Architect of Grady’s Rebirth: John Haupert

He needs to live close to work, and he needs to always be available and nimble, because that’s part of the job.

“When you run a place like this, you don’t want to live far away,” says Haupert, president and CEO of Grady Health System. “Weird things happen here that require an administrator to be on site. And I mean, weird things.”

Like floods and pandemics, among others.

Haupert’s firm and steady guidance leading Atlanta’s high-stakes Level 1 trauma center through all of that and more, over the past 15 dynamic – occasionally turbulent – years, makes him an easy choice for Georgia Trend’s Georgian of the Year.

Making an Impact: Haupert reconnected with his mentor, Sister Judith Marie Keith, the former president of St. Edward Mercy Hospital in Fort Smith, Arkansas, at a luncheon at the Georgia Aquarium where he was being honored. Photo credit: Contributed

“Under John’s guidance, Grady has become more than just a hospital. It is a treasure, a critical resource, and we are all better for it,” says Caylee Noggle, president and CEO of the Georgia Hospital Association.

“If something truly catastrophic happens, Grady is who we rely on,” Noggle adds. “Beyond trauma care, there is the commitment to serving Georgia’s low-income families and to training the next generation of clinicians from Emory [University] and the Morehouse School of Medicine. There’s the world-class burn unit, and expanding primary care options, ensuring that everyone has access to care.”

Long a symbol of public medicine’s promise, Grady also has historically hovered around crisis mode – whether it’s been aging infrastructure, financial instability or undependable governance. The job of serving the poor – Grady’s mission since opening in 1892 – isn’t easy.

But amid all the weirdness, the crises, the continuing challenges of healthcare equity and workforce shortages, and an increasingly unsteady political landscape, Haupert’s calm, analytical style has given Grady a sense of direction and a strong, steady pulse.

“We are the mission-driven safety net for this community,” he says. “That means we don’t turn anyone away, and we never will.”

System in Crisis

When Haupert arrived at Grady in 2011, the system had recently emerged from a particularly dark period. Political infighting and financial mismanagement threatened Grady’s ability to provide care to underserved patients. By 2007, Grady teetered on the edge of collapse, with escalating deficits and seriously outdated equipment.

A coalition of civic leaders set out to turn things around. The Saving Grady Task Force also known as the Greater Grady Task Force, led by former Georgia-Pacific President and CEO Pete Correll and Cousins Properties Chair, President and CEO Tom Bell, developed new leadership and funding models, transferring control of the system from a public authority to the new private, nonprofit Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation.

“I was watching what was transpiring here in 2007, with this place nearly dying, and the novel idea of the corporate community stepping in to save it,” says Haupert, who was COO of Parkland Health in Dallas at the time. “There was a tremendous amount of trust between philanthropic organizations and business leaders like Pete Correll,” Haupert adds.

Correll – who chaired Grady’s new board for eight years – helped secure a $200 million grant from the Woodruff Foundation. Another $5 million came from Kaiser Permanente. With new leadership luring major philanthropic support, Grady upgraded its infrastructure and operations, and by 2009 it was mostly financially stable.

Still, by 2011 the system faced $25 million in cuts from local and federal coffers, plus revenue shortfalls, leading to 300 layoffs and two neighborhood clinic closures. Then there was a sweeping new national healthcare policy to contend with as President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act was being rolled out in a state that fought bitterly against the legislation, which included a Medicaid expansion.

Georgia’s refusal to fully expand Medicaid under the ACA cost the state billions in federal funds and left hundreds of thousands of residents without health coverage – circumstances that hit Grady directly.

“Of course, we have been proponents of Medicaid expansion – I mean, if Grady isn’t, who is?” says Haupert, noting that Grady serves more unfunded patients than any other health system in Georgia. “So expansion would have made a huge difference, but for numerous reasons, perhaps political, it just didn’t happen.”

Haupert has stayed above the fray, demonstrating political savvy while focusing on the bigger picture – though he’s keeping a close eye on potential ramifications of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.

“I have to remain apolitical,” he says. “My role is about understanding what’s happening and influencing the outcome if possible. I don’t want to alienate anyone. If I’m solving a healthcare desert problem or trying to find funding for programs, that’s what I’m focused on, not which political party did what.”

It’s an approach that has worked for Haupert and for Grady.

“John has this unique gift when it comes to bringing county, state and federal leaders together around the essential role Grady plays across the region,” the GHA’s Noggle says. “He’s a strong, respected leader who knows how to build relationships between diverse stakeholders.”

Clinical Connections

Haupert is a son of the South, from Fort Smith, Arkansas, where his family has deep medical roots. In the 1920s his grandfather co-founded a clinic that eventually grew into a 200-physician practice affiliated with St. Edward Mercy Hospital, the city’s largest.

