Don DeCarlo, MD, MBA, is the Chief Medical Officer over the seven UH hospitals east of downtown Cleveland, stretching to Lake, Ashtabula and Geauga counties.
Here are five interesting facts about this longtime UH leader.
Dr. DeCarlo’s vocation was indirectly inspired by an ailing father who had his first heart attack at 37.
Don DeCarlo, MD, chose a career in medicine after witnessing the adverse effects of poor lifestyle choices and a myriad of health problems for his father. The elder DeCarlo was overweight, had a poor diet and smoked 2-3 packs a day. Beset by cardiovascular disease and diabetes, he suffered his first heart attack at 37.
“My father had a lot of health problems most of my life, and I saw the negative impact a person’s health can have on their loved ones’ quality of life,” said Dr. DeCarlo, who by contrast was extremely active and played multiple sports. “He died at 54 – and I’m 54 right now. But I feel like I’m still fairly young.”
Dr. DeCarlo exercises daily and enjoys running, biking and golfing. He’s determined to live a vigorous lifestyle, both personally and professionally – overseeing the Chief Medical Officers and medical staff of all seven medical centers in the East Market – Geauga, Ahuja, Conneaut, Geneva, Lake West, TriPoint and Beachwood. These hospitals range from rural, critical-access facilities to high-volume, acute care medical centers.
He went to college on a track scholarship and ran a 4:04 mile.
Dr. DeCarlo had a humble upbringing in West Virginia. Neither of his parents went to college, but he aimed high. He set a state record in the 1600-meter run from Morgantown High School and earned a scholarship to West Virginia University to run both cross-country and track.
At WVU he studied exercise physiology and worked toward medical school. After dabbling in podiatry and some other specialties, Dr. DeCarlo settled on Emergency Medicine – the perfect field for his personality.
“I like emergency medicine,” Dr. DeCarlo says. “I have a short attention span, and I like the fast pace, the variety, making decisions quickly. It’s structured chaos.”
Plus, he adds, leading an ED – which he did for more than a decade at hospitals from Arkansas to Memphis to Cleveland – was great preparation for hospital leadership. After two years running the busy ED at Hillcrest Hospital, Dr. DeCarlo came to University Hospitals in 2011 and was nominated Physician of the Year.
Dr. DeCarlo worked as an ED physician while serving as CMO, COO and President of UH Geauga Medical Center.
Dr. DeCarlo was appointed Chief Medical Officer of UH Geauga three years after joining UH and held a dual role of CMO and Chief Operating Officer from 2016-19 while he continued to work in the ED caring for patients. He was able to juggle all these roles because, he said, he was blessed by a strong, capable team.
“The ED is a microcosm of the hospital,” he notes, adding that doctors refer to specialists in surgery, cardiology and other areas and work closely with nursing, transport, lab and radiology – a good grounding for becoming a hospital leader. “It’s a very complex, dynamic environment.”
Dr. DeCarlo became President of UH Geauga in 2019 and transitioned the following year to his current role overseeing all the CMOs of the East Market. He’s focused on standardizing physician reports, regionalizing on-call schedules, implementing best practices for quality purpose and establishing greater accountability and transparency for medical directorships.
“I felt my job as CMO was to serve the physicians and eliminate barriers so they could perform at the highest level of their ability,” Dr. DeCarlo said. “But I also felt the CMO should have a seat at the table for a broader role within leadership. Because I’ve been a president of a hospital, I’m able to see all the different areas of health care and how they fit together. When you work on different projects and initiatives, it take much more than the physicians. You have to know your audience and explain the ‘why.’ My background helps me understand what’s reasonable. It’s all about hiring the right people – you can’t be a content expert on everything – and getting them on the bus.”
While patient saves in the ED are exciting, it’s connecting patients to community resources for long-term benefit that he’s found most rewarding.
Sparing patients’ lives after heart attacks, strokes and trauma may be the most dramatic outcomes for an ED caregiver. But the patients who need help beyond the doors of the ED are the ones who resonate most with Dr. DeCarlo, and the ones he remembers from the early years of his career.
“I guess most people would think the most rewarding part of being an ED physician is helping to save someone’s life, but I don’t think that is true, at least not for me,” Dr. DeCarlo says, reflecting on his 25-year career. “Sometimes it is difficult to take the time to go the extra mile when you are working in the ED, but the patients that I have found to be most rewarding are the ones in which I went above and beyond my expected duties as an ED Physician.”
He remembers the lady in Arkansas who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, including her diabetic medications. Dr. DeCarlo took her home, where his wife provided clothing and connected the woman to other resources. And he’ll never forget the gay male prostitute with HIV, who’d moved to West Virginia from New York City and had no friends or support system. Dr. DeCarlo offered a listening ear and guidance, easing the man’s final months of life.
“I knew that HIV can be an incredibly lonely disease,” Dr. DeCarlo says. “I’ve come to realize the essential ingredient for being a good physician is demonstrating love and compassion to others. That’s what makes the most difference in a person’s life.”
His children chose the same Christian college his wife attended.
Dr. DeCarlo met his wife, Julie, on a blind date. They married 24 years ago and have twin 18-year-olds. Cameron and Courtney are attending Grove City College, his wife’s alma mater. His son, who is planning to attend medical school just as his father did, will work as a patient care nurse assistant this summer at UH Geauga, near their Bainbridge home.
“As a family, we do a lot of church activities,” says Dr. DeCarlo, who also volunteers at a men’s homeless shelter and regularly attends Bible study. “We place a lot of emphasis in growing in our Christian faith.”
While Dr. DeCarlo says he’s been very blessed to have many great mentors in his life, he has been most shaped by his faith.
“I would say the single person that has shaped my life is Jesus Christ, because he was the ultimate servant leader,” he says.
