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Sonora Quest Laboratories Announces New COO

Tuesday, May 28, 2019   |   Category: Press Releases

Experienced business leader to guide Sonora Quest’s growing operations

Tempe, Ariz. (May 28, 2019) – Sonora Quest Laboratories, Arizona’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, is pleased to welcome Sonya Engle as Chief Operating Officer. An executive with extensive experience leading laboratory testing, program expansion and strategic relationship management initiatives, Engle will head Sonora Quest's laboratory and technical operations.

As COO, Engle will combine operations and talent development, while focusing on motivating and leading a high-performance team to accommodate the rapid growth, services, and innovation at Sonora Quest. Her goal is to implement business operations and increase the effectiveness of all internal and external processes to continue to foster a customer-oriented, quality focused environment within the company.

Engle will be taking the reins from Joyce Santis, who is retiring this June after serving for more than 40 years in the industry. Santis’ career began at the Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where she worked in the lab for 12 years. In 1996, she moved to Arizona and, after spending a year as the lab director at Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital, Santis joined Sonora Quest. 

Now, after more than 20 years of leading Sonora Quest’s operations and playing an integral role in the growth and success of the organization, she is pleased to dive into the world of retirement with aspirations to travel and spend more time with her granddaughters.

“It has been a wonderful career and my time at Sonora Quest has certainly been the highlight,” said Santis. “I will miss the people and opportunity to develop talent but know that Sonya will continue to do an exceptional job.”

Santis noted, “Sonya is a highly respected strategic business leader with more than 20 years of progressive responsibility in the healthcare industry. Her purpose-driven leadership and passion for cultivating an environment that inspires boundary-pushing excellence makes her the right leader to help Sonora Quest continue differentiating through value and investing in innovative solutions.”

In her last role as Vice President and General Manger for a major laboratory in San Diego, Engle directed laboratory testing for more than 40,000 patients per day, in addition to overseeing anatomic pathology and phlebotomy. Originally from Philadelphia, she attended the University of Maryland College Park as a biology major but later finished her undergraduate degree at University of Phoenix in business management while working full time and raising a family.

“Who doesn’t want to be part of a winning team who gets it right?” said Engle. “Doing what’s right for the patient, customer and each other - what could be more rewarding. Sonora Quest is highly respected in the industry and I look forward to learning and growing in an environment of creativity, collaboration and respect.”

Engle and her husband, Randy, are relocating from Southern California to central Arizona. She is looking forward to exploring Arizona’s outdoors and witnessing the nature that makes the desert state so unique.


About Sonora Quest Laboratories
Sonora Quest Laboratories, a joint venture between Banner Health and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX), is part of the nation’s largest integrated laboratory system with approximately 3,200 employees serving more than 22,000 patients every day throughout Arizona. Sonora Quest Laboratories is the market share leader in clinical laboratory testing in Arizona, performing more than 60 million diagnostic tests per year.

Sonora Quest Laboratories offers a local comprehensive test menu which encompasses routine, molecular, prescription drug monitoring, genetic/genomic, women’s health and pathology testing services. My Lab ReQuest provides consumers direct access to a diverse range of affordable screening tests that can be ordered online at SonoraQuest.com or in any of Sonora Quest’s 75+ patient service centers across Arizona. Ninety-eight percent of all testing is performed at our primary testing facilities located in Tempe, Tucson, Flagstaff, Prescott and Yuma. Sonora Quest Laboratories is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) which is the gold standard in laboratory accreditation, helping laboratories to maintain accuracy of test results and ensure accurate patient diagnosis. This accreditation ensures the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients as CAP inspectors examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and records, and overall management.