Top 25 Minority Executives in Healthcare – 2008

As president and chief executive officer of the Harris County Hospital District in Houston, the three-hospital public system for the nation’s third most populous county, David Lopez knows the challenges of treating the uninsured and underinsured. Before being named to the top job in April 2005, Lopez, 55, was chief operating officer of the hospital district. Over the course of his 30-year career in hospital administration, he has served in numerous other positions, including senior executive director of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The son of a Pentecostal minister, Lopez says he sees his hospital work as part of his life’s “missionary purpose.”