I am extremely honored and humbled to serve as your chief executive officer, and it has been my pleasure to meet so many of you throughout the past month. Thank you for your warm welcome to Jacksonville. My family and I are excited to be in the River City and call this wonderful community home.

Although from afar, for many years I have admired UF Health Jacksonville for an unwavering commitment to its mission and staff and a long record of providing high-quality care for this great community.

I want to give a huge shout-out to Russ Armistead for his leadership and stepping up to come out of retirement to lead during a very difficult time for the organization. We all hope that he can enjoy his second retirement and spend well-deserved quality time with his family.

Although I did not have the privilege of meeting Dr. Leon L. Haley Jr., his legacy lives on in each one of you, and so we will continue to honor his compassion and the impact he had on this organization. I am truly honored to succeed such a profound leader.

As both these leaders would agree, my responsibility is to care for those who care for our patients. We must never lose sight of the fact that we exist to improve the lives of the patients we are called to serve.
You, our caregivers, have been and will always be the heartbeat of this great organization — our employees, faculty, medical staff and all who make UF Health Jacksonville the place of healing and medical advancement that it is today.

As CEO, I will make you a priority as we work together to give our patients and community a healthier way of life. I look forward to interacting, listening and learning from you as I walk the halls of our campuses and facilities.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that UF Health Jacksonville may have experienced the most challenging times of its history with the loss of an extraordinary leader in the midst of a pandemic.

Nevertheless, you persevered with guidance from the phenomenal leadership team of our entire UF Health system, UF Health Jacksonville, the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville and UF Jacksonville Physicians Inc.

Great things are happening at UF Health Jacksonville, and you are part of that. The UF Health footprint continues to expand, and I am committed to our growth and to improving the lives of those we serve.
This past fiscal year has been a year of growth, with three new Emergency and Urgent Care Centers as well as the opening of UF Health East, UF Health Deerwood Park and the expansion of a newly renovated medical surgical inpatient unit at the Pavilion. We now await the completion of the second inpatient bed tower at UF Health North and a new trauma center and emergency room on the downtown campus.

Indeed, it is a time of new beginnings, with a clear vision to achieve greater heights. I am excited to be on this journey with you as we focus on providing the highest quality of care and enhancing the health of our Jacksonville community, Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia.

Thank you for your dedication and support as we continue our mission to heal, to comfort, to educate and to discover.

Sincerely,

Patrick L. Green, FACHE
CEO, UF Health Jacksonville