Executive Leadership
Chief Executive Officer
Born and raised in Germany, Thomas started his career in healthcare there over 30 years ago as a nurse and later social worker. A Fulbright Scholar, he first came to the United States in 1994 to attend graduate school. Upon receiving his Master of Social Work, Thomas worked for many years as mental health clinician and psychiatric nurse until he began taking on progressively responsible leadership roles.
He led clinical teams as Chief Nursing Officer with Psychiatric Solutions and later served as Chief Executive Officer of two psychiatric hospitals with large outpatient departments for Universal Health Services. Prior to co-founding True Health Center for Emotional Wellness, Thomas held the position of Regional Vice President of Behavioral Health Services for the HCA North and West Florida Divisions for almost 7 years.
Michael Murphy, MD
Board Certified Psychiatrist
Medical Director
With over 25 years of clinical experience in psychiatry, Dr. Michael Murphy, MD, MPH, is a valuable asset to the True Health LLC family. A Harvard Medical School graduate, Dr. Murphy has held several leadership positions at health systems, psychiatric hospitals and medical centers in Massachusetts, Tennessee and Florida. He spent more than 5 years of his career serving as the National Medical Director for Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Behavioral Health Services where he developed major initiatives in patient care quality and safety and set the tone for behavioral health care on a national level. In addition to providing clinical and administrative oversight for True Health’s Center for Emotional Wellness, he practices and teaches at River Oaks Treatment Center, a substance use disorder treatment facility.
Dr. Murphy is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and substance abuse disorders who also recognizes the importance of recognizing each unique individual. He is a member of the American Psychiatric Association and author of Blueprints in Psychiatry, a textbook for medical students, the sixth edition of which was published in 2018.
Dr. Murphy’s experience includes previously serving on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and Vanderbilt University. He recently developed a fellowship training program in Addiction Medicine in collaboration with HCA and the Morsani School of Medicine at USF.
David Tropauer
Chief Financial Officer
With over 30 years of healthcare experience, David started his career with HCA where he was Vice President of Finance and Operations for the Behavioral Health service line, Eastern Group Controller of the acute care hospitals and surgery centers, and Director of Managed Care.
His experience also includes the role of Operations CFO for Psychiatric Solutions and Vice President of Payor Operations for Envision Healthcare, the largest provider of physician services in the country.
Katie Rodriguez
Utilization Management Specialist
Katie Rodriguez has over eight years of experience working with adolescents and adults in the mental health field. She is a Florida native and she received her Master of Science in Counseling and Psychology from Troy University.
Katie has experience as a therapist and an intake specialist in an inpatient setting. She most recently served as a director of utilization review, advocating on behalf of clients to receive approval for services from managed care organizations. As a Utilization Management Specialist, she is a passionate advocate for clients to receive the appropriate and medically necessary mental health treatment.
Gabriela Barth
Director of Business Development
With broad experience as a hospital administrator and market-wide director of sales and physician relations, Gaby brings a strong foundation to our team as our Director of Business Development. Following the completion of her Master of Health Administration, she worked as an administrator at Chippenham Hospital in Richmond, VA, which included oversight of key departments supporting the 137-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital.
She then moved to Florida to pursue a role as market-wide Director of Physician Relations for 4 hospitals in the Fort Lauderdale area. Gaby brings her strengths in strategic planning and provider relations, combined with her passion for improving access to mental health services, to the True Health team.