Alumni/ae Spotlight

David K. Rickelton (MHA '72)
Vice President – Operations
North Carolina Baptist Hospital

By Sam Seifert (MHA '05)

David Rickelton is very modest when it comes to discussing his individual accomplishments and achievements as a hospital executive. Despite his modesty, one only needs to consider his thirty year career as a sign of his achievement and commitment to the field of health administration.

After receiving a Master’s degree in Hospital Administration from VCU in 1972, David served as Assistant Director of Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina from June 1972 through August 1976. He then accepted the position of Administrator/CEO of Woodland Community Hospital (formerly Doctors Hospital) in Cullman, Alabama from September 1976 through October 1980. In October 1980, David returned to the Triad area of North Carolina where he had begun his career eight years prior and became the Vice President of Operations for North Carolina Baptist Hospital (NCBH) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. As VPO for the last twenty-two plus years, David has been at the center of a very dynamic environment for growth in both facilities and patient volume.

Today, NCBH is an 830-bed facility and, along with the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, comprises Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, one of the nation’s 125 academic medical centers. Services provided are of a highly tertiary nature and include: level I trauma center, air and ground emergency transport, bone marrow, heart, and kidney transplant, level III neonatal intensive care, Brenner Children’s Hospital, Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a broad range of sophisticated diagnostic capabilities including PET (positron emission tomography) and cyclotron.

David’s operational responsibilities consist of the following departments/functions, which are led by six directly-reporting managers: Radiology, Pharmacy, Medical Records, Cardiology Diagnostic Services, Respiratory Care, Risk/Insurance Management and Safety/Security. In addition to his duties on the main campus, David also has corporate responsibility for three hospital subsidiaries which include Stokes-Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Danbury, NC, Hoots Memorial Hospital in Yadkinville, NC. and Triad Radiographic Imaging, Inc. in Winston-Salem.

Not only is David a dedicated executive, he is also a dedicated alum. Since 1982, he has served as a preceptor to a third-year resident from our MHA program. David acknowledges that our residents are very mature, professional and well-chosen for the field of health administration.

In a field of constant change, David Rickelton’s career is a testament to his dedication and longevity. We are proud to have him as an alum of VCU’s MHA program and are grateful for his continued contributions and support of our department.