Blackburn Institute

Community Member Spotlight: Dr. Sandral Hullett

April 13, 2011

Currently the CEO of Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, Dr. Sandral Hullett is recognized as a leader in the healthcare industry in the State of Alabama. Her accomplishments are many, her success is evident, and her heart is huge. 

Inspired by the work of her grandfather and motivated by desperate needs in rural areas, Dr. Hullett has dedicated her life to serving rural Alabama. Cooper Green has now become a national model in public hospitals, despite particular economic hardships in Jefferson County over the last several years. Patients have increased and funding has decreased, but in 2009 the hospital led all area hospitals in patient satisfaction scores. Because of Dr. Hullett’s leadership, Alabama’s only public hospital is not only surviving but thriving. 

Sandral Hullett grew up in what is now known as the Inglenook neighborhood of Birmingham and received her undergraduate biology degree from Alabama A&M University. After working at Columbia University’s Institute of Cancer Research, she graduated from the all-women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, where she became confident in her ability to “be a professional, have a family, [and] enjoy work.” She returned to rural Alabama as part of the National Health Services Corps, earned her Master’s degree, and subsequently opened a family practice in Greene County. 

Dr. Hullett has served on the Alabama Board of Trustees for 20 years and was honored with the national Distinguished Service Award in Trusteeship. She was honored with two honorary doctorates, named as one of America’s leading black doctors by Black Enterprise magazine, recognized as the Birmingham Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year, and received the National Rural Health Association’s “Rural Practitioner of the Year” award in 1988.

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