Jen Roth Named Among Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives

Children’s Hospital Colorado's Chief Nursing Executive and Senior Vice President of Patient Care Services Jennifer “Jen” Roth, MSN, MBA, has been honored as one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives. The award recognizes clinical leaders who use their medical expertise to shape their organizations, community health and industry-wide progress.

Rooted in the work, leading from experience

Roth has spent 23 years working at Children’s Colorado, beginning as a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit nurse and rose to the Chief Nursing Executive role in 2024. As a patient care services leader, she has led major operational improvements and staffing initiatives across the system, including restructuring senior leadership roles and building a new leadership team.

“Jen is a leader who takes transformational change to the next level,” says Jena Hausmann, President and Chief Executive Officer at Children’s Colorado. “Her commitment to our nurses and to every child and family who walks through our doors is evident in everything she does.”

Building the infrastructure for safer, stronger nursing care

In her first 19 months as a chief nurse, Roth restructured senior roles and assembled a new leadership team to sharpen clinical oversight and operational efficiency across the health system.

The results are measurable. Under her leadership, Children’s Colorado earned its fifth Magnet distinction, the highest international recognition for excellence in nursing from the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program, and central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) rates improved to best-ever performance in 2025, exceeding national benchmarks.

She revolutionized care coordination by centralizing nursing care coordinators, introducing evidence-based practices supported by Epic tools and standardizing workflows across teams. In her role as Associate Chief Nursing Officer, she oversaw a recruitment initiative that led to a 95% decrease in vacancy of registered nurses, registered nurse turnover dropped 33% and contract labor decreased 67%.

Getting involved and addressing future needs

Roth’s influence extends far beyond Children’s Colorado. After the COVID-19 pandemic, she grew passionate about enabling providers to care for non-complex pediatric respiratory illness locally, so she partnered with state leaders to launch readiness and education programs for hospitals statewide. These programs allow children to stay closer to home while ensuring the sickest patients can access specialized care.

Roth thinks about the future of healthcare not just as it exists today, but as it needs to exist decades from now; She has established career pathways for entry-level healthcare roles and built a strategic pipeline with Colorado schools to support workforce entry and long-term growth. Roth has consistently shown her dedication to innovation at Children’s Colorado, and her impact will position future patients to receive the best nurses and patient care team members.