Casey Cooper is the Chief Executive Officer of Cherokee Indian Hospital (CIH) in Cherokee, NC. The CIH serves approximately 14,000 members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).
As an enrolled member of the EBCI, Casey has been involved in American Indian health care for 25 years. He has served the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and its community since 1993 as a Primary Care Nurse, Community Health Nurse, Nurse Educator, and Nursing Manager. As the Health Director of the EBCI from 1999 to 2004, he helped shape public health policy with a focus on chronic disease prevention and led a community wide initiative to assume the management responsibilities of the CIH from the Indian Health Services through an Indian Self-Determination Agreement.
Casey is a graduate of Gardner-Webb University, holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He is a current member of the WNC Health Network, the United South and Eastern Tribes (USET) Health Committee, CMS Tribal Technical Advisory Group, NC Medical Care Advisory Committee, IHS Facilities Appropriation Advisory Board, Mountain Area Health Education Center Board of Directors, Western Carolina University Board of Trustees, AHA Rural Task Force and the American Hospital Association Regional Policy Board.