No. 5: Robert Garrett

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As CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, Garrett runs New Jersey’s largest health network with 17 hospitals, 500 patient care locations, 35,000 team members and 6,500 physicians.

Under Garrett’s leadership, the network opened the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, formed a historic partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and secured the network’s merger with New Jersey’s largest behavioral health provider to dramatically improve access and the quality of care for addiction treatment and mental illness in New Jersey and beyond.

In 2019, the network merged with Carrier Clinic, to expand access to treatment, better coordinate care and innovate therapies. In September, the network opened the first urgent care behavioral health center in New Jersey, and perhaps the nation. A new addiction treatment center will open this winter, offering inpatient and outpatient care on nearly 40 acres in Bergen County.

Additionally, the National Cancer Institute approved the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center as a research partner of the NCI-Designated Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Garrett also led efforts to create the network’s historic partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The network has formed a strategic and clinical partnership with St. Joseph’s Health to expand and innovate treatment in North Jersey, primarily in oncology. And last year, the network also announced a definitive agreement to merge with Englewood Health, which is under regulatory review.

Garrett’s leadership and strategic vision have garnered professional praise as well as an honorary doctorate from Felician University in New Jersey. He was recently ranked 48th in Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare 2019, was named one of 10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare In America by the CEO Forum Magazine, and was featured on the NJBIZ “Power 50 Health Care” list.