UF Health St. Johns Announces Leadership Change, Affirms Strategic Direction and Emphasis on Local Care

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — March 8, 2022 — UF Health St. Johns announced a leadership reorganization today, naming Carlton DeVooght interim President & Chief Executive Officer. DeVooght replaces Jason Barrett who has made the decision to resign from the organization to pursue other opportunities.

“We extend our gratitude to Jason for his many years of leadership, particularly over the past two years, as he worked to ensure the health and well being of our staff and our community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated UF Health St. Johns Board of Directors Chair Todd Neville. “We appreciate Jason’s steadfast passion for helping others and wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

“It has been my honor to lead UF Health St. Johns during a time of unprecedented growth, serving our community, meeting the challenges of the pandemic, and attaining excellence in care, highlighted with the recent designation of Health Grades Top 50 Best Hospitals in the country,” commented Barrett on his time with the organization. “I have the utmost respect for our highly dedicated health care team, and wish them continued success.”

UF Health St. Johns has experienced significant expansion in recent years and was also named a Top General Hospital by The Leapfrog Group in 2021.

“As we move into one of the most monumental moments in UF Health St. Johns history with the development of our additional hospital campus in Durbin Park, the Board of Directors is focused on ensuring execution of the strategic vision and also preserving our legacy of caring for the St. Augustine community,” added Neville. “The board and executive team remain committed to delivering high quality, locally-governed, community-centric health care.”

Interim President & CEO Carlton DeVooght has been with the organization for four years and most recently served as Senior Executive Vice President/Chief Administrative Officer & General Counsel.

“I am honored that the Board of Directors has placed their trust in me to lead UF Health St. Johns through this transitional time. We share a commitment to ensuring the highest level of care is provided to our community and a belief that locally-based health care is the best health care,” DeVooght commented. “Our team at UF Health St. Johns proves this to be true again and again, achieving some of the best clinical outcomes in the nation, while also meeting vital social health needs like housing, food adequacy and access to mental health care. In the coming months I will be working with our team members and our community to further our vision of advancing physical, social and economic health and to also emerge as the best place to work and practice medicine in Northeast Florida.”

Prior to his current appointment, Mr. DeVooght directed enterprise-wide strategy, operations and administration functions with an emphasis on growth and partnerships. Mr. DeVooght joined UF Health St. Johns after serving as Senior Vice President of Operations for Coastal Community Health. In that role, he oversaw operations of the regional affiliation, interactions with governmental agencies and coordinated all legal actions. Prior to joining Coastal, Mr. DeVooght served as Vice President & General Counsel for Southeast Georgia Health System. In this role he led the organization’s legal, real estate, medical staff services, compliance, risk management and government relations matters, as well as the cancer centers for the health system. He has a B.A. from the University of Georgia and earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law. Mr. DeVooght also has an MBA with a certification in health care management from Brenau University where he received the Leadership Award.