After months of searching, a Grady Memorial Hospital team has selected its top candidate to run the massive hospital.

John Haupert – executive vice president and chief operating officer of Parkland Health & Hospital System in Dallas – will serve as CEO of Grady Health System starting in early October, if approved by the hospital’s corporate board. The board will meet on Aug. 8 to vote on his appointment.

Grady has been on the hunt for a new top executive following the resignation of former CEO Michael Young, who resigned earlier this year to take a position as head of PinnacleHealth in Harrisburg, Pa. Young took Grady’s helm in 2008 as part of an effort by key Atlanta business and community leaders to save the hospital from financial collapse. Grady, which spends more than $200 million each year caring for the uninsured, experienced its first profit in years under Young’s leadership.

At Parkland, also a major public hospital, Haupert is overseeing the construction of a $1.3 billion, 862-bed replacement hospital, as well as supporting specialty clinics. He began his career in health care management at Methodist Dallas Medical Center in 1992, serving as administrative resident.