Dr. Rebecca Kornas was recently recognized by BizWest as a part of this year’s 40 under 40 class of honorees. The class includes leaders in various industries from Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley. The 2024 honorees, all younger than 40, are making a mark on their communities through professional success and volunteer activities.
“Dr. Kornas’s leadership is proactive and professional and has made our emergency department and our hospital a better place,” said Chief Medical Officer, Lief Sorensen. “What is also clear is that Dr. Kornas is not just a leader at Avista but also in her national physician group and in her community. Her recognition with the 40 under 40 award is very well deserved.”
Dr. Kornas serves as AdventHealth Avista’s medical director for the emergency department. She leads her team with empathy and confidence - firmly believing in order to exert effective change and continual improvement, you must have engagement and buy in from those who the project effects. Partnering with her nursing colleagues as well as fellow physicians, she brings everyone together to find solutions to problems as they arise.
Upon accepting her leadership role within the ER, Dr. Kornas engaged in EMS outreach with local fire departments, including Louisville, Lafayette, North Metro, Arvada, and Westminster. In partnership with the ER management team, she stays in constant contact with EMS chiefs to ensure that the ER is providing the best care to patients and to help pinpoint future educational opportunities for staff. She also partnered with the provider relations team to organize a lunch and learn series to offer educational events to local EMS providers, altering teaching a hands-on airway management course and a didactic session each year.
Outside of work, Dr. Kornas is actively involved in advocacy for emergency medicine and currently serves as the President of the Colorado Chapter of the Academic College of Emergency Physicians. She is also a Daisy Girl Scout troop leader for her daughter, Charlotte. Additionally, she works with the Emergency Medicine Interest Group at University of Colorado, inspiring the next generation of ER physicians and professionals. Dr. Kornas teaches best practices in airway management to ER physicians locally, nationally, and internationally.
When asked what advice she would give her younger self, Dr. Kornas responded: “’Find out who you are and do it on purpose.’ This is a Dolly Parton quote that resonates with me. Find your purpose in life and strive to live in a manner that is true to that.”
Dr. Kornas carries out our mission of extending the healing ministry of Christ by providing her patients the best care possible, regardless of their circumstances. She does it all with a calm demeanor which puts her patients at ease.
We are so proud of Dr. Kornas receiving this well-deserved recognition and are grateful to have her on our team at AdventHealth Avista.
