A Year of Discovery

When Paari Gopalakrishnan, MD, MBA, became President and CEO of GBMC HealthCare one year ago, he set out to understand the organization from the inside out: its strengths, its challenges and, most importantly, its people. 

He listened, asked questions and spent time throughout the health system. Along the way, he discovered exceptional clinical expertise, including complex head and neck surgery and advanced cancer care that rivals what patients might expect from a large academic medical center, delivered close to home and with a personal touch. 

But some of the moments that stayed with him most reveal something else about GBMC. He saw retired physicians return for the annual crab feast, met volunteers whose dedication keeps Nearly New thriving and joined the community for Walk A Mile in Their Shoes, supporting GBMC’s donor-funded Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) program. During a day shadowing Gilchrist home hospice nurse Delores Williams, he witnessed extraordinary compassion for patients and families. 

“You see the work differently. You appreciate it differently. You are humbled by it,” he reflected afterward. 

His first year also coincided with GBMC’s 60th anniversary, connecting these experiences to a much longer story. For six decades, physicians, employees, volunteers, donors and community members have invested themselves in GBMC. 

After a year of listening and learning, Dr. Gopalakrishnan sees that connection as one of GBMC’s greatest strengths: an organization built and sustained by its community, with a remarkable foundation for what comes next.