Steven Winkler

1. Tell us about your career and life path since graduating from Fuqua in 1978. What have you been up to?

Following graduation, my claim to fame was being the youngest administrator in the State of Tennessee. I had responsibility for a 64-bed pediatric hospital and six MD clinics in Chattanooga. Unfortunately, the facility was sold to a new hospital group about two years later, and I was replaced with one of the new owners. That facility is now part of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is no longer a hospital.

I had the opportunity to join Humana first as the associate executive director in Brandon, FL and then in Plantation, FL. Then came the call from Baton Rouge General, and this is where the story goes long. In my 21 years there, I held various roles, from VP of operations, to marketing and risk management, but most importantly, this is where I meet my wife and the mother of our three girls. All who said they would never go into healthcare, yet today, all three are in healthcare: two Physical Therapists (one is and one is in her clinicals), and one is in health care administration. Monica left the General as VP of nursing and chief nursing officer.

Shortly after we left the General, Monica and I had the chance to create a Surg Hospital in an old K-Mart to handle the post Hurricane Katrina devastation. We turned an old, empty, filthy store with no a/c nor plumbing into a hospital almost overnight. That led to a opportunity at the Charity Hospital (EKLong) in Baton Rouge and then to the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine as the hospital director, which was fascinating.

From there, I worked with a Hem/Onc group for ten years, and the advances in treatment were phenomenal. We joined a national group of oncologists, and once again, I worked myself out of job, but that gave me a chance to work at Woman's Hospital, managing their owned physician practices, which we added to and grew offices outside of Baton Rouge; and that brings us today and my role at the Orthopedic Surgery Center. We operate 5 OR's and service a group of 18 providers upstairs. 

2. As a graduate of the Masters of Health Administration program, what was your time like as a student? What was the most meaningful aspect of the curriculum for you?

During my time at Duke, the best memories were studying with the other students and getting to know them. We worked on projects together, which brought us closer together. I also managed the Edgemont Community Clinic, which was a wonderful experience as we worked with the family medicine residents, the medical students, nursing students from both Duke and UNC, pharmacy students and med techs from Chapel Hill.

3. How have you seen the campus change over the years? What element of change makes you the most proud as a longstanding alumnus?

Our class just returned to the campus to celebrate our 45th anniversary of our graduation from Duke, and I didn't recognize virtually anything. The program has grown tremendously, and I am so proud to have graduated with folks who went onto law school, have taken companies public, started companies, sold companies, have become judges, deans at universities, and have had fantastic careers.

4. What do you hope to see in Fuqua’s future?

Healthcare continues to change at such a rapid pace; our program has to keep its finger on the pulse and is ready to study the changes that are happening every day. The mechanisms to provide care, the methods to cover the cost of care, and how to pay for all of this are all over the place.