Ben Hunter, MD, FAPA
Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer
Dr. Ben Hunter assumed the role of Charles B. West Chief Medical Officer in 2024. In this position, he provides leadership and oversight for all clinical services, research, and outcomes analysis and reporting at Skyland Trail. Dr. Hunter joined Skyland Trail in 2017 as Medical Director of Outpatient Services and served in the role of Medical Director of Professional Services from 2020 to 2023.
Dr. Hunter speaks to professional, student, and community audiences on many mental health topics, including the unique mental health needs of executives, athletes, and other high-performing individuals; leading-edge therapies such as transcranial magnetic stimulation; suicide prevention; and protecting and promoting teen mental health. He has contributed to numerous publications including co-authoring the book, Psychiatry of Workplace Dysfunction: Tools for Mental Health Professionals, Managers, and Employees.
Dr. Hunter completed his medical training at Emory University School of Medicine followed by psychiatric residency at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as chief resident during his final year. His career at Penn was marked by several distinctions including the University of Pennsylvania’s Laughlin Foundation Award for outstanding professional achievement as well as Penn’s Kenneth D. Cohen Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Award for excellence in psychotherapy. Dr. Hunter also completed fellowships in psychoanalysis through the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia and in organizational psychiatry with the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Prior to medical training, he earned a bachelor’s degree in biology summa cum laude from Wake Forest University.
Dr. Hunter is an elected Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Treasurer and 2024 President-Elect of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, and a member of numerous state- and national-level committees aimed at improving psychiatric access and care. Notably, he has served on the Insurance Committee of the Clinical TMS Society, the international standard-bearer for transcranial magnetic stimulation, since 2021.
Dr. Hunter’s career in healthcare has been informed by lifelong involvement in team sports. Following an All-American baseball career at Wake Forest and selection in the Major League Baseball draft, he was called to a career in medicine. Dr. Hunter continues to share his passion for athletics by advocating for healthy lifestyle as a critical element of physical and emotional wellbeing.