St. Mary Medical Center Appoints Two New Hospital Community Board Members

LONG BEACH — Dignity Health – St. Mary Medical Center or SMMC has appointed two new members to its Hospital Community Board or HCB: Robina Smith, MD, MBA, and Sunny Zia, M.S., P.E., PMP.

“During this transformative time in health care, we are thrilled for Dr. Smith and Ms. Zia to join our board to lend their expertise, insights, and advice,” said Carolyn Caldwell, President and Chief Executive Officer at SMMC. “We have made great strides toward achieving our vision of a future where health is equitable and exceptional. These two individuals demonstrate great commitment to our community and I am so pleased to welcome them.”

Robina Smith, MD, MBA, is a fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist with more than a decade of practical clinical experience treating breast cancer patients, establishing and managing a Hereditary Cancer Syndrome High Risk clinic, leading a multidisciplinarybreast tumor board and enrolling patients into late-stage oncology studies while in practice. In addition to her experience seeing patients as an attending physician, she has been a co-investigator on several clinical trials in breast oncology. Dr. Smith has more than ten years of experience in the biopharma industry, leading many phase 1 through 3 clinical programs in medical oncology, hematology, and general internal medicine. She has strong leadership skills substantiated by real-world experience and an Executive MBA degree.

Currently, Zia is a senior civil engineer and program manager at the Port of Long Beach responsible for overseeing multi-million dollars in capital improvement projects. Zia is a first-generation Iranian American serving her third term on the Long Beach Community College district board, having been elected trustee for Area 3 in April 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and 2022. Under her leadership as a trustee, she has championed measures supporting students experiencing food and housing insecurity, support for formerly incarcerated youth and led building public private partnerships to support a pipeline for the career and educational future of the students.

These two individuals will serve alongside current board members: Dr. Felton Williams (Chair), Dr. Gloria Willingham (Vice Chair), Vattana Peong (Secretary), Dr. Arlene Vernon (Chief of Staff), Carolyn Caldwell, (President/CEO), Dr. Ali Jamehdor, Dr. Chester Choi, Chris Steinhauser, Dr. Cynthia Chao, Gina Maguire, John Arens, Dr. John Javien, Dr. Lisa Lighthall Haubert, Sandy Cajas, Dr. Sharifa Batts, and Sr. Mary Kieffer.

“Our board’s outstanding leadership skills and experience in community advocacy makes it a faithful champion for advancing care in Greater Long Beach,” continued Ms. Caldwell. “We care deeply about the communities we serve and are honored to build upon the progress made.”