Center on Saviers Road in Oxnard. She is board certified in both General Pediatrics and Pediatric Hospital Medicine, speaks fluent Spanish, and has extensive experience as a clinical leader. Dr. Shuman succeeds Chris Johnson, MD, as Chief of Staff, and will serve from January 2025 – December 2026.

“I am excited to step into the role of Chief of Staff at Community Memorial, and I look forward to building on the progress made by Dr. Johnson,” said Dr. Shuman. “Over the next two years, I hope to foster an environment that maximizes the well-being of our patients as well as our employees and medical staff members. I will work to ensure continued excellence in patient care and patient experience by being at the forefront of evidence based medical practice and compassionate, family-centered care. I will maintain our focus on addressing physician burnout so that Community Memorial can continue to grow, knowing we are taking the best care of our community and ourselves.”

Born and raised in New Jersey, Dr. Shuman attended Rutgers University, where she graduated magna cum laude with Bachelor of Art degrees in both Biological Sciences and Art History, and a minor in Psychology. Dr. Shuman also attended medical school at Rutgers, where she was a member of the medical honor society Alpha Omega Alpha. She graduated as the class valedictorian.

Dr. Shuman completed her pediatric residency at Komansky Children’s Hospital at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, and then completed 15 months of a pediatric critical care fellowship before moving to California to practice pediatric hospital medicine.

Outgoing Chief of Staff, Dr. Chris Johnson, has enjoyed a long and successful career at Community Memorial. He joined the medical staff in 2001 after working as an emergency room physician at several other hospitals. Dr. Johnson served as secretary of the Community Memorial Medical Staff, was the director of the Patient Safety Committee from 2003 – 2009, chaired the Department of Medicine from 2010 – 2012, and has been a member of the Medical Executive Committee since 2010.