UNM Hospital CEO Kate Becker to retire in December

Kate Becker’s retirement in December will open a consequential leadership change at UNM Hospital, one of Albuquerque’s largest health care employers and a key safety-net provider for Bernalillo County. The hospital has not named a successor, leaving months for UNM Health leaders to plan a handoff at an institution that touches emergency care, surgery, outpatient visits and the broader public health system.

Becker led UNM Hospital for the past eight years and has spent three decades in health care. UNM Health says the hospital is New Mexico’s only academic medical center and home to the state’s largest teaching hospital, where patients with the most complex health needs in the Southwest are treated regardless of ability to pay. That role makes the CEO transition more than a personnel change; it affects how the state’s most specialized hospital balances patient care, training and research.

The financial stakes are just as local. In a prior UNM community health presentation, Becker said Bernalillo County’s hospital tax brought in more than $115 million in one year, about 10% of UNM Hospital’s revenue. For county residents, that ties the hospital’s stability directly to local tax support, even as UNM Health continues to lean on uncompensated care to sustain its safety-net mission.

The scale of the system helps explain why continuity matters. UNM Health’s FY2025 quick facts show UNM Hospitals includes UNMH, the Psychiatric Center, Carrie Tingley Hospital, Children’s Psychiatric Center and Young Children’s Health Center. At UNMH alone, the system reported 76,527 emergency room visits, 14,580 surgical cases and 150,706 outpatient visits. UNM Health is also pushing ahead with major expansion efforts, including a Critical Care Tower first proposed in 2015, as it tries to address New Mexico’s provider shortage and add capacity across the system.

UNM Health’s leadership page still lists Kathleen Becker as CEO of UNM Hospital. Dr. Michael Richards, who became the UNM Health Sciences Center executive leader in August 2024, said Becker provided outstanding leadership and left a significant impact on health care in New Mexico. The UNM Hospital Board of Trustees oversees clinical operations and is responsible for supporting care, education and research, so the months ahead will determine how smoothly the hospital can carry that mission into a new era.