John Swagert, M.D.

John Swagert, M.D.

Chief Executive Officer

I was born in Palo Alto, California, tried and failed to enjoy living in colder climates, and eventually settled in Arizona in 1994. My older sisters tell me that I told everyone that I was going to be a doctor at a very young age. This was probably because my mother suffered from medical problems during that time and her doctors made a big impact on my life—when they were good, my mother felt better and I got to spend more time with her.

It’s hard to remember life before Mountain Park, I’ve been here so long. I have always been drawn to things that make the world a better place and I believe that being part of Mountain Park has given me the opportunity to do that. I joined Mountain Park’s obstetrics department in 1998 and delivered 2,287 Mountain Park babies in nine years. For two years after I became Mountain Park’s CEO in 2005, I tried to continue seeing patients and delivering babies, but it eventually became clear that I couldn’t keep that up and I delivered my last baby in August of 2007. I am married to my lovely wife Karen who is a psychologist. We have a son named Sam who graduated from Emerson College in Boston.

As the CEO, I have many dreams for Mountain Park, but I think the primary one is to see it continue to grow because I know there are many more people out there who need us. Growing and helping more people is good, but it is also very important to me that we maintain the culture of caring about our patients and each other while we grow.

Education:
Northwestern University (1986)
University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine (1990)
George Washington University (1994)

Fun Fact: I spent my summers in high school working as a cowboy on my oldest sister’s cattle ranch in the Ozarks. We worked long days putting up hay or riding the range on horseback. My first patients were actually calves.