50 Most Influential Physician Executives – 2016

Dr. William Roper's career has moved through leadership positions in three sectors that are often in conflict in healthcare—providers, payers and government. Roper, 67, is currently CEO of the nine-hospital UNC Health Care, based in Chapel Hill, N.C., a post he's held since 2004. He's also dean of the school of medicine and vice chancellor of medical affairs at the University of North Carolina, where he serves as a professor of pediatrics and of social medicine. Roper has done stints as senior vice president of Prudential HealthCare and president of the Prudential Center for Health Care Research, from 1993 to 1997; director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1990 to 1993; an adviser to and member of the senior White House staff of President George H.W. Bush in 1989 and 1990, and administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (now the CMS) from 1986 to 1989 under President Ronald Reagan. He's a member of the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) and serves as a director at dialysis provider DaVita and pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts.