Eugene A. Woods

Eugene A. Woods, MBA, MHA, FACHE, is Chief Executive Officer of Advocate Health, the nation’s third‑largest nonprofit integrated health system. Created in 2022 through the combination of Atrium Health and Advocate Aurora Health, Advocate Health serves nearly six million patients in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, and Wisconsin across 69 hospitals and more than 1,000 care sites. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and with Wake Forest University School of Medicine as its academic core, Advocate Health employs 162,000 teammates with a mission to redefine care, from discovery to everyday moments.

Woods has made expanding access, enhancing affordability, achieving clinical excellence, and driving leading-edge innovation the centerpieces of Advocate Health’s strategy.

Since 2022, Advocate Health has delivered over $12 billion in community benefit—while launching initiatives such as a $1 billion investment to help narrow the 30‑year life‑expectancy gap in Chicago’s South Side by building a new hospital, expanding primary and specialty care in the community, and hiring more than 1,000 neighborhood residents. In Charlotte, Advocate Health’s school‑based telehealth initiative connects nurse practitioners to 100 public‑school classrooms; in Milwaukee’s underserved Near West Side, the new Beacon Health Center will offer integrated physical, mental, and social services; and in Macon, Georgia, the Food as Medicine Market combines a free pantry with a “food farmacy” to combat nutrition insecurity.

Advocate Health also serves more than one million people in rural communities through 21 rural hospitals and almost 400 clinics. Investments are bringing more services closer to rural patients, including building new access sites of care and embedding virtual behavioral health services in every rural primary care practice.

To enhance affordability, Woods introduced one of the nation’s most generous financial‑assistance policies, covering families earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level and automatically approving roughly 90 percent of eligible patients.

System‑wide clinical excellence initiatives have reduced patient‑mortality rates by 14 percent and quadrupled the number of Leapfrog “A” safety grades in just two years.

To drive future breakthroughs, Woods is leading the development of The Pearl, a multi-billion dollar medical‑innovation district opening in Charlotte in Summer 2025 that will focus on advanced medical technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The Pearl will host industry partners such as Siemens, Stryker, and Boston Scientific, be home to North America’s only IRCAD advanced surgery training center, create approximately 12,000 jobs, and house Charlotte’s first four‑year medical school—the second campus of Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

Before the combination, Woods served as president and CEO of Atrium Health from 2016 to 2022, steering the organization through the COVID‑19 pandemic while Atrium earned national recognition for clinical quality, inclusion on multiple Forbes “Best Employers” lists, and top rankings by U.S. News & World Report in pediatric and rehabilitation care.

An author and widely respected thought leader, Woods wrote Health, Hope, and Healing for All: Toward More Equitable and Affordable Healthcare. He has chaired both the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees and the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Board, previously served on the Best Buy Co. board, and currently sits on the board of Johnson & Johnson.

Woods’ leadership has been acknowledged with: nine appearances on Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare,” including achieving Luminary status for his accomplishments in health care accessibility; Becker’s “Great Leaders in Healthcare;” the National Center for Healthcare Leadership’s Gail L. Warden Leadership Excellence Award; and the U.S. Department of Defense Patriot Award for support of National Guard and Reserve teammates.

Woods holds a bachelor’s degree in health planning and administration, as well as MBA and MHA degrees, from The Pennsylvania State University, and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Drawing on more than three decades of experience, Woods is focused on shaping a future to improve health, elevate hope, and advance healing FOR ALL – one patient and community at a time.