Providence VA Medical Center Leadership

Vincent W. Ng
Medical Center Director
(401) 457-3042

Vincent W. Ng was appointed to the position of Medical Center Director of the VA Medical Center, Providence, Rhode Island on September 24, 2000.

An accomplished healthcare executive, Mr. Ng has a long history of serving veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Prior to his appointment as Medical Center Director of the VA Medical Center in Providence, Mr. Ng served as Director of the Central Plains Health Network, Lincoln, Nebraska, and Director of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System and the Newington VA Medical Center. He also served as Associate Director at the Philadelphia and Lebanon VA Medical Centers. Throughout his career, Mr. Ng has been recognized for demonstrating exceptional leadership, long-term strategic planning, financial and negotiating skills. He is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and was appointed in 2005 to serve on the ACHE Higher Education and Research Committee, a graduate of Leadership VA, and has served on many Veterans Health Administration boards, committees, and special task forces, to include currently being a mentor in the VA Executive Career Field training program. He is a former member of the VHA Under Secretary for Health Diversity Advisory Board, and chaired the Asian American & Pacific Islander Committee. He is currently a board member of the Ocean State Research Corporation, on the executive council of the Hospital Association of Rhode Island (HARI), a member of the Brown Medical School hospital CEO (Chief Executive Officer) council and the former Chairperson of the Rhode Island Federal Executive Council. Mr. Ng has received numerous recognitions, Special Contribution Awards and Superior Performance Awards, to include Superior Performance Awards from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs as well as the 2007 Bud Gifford Leadership award from the Federal community in Rhode Island.

Mr. Ng earned his BS degree in Environmental Health from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 1977, and a MBA in Health Care Administration from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas in 1979.

William J. Burney
Medical Center Associate Director
(401) 457-3041

William J. Burney was appointed to the position of Associate Director for Operations at the VA Medical Center, Providence, Rhode Island on August 22, 2004.  Most recently he served as acting Associate Director at the VA Boston Healthcare System from September 2001 until July 2004.  He was appointed as the Associate Director for the Brockton Division of the Boston Healthcare System in December 2000.  Prior to that, Mr. Burney was the Chief Administrative Officer for VISN 1 from 1996 until 2000.

As a long-term VA employee, Mr. Burney began his career with the Veterans Benefits Administration as a "Veterans Representative On Campus" in 1974, in Delaware.  He served as Chief of the field Section at the VAMROC in Wilmington, Delaware and then moved to the Veterans Health Administration as a Management Analyst Trainee in Richmond, Virginia.  He was appointed Staff Assistant to the Director at the Prescott, Arizona VA Medical Center and then held positions as Planner and Staff Assistant to the Director at the Boston VA Medical Center before being selected for the Associate Director Training Program, which he completed at the Brockton/West Roxbury VA Medical Center in 1995.

He is currently participating in VHA's Executive Career Field training program and has previously completed the Leadership VA program.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and his Master of Arts in Management and Supervision from Central Michigan University.

Mr. Burney served four years in the United States Air Force.

Gregory M. Gillette, MD

Medical Center Chief of Staff

(401) 457-3040

Gregory M. Gillette, M.D., was appointed as Chief of Staff at the Providence VA Medical Center on September 2, 2007.

Dr. Gillette earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology at Knox College in 1972, where he graduated cum laude.  After running a private, for-profit child daycare corporation in Raleigh NC, he completed his Doctor of Medicine degree at University of NC-Chapel Hill in 1979.  He completed a medicine residency at George Washington University in 1982, a psychiatry residency at the University of NC in 1985, and research fellowship at Dorothea Dix State Hospital/University of NC in 1986.  He remained at Dorothea Dix State Hospital Research Unit as the Associate Director until entering the VHA in 1989.

Dr. Gillette has served as PTSD Section Chief at the Little Rock AR VAMC from 1989-1996, with faculty appointment at the University of AR for Medical Sciences; and as Assistant Chief of Psychiatry at the Nashville TN VAMC from 1996-2002, with faculty appointment at Vanderbilt University.  From 2000-2002, Dr. Gillette also served as the Medical Director of an acute medicine/psychiatry combined inpatient unit in the private sector at TN Christian Medical Center in Madison TN.  In 2000, he received the Certificate in Medical Management from the American College of Physician Executives and Carnegie Mellon University.  Dr. Gillette's next VHA appointment was Chief of Psychiatry at the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi MS from 2002-2006.  For family reasons related to the effects of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he left the MS Gulf Coast to serve as an inpatient psychiatry staff physician at the Memphis TN VAMC from 2006-2007.

During his 18 year VHA career, Dr. Gillette has been selected for the VHA Director's Service award, and the VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System EEO Silver Award for promoting diversity.  He has also authored numerous funded VHA research and clinical program grants.

Deborah A. Clickner, M.Ed.,RN,CNA,BC
Medical Center Associate Director for Patient Care
(401) 273-7100 extension 3564

Deborah A. Clickner was appointed as the Associate Director for Patient Care at the VA Medical Center, Providence, Rhode Island on August 22, 2004.

Most recently she served as Associate Director for Patient Nursing Services at the Bath VA Medical Center in Bath, New York.  Prior to that Ms. Clickner was the Nurse Educator at the Albany VA Medical Center in Albany, New York.

Ms. Clickner began her career with the VA at the Brooklyn VA Medical Center in New York, as a staff nurse, then as nurse Night Nursing Supervisor, Nursing Coordinator of the Specialty Units and Utilization Review/Quality Assurance Specialist.  At the New York VA Medical Center she served as a Nursing Instructor and the Utilization Review/Quality Assurance Program Coordinator.  She transferred to the Albany VA Medical Center as the Utilization Management Coordinator.  Her nursing experience spans clinical, education, research and administrative arenas.

As the Associate Director for Patient Care of this secondary and primary care teaching facility, Ms. Clickner is directly responsible for the delivery of all nursing care at the Providence VA Medical Center, including administration, management and leadership of the Nursing Service.

Ms. Clickner earned the degree of Masters in Education of Nursing Administration (M. Ed.), Teachers College, Columbia University and previously earned the degree of Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Wagner College.  Ms. Clickner also holds a Certification in Nursing Administration (CNA, BC) from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.  Ms. Clickner has been active with the New York State Nurses Association.  She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau and the American Organization of Nurse Executives.