Who is Joe Hess PhD?
Meet Joe
My career has taken me through clinical practice, healthcare leadership, research, higher education, and executive leadership. While each role has been different, they have all been connected by a common purpose: helping people understand complex situations and make thoughtful decisions.
Over more than twenty-six years in healthcare, I have cared for patients, led organizations, taught future healthcare professionals, and studied how healthcare systems function. Those experiences have reinforced a simple observation. The most difficult healthcare decisions are rarely medical decisions alone. They involve uncertainty, family relationships, personal values, financial considerations, and questions that often have no perfect answer.
That realization became the foundation for Summit Care Connect.
I established Summit Care Connect to provide families with something I believe is often missing in today's healthcare system—an independent source of thoughtful guidance. My role is not to replace physicians or other healthcare professionals, nor is it to tell families what they should do. My role is to help families understand their circumstances, evaluate their options, and make decisions they can support with confidence.
My academic preparation includes a Doctor of Philosophy in Leadership, a Master of Health Administration, and a Master of Science in Health Evaluation Sciences, and a Bachelors of Science in Nursing. My experience as a nurse, healthcare executive, educator, and researcher, these perspectives allow me to approach healthcare decisions from both the clinical and organizational viewpoints. More importantly, they have taught me that every family's situation is unique and deserves careful consideration rather than standardized advice.
Outside of my professional life, my greatest priorities are my family and the mountains of western Colorado that I call home. My partner, Jes, and I enjoy spending time outdoors, whether hiking, fly fishing, traveling, or exploring new places with a camera in hand. I am the father of two adult children, Courtney and Brandon, and I am grateful to have Samantha as my daughter-in-law and Elliott my grandson.
Like many of the families I serve, I also have aging parents. Experiencing the realities of aging within my own family has reinforced an important lesson: healthcare decisions are never simply about medicine. They are about people, relationships, values, and the responsibility we feel toward those we love. Those experiences continue to shape both my perspective and my commitment to helping families navigate these decisions with clarity, thoughtfulness, and compassion.
If my approach resonates with you, I invite you to reach out. I'd welcome the opportunity to learn about your family's situation and explore whether Summit Care Connect is the right fit for your needs.