William Cooper Photo
Executive MBA, 2013

William Cooper

Medical Director of Cardiovascular Surgery, Wellstar Health System
Pharma / BioTech / Healthcare

Biography

Wiiliam's unique background included being a military veteran, cardiothoracic surgeon, and Emory professor. After he was appointed as the medical director, even with his vast experience in healthcare as an esteemed surgeon, he found himself struggling to master the acumen he felt he needed to contribute fully on the business side of planning and operating discussions.

“I realized early on that healthcare wasn’t just a medical field. Healthcare touches on every discipline — operations, finance, management, and marketing — it’s as much business as it is science and art. I knew if I wanted to help transform the healthcare industry, I needed to understand the language of business.”

William's values and leadership expertise were grounded in his diverse personal, professional, and military experiences, which includes leadership, team building, motivation, program development, value-based healthcare, strategy, and care- delivery reform. Not only was he able to share this wide range of expertise with his classmates; he also was able to cull from the experience and ideas of his peers, who were key leaders in their industries.

“At Goizueta, it was just as valuable to discuss solutions and problems with people as it was to work on the various cases — inside and out. The program’s diverse and rich environment allowed me to discuss creative solutions and apply those to real problems.”

With the EMBA program, William was able to contribute in operating discussions, add value to his business, and inject viable solutions in the healthcare industry.