Leon L. Haley Jr., MD, MHSA, CPE, FACEP, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville and dean of the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville, passed away unexpectedly Saturday, July 24, 2021. Haley, 56, was regarded as a strong, inspirational leader and beloved son, father, friend and colleague.

In addition to his roles as CEO and dean, Haley was a UF professor of emergency medicine and vice president for health affairs at the University of Florida. He assumed his UF roles in January 2017 and became CEO of UF Health Jacksonville in January 2018.

Haley rose up the academic ranks to become professor of emergency medicine at Emory University, where he excelled as a clinician, scholar and administrator. At Grady Memorial Hospital, Emory’s safety-net hospital, Haley assumed increasing responsibilities for all faculty matters and excelled in his role as executive associate dean for clinical affairs.

Haley’s primary academic interest has been identifying and evaluating strategies to enhance the delivery of high-quality emergency care to large numbers of patients in the emergency room setting. He is credited with successfully implementing a rapid medical evaluation process in the Grady Memorial Hospital emergency room that resulted in, among other things, decreasing the number of patients leaving without being seen by 50%, decreasing the time for patients to see an emergency medicine provider by 45 minutes and reducing the length of stay for the lowest-acuity patients by three hours.

Haley was father to one daughter, Nichelle, and two sons, Grant and Wesley. He is also survived by his parents, Elizabeth Ann and Leon Haley Sr., and sister, Lisa Haley Huff. He was predeceased by his brother, Loren Haley.

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