Thomas Gullatt, MD, never walked across the stage at his college graduation. He was already in medical school. More than four decades later, his alma mater gave him a walk worth the wait.
On October 17, during the University of Louisiana Monroe Warhawks Football game vs. the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at FMOL Health | St. Francis Stadium, Dr. Gullatt was honored as a Warhawk of the Game, a fitting tribute for a man who has spent a lifetime in service to his patients, his hospital and the community he calls home.
Roots, a River Town and a Road to Medicine
Dr. Gullatt grew up in Plaquemine, Louisiana, on the west bank of the Mississippi River. His father was a basketball coach, and weekends often meant a trip to Baton Rouge to watch LSU legends like Pete Maravich.
By sixth grade, a science teacher had spotted his gift. Most of the science-minded kids in town became engineers at the local plants. Dr. Gullatt set his sights on medicine instead, and he never looked back.
He chose Northeast Louisiana University, now ULM, on a four-year scholarship, joined by his cousin who came to play basketball. Dr. Gullatt still jokes that the air-conditioned freshman dorms sealed the deal.
He lived in Olinde Hall, earned a spot on the President’s List and finished with enough credits in three years to earn early admission to LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport. He completed his ULM degree in 1981 during his first year of medical school.
ULM gave him more than a degree. It gave him lifelong friendships. Many of the physicians he later practiced alongside in Monroe were former ULM classmates. It was also there that he met his wife, Denise. Though they did not date in college, they shared a wide circle of friends. Denise graduated from ULM in 1981 and later worked as a banker in Shreveport.
A Chance Meeting, a Lasting Partnership
Years later, Dr. Gullatt and Denise crossed paths again in a Shreveport church parking lot. They began dating and married during his third year of medical school at LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport and welcomed two children, Emily and Ryan, during his residency.
After earning his medical degree in 1984, Dr. Gullatt completed an internal medicine residency and a pulmonary and critical care fellowship in Shreveport. A late-night patient transfer call from a Monroe physician led to an invitation to join a practice there. Although neither were from Monroe, in 1989, the Gullatts made it home.
Building Something That Lasts
For 15 years, Dr. Gullatt practiced at Pulmonary & Internal Medicine Associates, with Denise working part-time in the back office. In 2004, St. Francis asked him to launch its hospitalist and intensivist program. Within a few years, the program cared for more than half of the hospital’s patients. The protocols he designed still guide how the team practices today. Several of the physicians Dr. Gullatt recruited in 2004 to join the program are still valued physicians at St. Francis today.
When COVID-19 arrived, this lung specialist led the hospital’s response, working from dawn until late at night. He went on to serve as chief medical officer and later became president of FMOL Health | St. Francis. The role came to someone who never sought it but knows every corner of the hospital, as well as team members from nursing, ER, therapists to the cafeteria staff who have cooked his eggs since 1989.
Among the accomplishments he holds most dear:
- Level III Trauma Center designation, recently recertified
- Launch of family medicine and internal medicine residency programs
- A steadfast COVID-19 response that protected patients and staff
- Hospitalist & ICU protocols that shaped a new model of care
He also championed an expanded partnership between FMOL Health and ULM that has brought a new name to the university’s football stadium, FMOL Health | St. Francis Stadium.
Faith in Every Patient
Dr. Gullatt’s faith shapes how he sees every person, as someone created by God and worthy of dignity. He has carried that conviction on medical mission trips to Ukraine, performing bronchoscopies and delivering medicine.
When people ask how he copes with caring for critically ill patients, his answer is simple: his gift is time. That means time to make amends, to say goodbye and to find peace with God.
That perspective has made him not just a skilled physician, but a deeply human one.
What Comes Next
At year’s end, Dr. Gullatt retires from a career spent on call since 1984. He will spend about one day a week as the designated institutional official for the internal medicine and family medicine residency programs at St. Francis. The rest of his time will finally be his own.
That time belongs to his family: daughter Emily and son-in-law Taylor, son Ryan and daughter-in-law Morgan, as well as his six grandchildren: Anna Claire, Jackson, Graham, Eliza, Weston and Camden who call him T Papa. Expect to find their T Papa in the stands at lots of ball games, choir concerts and school programs.
He plans on spending more time fishing and continuing to be involved in North Monroe Baptist Church. The calendar is already filling up. An Alaskan cruise with the whole family comes next summer. Next fall brings a river cruise with a fellow physician celebrating two retirements and a friendship that began right here at ULM.
