50 Most Influential Clinical Executives - 2022

Saunders continues to improve and expand access to care at her system, including 10 hospitals and more than 300 care sites. Under her leadership, WellStar is developing a $263 million tower at its Kennestone Hospital to expand women and children services, set to open in 2025; working to expand cancer services via a $12 million project, expected to open in early 2023; and has opened an internal medicine facility that also serves as a residency clinic for physicians in training. Saunders, who has been in the top job since 2015, joined WellStar as president of Kennestone Hospital in 2007. She says that having started her career at the bedside as a critical-care nurse has taught her the importance of “pausing and listening to what people need and want, especially in their most trying times.”