South Jersey Biz magazine highlighted Deborah Heart and Lung Center Board of Trustees Chair Barbara George Johnson, J.D. in its recent Who’s Who in Healthcare feature, consisting of the region’s top professionals who are continuing to advance the industry. She currently serves as Vice President of External Affairs and Urban Policy and Research at Kean University.

With over 30 years of experience, Johnson’s work focuses on women and children’s health and proceeds to shape the region’s economic, health, and social policy. Her career started as a Public Health Adviser for the Department of Health in New York City and later, as a Director of the Family Life Institute of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey. Johnson also created the Newark Kids Initiative project for the Newark Health Department to assist children exposed to domestic violence. She is a principal investigator for the Maternal Infant Health Initiative. It supports Black women in Trenton, who disproportionately experience pregnancy-associated and infant death in the state.

Johnson is an active board member for the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey and Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey’s Board, in addition to her role as board chair at Deborah. She also oversees External Affairs and the John S. Watson Institute for Urban Policy and Research at Kean University.

Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Technology from Cornell University, a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and a law degree from Rutgers-Newark Law School.

About Deborah Heart and Lung Center

Deborah Heart and Lung Center in Browns Mills, New Jersey, is a teaching hospital in the prevention, diagnosis, research and treatment of heart, lung and vascular diseases. Founded in 1922, Deborah has treated more than 2.3 million hearts from every corner of the United States and 87 countries. From performing the first adult and pediatric open-heart surgeries in NJ, to one of the highest-volume left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) implant programs in the nation, Deborah is consistently recognized as a leader overall and in patient care from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). It is ranked among the top hospitals in New Jersey for patient satisfaction; holds a top-tier Society of Thoracic Surgeons rating which places Deborah among the best cardiac surgery programs in North America; and is rated High Performing in five specialties, Heart Attack, Heart Bypass Surgery, Heart Failure, COPD and TAVR by U.S. News & World Report. Deborah is an Alliance member of the Cleveland Clinic Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute.