Dr. Sandral Hullett, Former CEO of Birmingham’s Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, Dies at 78

By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times Sandral Hullett, M.D., who became the first African American female hospital CEO in the state of Alabama as medical director of the now downsized Cooper Green Mercy Hospital in Birmingham, has died. Dr. Hullett, who dedicated her medical career to improving health care for underserved, underinsured, and rural Alabamians, died on March 22 at the Hospice of West Alabama. She was78. “She worked tirelessly to uplift her community and the people around her,” said her daughter, Marika N. Johnson. “She became a parent by marriage but was inherently an amazing mother and nurturer to myself and to my twin sister, Maisha. She was loved and will be missed greatly.” Dr. Hullett took reins at Cooper Green, the then county-owned hospital for the poor, in 2001 and served until 2012 when the county commission began steps to downsize the facility. Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority is now an affiliate of the UAB Health System. Former Jefferson County Commissioner George Bowman, who worked with Dr. Hullett during his term in office, remembered the hospital administrator as a person of integrity. “She was first class, she had the heart of the patients and the heart...