John Santopietro, M.D.

John Santopietro, MD, is chief clinical officer for behavioral health at Carolinas HealthCare System. He is a nationally recognized expert on behavioral health including post-traumatic stress disorder in children. At Carolinas HealthCare System, Dr. Santopietro is working to significantly and positively impact the unmet mental health needs of the local community. Under his leadership Carolinas HealthCare System is expanding services through such projects as the new behavioral health hospital in Davidson – the first new in-patient behavioral health hospital built in the U.S. in years – and the virtual integration project which will bring behavioral health services into the 200 primary care practices within the System.

Prior to joining Carolinas HealthCare System, Dr. Santopietro was the chief medical officer for Connecticut’s Community Health Resources, where he oversaw the restructuring of medical staff and adult outpatient clinics to improve the function of the team approach and increase medical staff productivity. He was also president of the Connecticut Psychiatric Society, (CPS) the state branch of the American Psychiatric Association, and in that role, Dr. Santopietro was instrumental in developing the response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings by sending psychiatrists to Newtown, who then provided services to all those impacted by the tragedy. This June, the Connecticut Psychiatric Society honored Dr. Santopietro with the Service to CPS Award, which commended his role in coordinating the response to Sandy Hook and saluted his continued efforts to promote behavioral health on a national level.