MaryEllen (Mel) Kosturko, DNP, MAHSM, R.N., CENP

Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Hartford HealthCare

MaryEllen (Mel) Kosturko, DNP, MAHSM, RN, CENP is Executive Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer for Hartford HealthCare. In her role, she oversees the delivery of exceptional-quality nursing services and patient care across Hartford HealthCare. With oversight of over 7,000 nursing and nursing support professionals, Ms. Kosturko is a passionate patient and nurse advocate focusing on elevating nursing professional practice, research and innovation, nursing governance, workforce planning inclusive of mentoring and coaching, and program development to enhance the retention and recruitment of the nursing workforce.

Ms. Kosturko is a proud lifelong native of Connecticut and joined Hartford HealthCare in January 2023, previously serving as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Patient Care Operations and Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) of Bridgeport Hospital (BH), a Yale New Haven Health partner. Over her extensive career, Ms. Kosturko has served in various strategic leadership, operational, and clinical nursing roles. As CNO and in her previous roles as nursing leader of perioperative services and patient care operations, Ms. Kosturko has driven significant results in patient experience, quality and safety, and clinical informatics. Ms. Kosturko also served as SVP over BHs accredited diploma School of Nursing, Surgical Technology, and Central Sterile Processing Programs for ten years before closing the school and assisting a local community University in opening a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. A dynamic and results-oriented leader, Ms. Kosturko's commitment to the education and advancement of the nursing profession has inspired thousands of nurses over her career.

In addition to a Bachelor of Science degree from Fairfield University, she holds a Master of Arts in Health Systems Management from Sacred Heart University's College of Business and a Doctor of Nursing Practice focused on Healthcare Leadership, Systems, and Policy from Yale University. Her statistically significant doctoral project work focused on Retention of the Newly Licensed Registered Nursing Workforce Post Coronavirus (COVID-19): Establishing a Trauma-Informed Wellness Program, The Registered Nurse Residency Script for the Future (RNRx)(©MHK2022). Ms. Kosturko is also a Fellow of the Academy of GE Fellows Program for Nurse Executives, a member of Sigma Theta Tau's International Honor Society of Nursing's Delta Mu Chapter, a national thought leader, and as such, has been a podium speaker internationally and nationally along with being published. A community leader, Ms. Kosturko is a member of the Connecticut Hospital Association, the American Organization of Nurse Executives, the American College of HealthCare Executives, the American Nurses Association, the Organization of Nurse Leaders, and on advisory committees and boards of several local colleges and universities.

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About Hartford HealthCare
With 37,000 colleagues, Hartford HealthCare’s unified culture enhances access, affordability, equity and excellence. Its care-delivery system — with nearly 500 locations serving 185 towns and cities — includes two tertiary-level teaching hospitals, an acute-care community teaching hospital, an acute-care hospital and trauma center, three community hospitals, a behavioral health network, a multispecialty physician group, a clinical care organization, a regional home care system, an array of senior care services, a mobile neighborhood health program and a comprehensive physical therapy and rehabilitation network. On average, Hartford HealthCare touches more than 17,000 lives every single day. The unique, system-wide Institute Model offers a unified high standard of care in crucial specialties at hospital and ambulatory sites across Connecticut offering unparalleled excellence at the most affordable cost. The institutes include: Ayer Neuroscience, Behavioral Health, Cancer, Digestive Health, Heart and Vascular, Orthopedics and Tallwood Urology & Kidney. Visit Hartford HealthCare at www.HartfordHealthCare.org and stay connected through newsletters and social media.