Photo credit: Ben Rollins

“I grew up with a hospital mindset,” he says. “Of course, it helps that my grandmother used to say, ‘I’d really like it if you went to medical school.’ Her father, brother and husband were doctors. She figured I should be one, too.”

His mother served on the hospital board, and he spent a lot of time in that environment, volunteering, working as an orderly, observing. He got to know the hospital president and CEO, Sister Judith Marie Keith. It all left an impact.

“I was fascinated with how the whole thing worked,” he says. “The hospital was like a city within the city.”

He earned a business degree at Trinity University in San Antonio and stayed on for an MBA, drawn by one of the top healthcare administration programs in the country.

“It’s just how my brain is wired – I’ve always loved the healthcare environment but also loved the idea of running a business with a mission,” Haupert says. “I needed a role that was outward focused, mission oriented, serving others – you know, giving back.”

Haupert has spent his entire outwardly focused career in Southern urban centers, Dallas and Atlanta. First, he climbed the corporate ladder at Methodist Health System – the private, faith-based counterpart to the public safety net in Dallas, Parkland. He spent 14 years with Methodist, going from administrative fellow eventually to CEO of one of the system’s hospitals and finally to executive vice president of operations for the entire system.

“Lots of great mentors along the way, and then I had the opportunity to move to Parkland,” says Haupert, who was COO there for five years. “Really, it’s the Grady of Dallas.”

Like Grady, Parkland is a large public urban healthcare system – one of the nation’s largest. Both are teaching hospitals that provide hundreds of millions of dollars in uncompensated care to underserved patients, while also offering a range of world-class services. And both are Level 1 trauma centers. As COO, Haupert oversaw the beginning of the construction of the $1.3 billion, 862-bed New Parkland Hospital across the street from Parkland Memorial Hospital, with an ER five times larger than the one built in 1954.

“Under John’s guidance, Grady has become more than just a hospital. It is a treasure, a critical resource, and we are all better for it.” – Caylee Noggle, president and CEO, Georgia Hospital Association

Meanwhile, he watched Atlanta’s near disaster and the private-public turnaround.

“What was happening in Atlanta fascinated me,” he says. “Business leaders knew they had to protect a critical community asset. There was real commitment.”

He was intrigued by the whole hybrid governance model. Grady is a public hospital, owned by the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority but operated by a private nonprofit. When the board sought a CEO in March 2011, Haupert was interested.

“It’s a complex arrangement and I enjoy that kind of complexity,” says Haupert. “I love academic, public safety-net hospitals, and Grady serves this role beautifully, while fulfilling its mission of treating everyone who walks through these doors.

“These types of institutions are rare, and I wanted to jump in and move Grady from being broken to running well.”

Weird Things Happen

Haupert calls what happened on Dec. 7, 2019 “a catastrophic, all-hands-on-deck event.”

A 24-inch water line ruptured on the sixth floor of Grady Memorial, emptying about 50,000 gallons into the building, flooding three floors, wiping out 220 of Grady’s licensed beds and forcing more than 150 patient transfers. Other hospitals’ ERs were overwhelmed as Grady accepted only trauma, burn and stroke patients for a short time.

Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for the hospital, which provided access to federal and state resources. Grady operated a temporary mobile hospital while partnering with nearby systems like Emory Healthcare.

The flood cost Grady about $89 million in lost income and $100 million in repairs, mostly covered by insurance. The reconstruction was finished in October 2020. By then, Grady (and every other hospital) was dealing with another problem.

“Just our luck that within weeks of the flood, a global pandemic comes along, and we’re down 200 beds,” Haupert says. “Once again, it’s all hands on deck.”

All Hands on Deck: Haupert and his staff led Grady through the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo credit: Contributed

Grady entered COVID-19 short on capacity but was a leader in Atlanta’s pandemic response. The hospital “had a pivotal role in the Moderna trial,” Haupert says, “helping advance vaccine development while simultaneously treating an overwhelming influx of critically ill patients.” Grady also partnered with the governor’s office to set up a 200-bed care facility at the Georgia World Congress Center. And Grady collaborated with Emory and Morehouse to support public health campaigns, testing sites and vaccine distribution across Atlanta.

Haupert recalls the early days of the lockdown, when his easy commute became eerie.

“Driving here was spooky – maybe three cars between home and here,” he says. “But this place was fully staffed and operational, filled with masked workers risking exposure to care for patients when we still didn’t know very much. Our staff didn’t blink, just cared for patients.”

Grady was pressed further in 2022 when Wellstar closed Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) – both the main hospital in the Old Fourth Ward and the southern campus in South Fulton, “leaving a huge vacuum in the region,” says Haupert.

