Salinas, Calif. – August 4, 2016 – Natividad Medical Center (NMC) announced the appointment of Craig A. Walls, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) effective July 25, 2016. Since 2006, Dr. Walls has served in several roles at NMC including medical director of the emergency department, attending emergency physician and vice-chief of the medical staff.

“I am deeply committed to Natividad’s 131 year mission of improving the health of all people, including the vulnerable, and know the best is still to come,” said Dr. Walls. “To participate in the hospital’s history going forward as CMO is the crowning privilege of my career.”

Dr. Walls worked as an emergency physician at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California, MacNeal Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart, Indiana. He has extensive experience in academia, which includes teaching and research while serving as an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco and visiting assistant professor of community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

Dr. Walls completed a residency in emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a medical degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Ph.D. in community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Walls, certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine, is a member of the Monterey County Medical Society Board of Directors and the Natividad Medical Foundation Board of Directors.

About Natividad Medical Center (NMC)

Owned and operated by Monterey County, NMC is a 172-bed, acute-care hospital providing health care services to county residents for more than 131 years. Based in Salinas, California, NMC offers inpatient, outpatient, emergency, diagnostic and specialty medical care. NMC provides more than 34,000 patient days of care each year and has more than 52,000 emergency department visits per year. NMC is a Level II Trauma Center providing the immediate availability of specialized personnel, equipment and services to treat the most severe and critical injuries. NMC’s Trauma Center is a vital community service locally that saves lives and eliminates the need to fly critically injured patients to a distant trauma center. NMC is ranked No. 1 in newborn deliveries in Monterey County and is the only teaching hospital on the Central Coast through its affiliation with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). With a medical staff of more than 300 physicians, NMC’s mission is to continually monitor and improve the health of the people, including the vulnerable, in Monterey County through coordinated, affordable high-quality health care. For more information, please call 831-755-4111 or visit www.natividad.com.