SEATTLE – (Dec. 28, 2016) – Mariko Kita, MD, has been appointed chief of medicine at Virginia Mason, effective Jan. 1.

Since joining the Virginia Mason medical staff in 2000, Dr. Kita has served as director of the Virginia Mason Multiple Sclerosis Center; as interim medical director for hospital stroke services; and as section head for Neurology. Her specialties include neurology, stroke and multiple sclerosis with a concentration on the design and conduct of clinical trials. 

She has more than 20 years of experience in medicine. A 1994 graduate of Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago, she completed an internship at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, joined the neurology residency program at the Hospital of University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and completed a fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco Mt. Zion Multiple Sclerosis Center.

About Virginia Mason Health System Virginia Mason, founded in 1920, is a nonprofit regional health care system based in Seattle that serves the Pacific Northwest. In the Puget Sound region, the system includes 336-bed Virginia Mason Hospital; a primary and specialty care group practice of more than 500 physicians; regional medical centers in Seattle, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Federal Way, Kirkland, Issaquah and Lynnwood; Bailey-Boushay House, the first skilled-nursing and outpatient chronic care management program in the U.S. designed and built specifically to meet the needs of people with HIV/AIDS; Benaroya Research Institute, which is internationally recognized for autoimmune disease research; and Virginia Mason Institute, which trains health care professionals and others from around the world in the Virginia Mason Production System, an innovative management methodology for continually improving quality, safety and efficiency. Virginia Mason online: VirginiaMason.org

Virginia Mason Health System also includes Virginia Mason Memorial, a 226-bed hospital serving the Yakima Valley in Central Washington since 1950. Memorial online: YakimaMemorial.org

Media Contact:
Gale Robinette
Media Relations Manager
Virginia Mason Health System
(206) 341-1509
gale.robinette@VirginiaMason.org