About Me

Radical Surgery: Reconstructing the American Health Care System
By Mel Hawkins

About the Author

A former manager of a multi-specialty medical group practice, Mel Hawkins has also served as a director of a county-owned, 500-bed, long-term care facility, with terms as both President and Chair of the Finance Committee. The author has also served as Court Executive of a unified trial court, Chief Operating Officer of an industrial distribution and inventory management company, principal of a management consulting practice and a small business owner, giving Mr. Hawkins over hirty years of leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. This varied leadership experience has given Mr. Hawkins a unique and eclectic perspective, one that has served him well as an innovator and problem-solver.
Educated at Manchester College where he received a BA degree in Religion and Philosophy and Peace Studies, the author has also earned a Master of Science in Education from Saint Francis College and a Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University.
It was during his tenure as a medical group manager that it became apparent to Mel, that there must be a way to deliver health care to the whole population, without sacrificing the great strengths of the American health care system.
Mel Hawkins resides with his wife in Fort Wayne, Indiana, their three children now grown.
Active in his community, Mr. Hawkins attended Leadership Fort Wayne. In addition to his work on the Board of Managers of Byron Health Center, he has also served on the board of the Martin Luther King Montessori School; as a co-founder and a board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Wayne and, as a co-founder, board member and former president of the South Side Business Group of Fort Wayne and Allen County.

Recent Quotes in re: Radical Surgery:
Reconstructing the American Health Care System
By Mel Hawkins

Forward by Douglas A. Singh, author of Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach, 2nd Edition, Aspen Publishers, Gaithersburg, MD 2001.

“Mel Hawkins resurrects the problem faced by many Americans who do not have health insurance. . . .
. . . this book is intended to speak directly to the American consumer with the objective of bringing about radical change in the current health care delivery system.”

“In Radical Surgery, the author makes a meaningful contribution to the debate over the future of the American health care delivery system and the author’s appeal to consumers puts them in the best position to debate the merits of the proposed reforms.”

From Vail Daily, September 16, 2002, in a column by Don Rogers, Managing Editor.

“A provocative book. . . .”

“Hawkins’ blueprint is rather elegant, actually, and makes a lot of sense.

“He shows, conclusively . . . that this ‘radical surgery’ of the system is possible to achieve. . . .”

From WANE-TV 15, in Fort Wayne (CBS Affiliate).

“. . . new book offers revolutionary reforms to fix the health care system.”

From reader at AMAZON.COM

“. . . explains the level of complication today in probably the largest industry . . . and provides a solution to the mix. Clear, resourceful and motivating, the author has solved the problems, if only people would listen.”

From a review by William R. Clark, M.D. in Fort Wayne Medicine

. . . a thoughtful endeavor written from the perspective of one with experience as a medical group manager, and as a director of a 500-bed, long term care facility. . . . The book is interestingly written, provocative, and appropriate for a physician’s attention. . . .

From a review by Jessica Gize in Northern Indiana Health Cares

Hawkins is proposing a comprehensive reconstruction of the American healthcare system starting with a fresh premise focused on the needs of all Americans. What he proposes is a national system that provides universal care without government control and without reliance on “the forms of socialized medicine that Americans view with such disfavor.”