Leon L. Haley Jr., M.D., MHSA, FACEP, C.P.E., is the new dean, succeeding Daniel R. Wilson, M.D., Ph.D., who earlier this year was named president of Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.
“Dr. Haley brings a wealth of experience to his position as dean,’’ said David S. Guzick, M.D., Ph.D., president of UF Health and senior vice president for health affairs at the University of Florida. “Rising up the academic ranks to become professor of emergency medicine at Emory University, he has excelled as a clinician, scholar and administrator. At Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory’s safety-net hospital, Dr. Haley assumed increasing responsibilities for all faculty matters and has excelled in his current role as executive associate dean for clinical affairs.’’
Haley served as deputy senior vice president of medical affairs, chief of emergency medicine for Grady Health System and vice chair of emergency medicine at Emory University. Before that, he was a senior staff physician at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.
Haley’s primary academic interest has been identifying strategies to enhance the delivery of high-quality emergency care to large numbers of patients. He is credited with implementing a rapid medical evaluation process in the Grady Memorial Hospital E.R. that resulted in dropping the number of patients leaving without being seen by 50 percent, reducing the time for patients to see an emergency medicine provider by 45 minutes, and reducing the length of stay for the lowest-acuity patients by three hours.
Haley completed the Woodruff Leadership Program at Emory University and a fellowship with the National Association of Public Hospital Program. Haley has been funded by the Department of Defense, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Healthcare Georgia Foundation of Georgia. Haley served on the state of Georgia’s Trauma Network Commission.
“Dr. Haley has the skill set to work with our patients, the city of Jacksonville and the Florida Legislature to make us a better place,’’ said Russ Armistead, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville.
Haley earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his residency in emergency medicine at the Henry Ford Health System. He is board-certified in emergency medicine and a fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Haley is married to Carla Neal-Haley, M.D., who is an internist and pediatrician and CEO at Genesis Healthcare Inc. They have a daughter, Nichelle, and two sons, Grant and Wesley.
