Janet Hadar has been named the chief operating officer of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System.
The university announced Tuesday that Hadar will join the health system’s leadership team, effective January 12, 2026.
Why It Matters
UAB Health System is the largest health system in Alabama, with 133 locations serving all 67 counties in the state and beyond. It includes UAB Hospital, UAB Medical West, Baptist Health in Montgomery, UAB Callahan Eye and other affiliated sites.
The health system acquired St. Vincent’s Health System from Ascension last November, increasing its total bed count to 3,173 and changing its name to UAM St. Vincent’s.
There are more than 30,000 physicians, health care professionals and staff within UAB Health System, serving almost 1.4 million patients. It cares for critically ill patients and provides access to rural health care in the state by supporting associate hospitals like the Regional Medical Center of Central Alabama, Russell Medical Center, Whitfield Regional Hospital and John Paul Jones Hospital.
What To Know
As the new COO of UAB Health System, Hadar will “help shape the strategy for and oversee the operations” of UAB Hospital and Ambulatory Services, UAB St. Vincent’s, UAB Medical West and related support services, according to a statement from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She will also “provide valuable operational guidance to the UAB Health System-managed hospitals across the state.”
“UAB’s mission to serve people and make a positive difference in as many lives as possible as a leader in health care and in the community fits perfectly with my experience and passions,” Hadar said in a statement. “I am humbled and excited about this opportunity and look forward to building meaningful relationships with physicians, staff, patients and partners across the UAB Medicine enterprise.”
Hadar previously served as the president and CEO of the University of North Carolina Hospitals, overseeing both academic and community hospitals.
She was part of UNC Health for over twenty years, joining as the director of care management at UNC Hospitals in 2002. Throughout her time at UNC, Hadar served as the associate vice president of UNC Hospitals and the senior vice president of operations at UNC Health before taking on the top role in 2019.
Under Hadar’s leadership, UNC Hospitals gained a CMS 5-star rating, expanded mental and behavioral health access with a new 54-bed Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health hospital and partnered with physicians to enhance behavioral health services to communities across the state.
Hadar also managed a $1 billion portfolio in capital infrastructure investments to enhance and build new medical facilities, including a new surgical hospital.
Before her roles at UNC Health, Hadar was a consultant, nurse practitioner at the University of Wisconsin Medical Centers and a surgical and CT ICU nurse at Penn Medicine. She received her degree in nursing from Villanova University and obtained her master’s degree in nursing while working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She received her MBA from Case Western Reserve University.
What People Are Saying
UAB Health System CEO Dawn Bulgarella said in a statement that Hadar’s “proven leadership excellence and depth of expertise” will enhance the health system’s ability to serve patients, employees and communities across the state.
“Her wealth of experience as a leader in a large, complex health system that has effectively combined the value of an academic medical center and community hospitals in serving the health care needs of the community will be invaluable — particularly given the recent addition of UAB St. Vincent’s,” she said.