“If I’m solving a healthcare desert problem or trying to find funding for programs, that’s what I’m focused on, not which political party did what.” – John Haupert

AMC had been serving thousands of low-income residents. Shuttering the main hospital leaves Grady as the only Level 1 trauma center in Atlanta and losing both facilities has created a healthcare desert in the area, according to a follow-up study by Fulton County.

Grady’s solution: a freestanding emergency department – Metro Atlanta’s first – set to open this fall in Union City. “It’s a full-blown ER for adults and pediatrics,” Haupert says, noting that Fulton County is covering half of the $38.9 million investment.

Healthcare Oasis: Grady’s freestanding emergency department – the first of its kind in Metro Atlanta – is expected to open in the fall. Photo credit: Contributed

The project will also bring primary care and specialty physicians to the community, and Haupert says a full acute care hospital could come later – contingent on timing, economics and philanthropy.

Meanwhile, Grady’s downtown campus was bursting in the wake of the Wellstar closures. Kemp provided $130 million in relief funds to add around 185 beds that filled quickly. The hospital now operates about 820 adult beds daily with further expansion underway.

“We’re landlocked, but we’re good at making room where there isn’t any,” says Haupert, who believes that growth underscores both Grady’s crucial role and the fragile financial margins it works with. “Some systems look for a 15% profit margin. We run on about three.”

Keeping the doors open requires disciplined management and civic engagement. In 2024, Fulton and DeKalb counties signed a six-year deal providing $60 million annually to support, among other things, new neighborhood health centers and expanded mobile units – a move toward community-based, preventive care.

Party with a Purpose: Haupert at the annual White Coat Grady Gala, a black-tie event that attracts 900 guests each year to raise money for the hospital. Photo credit: Contributed

Haupert credits those partnerships – and philanthropy – for sustaining Grady’s mission. Grady has brought in $660 million in private funding since 2008, much of that under Haupert’s leadership.

“Bernie Marcus was a great example of the kinds of partnerships we’ve been able to build,” he says, recalling the largesse of the late philanthropist and The Home Depot cofounder.

The Marcus Foundation has transformed Grady into a national leader in stroke care; the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center offers one of the nation’s top thrombectomy programs, and in 2024 the foundation awarded another $25.9 million to Grady and Emory to accelerate hemorrhagic stroke research.

“That gift represents more than generosity,” Haupert says. “It’s belief – belief in Grady’s capacity to lead.”

Part of the Infrastructure

Since Haupert arrived in 2011, Grady has continued to rebound from financial turmoil and political mistrust, delivering $270 million annually in uncompensated care while training future generations of clinicians. Its 11 neighborhood clinics provide imaging, behavioral health and preventive care.

“Those clinics used to be reactive,” Haupert says. “Now they’re proactive – managing chronic disease early, keeping people out of the ER.”

He adds: “Public hospitals like Grady don’t just treat patients. We sustain cities. We’re part of the public infrastructure – just like schools, roads and water systems.”

Haupert’s mission-driven, business-minded approach has shaped his work at the state and national level, too. As past chair of the Georgia Hospital Association and American Hospital Association, he’s advocated for, among other things, Medicaid expansion, mental-health funding and policies that strengthen safety-net systems.

Outside the healthcare setting, he finds renewal in other places. A lifelong lover of music, he serves on the boards of the Atlanta Opera and the Santa Fe Opera, where he blends his administrative expertise with a passion for creativity.

“You clearly have to know what opera is and really like it a lot,” he says, smiling. “But then you need people at the table who are business-minded, who can bring leadership and structure. That’s the combination I try to offer.”

His husband, Bryan Brooks – a retired HR executive – shares that passion. The two have been together nearly three decades and live in Midtown, near the High Museum of Art and First Presbyterian Church, where Brooks is active in the congregation’s arts ministry.

Family Support: Haupert (center) surrounded by family including his husband Bryan Brooks, to his left, and his mother, seated in front of him. Photo credit: Contributed

“He’s the right brain; I’m the left,” Haupert jokes.

During the pandemic, Haupert helped bring performances back to life, working with Atlanta Opera Director Tomer Zvulun and Dr. Carlos del Rio, the H. Cliff Sauls Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, to design logistics for the socially distanced “Big Tent” series.

“It was complex, complex, complex,” Haupert laughs. “But people showed up big time. You were under a tent, spread out, but you weren’t locked up in your house anymore. That did something for the soul.”

That small moment reflects something deeper about Haupert’s worldview: Health, culture and community aren’t separate. They are interconnected systems that sustain one another, and a reminder that human well-being is as much about beauty and connection as it is about medicine.

“When people create, they heal,” he says. “It’s all part of the same ecosystem.” 

While presiding over Grady Memorial Hospital has been challenging to say the least, John Haupert’s leadership style has allowed the health system to not just survive, but thrive.