Tiffany Bell has been named chief ambulatory officer of Upstate University Hospital. Bell succeeds Nancy Daoust, who announced her retirement earlier this year.
In her current role as director of transitional care, Bell has led an institutional strategy to improve patient flow across the continuum, reduce readmissions and enhance outcomes. She has led the growth of the Hospital at Home program. Bell previously served as assistant director of ambulatory administration, where she oversaw ambulatory services and launched a first-of-its-kind transitional care clinic, the Connect Care Clinic, which earned the 2023 Upstate President’s Award for Outstanding Contribution of the Year. She has also led system-wide quality initiatives, Lean Six Sigma improvements, and incident command operations.
As chief ambulatory officer, Bell will serve as the primary liaison and point of coordination between ambulatory operations and all other university departments, governmental agencies and community constituencies on a wide range of clinical, programmatic and administrative functions.
Before joining Upstate in April 2018, Bell held various nursing positions, including as manager of Cayuga Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca.
Bell holds an MBA from Western Governors University and a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Keuka College, along with an associate degree from Tompkins Cortland Community College. She is certified as a nurse executive, advanced board—certified (ANCC), Lean Six Sigma yellow belt, earned an Upstate micro-credential in executive leadership, and is a graduate of the Cornell-HANYS Academy for Leadership Advancement.
She serves as a board member for the SUNY Upstate Childcare Center, as a mentor in the Upstate Professional Development Program, and in July 2025 co-authored a publication in the Journal of General Internal Medicine titled “Connect Care Project, Bridging the Gap Between Acute and Post-Acute Care.”