StC News
StC Alumnus Plays Key Role in Medical Supply Chain
Burton Fuller ’01 faces the pandemic with resourcefulness in his role in the global medical supply chain.
As a vice president and chief supply chain officer at Johns Hopkins Health System, Burton Fuller ’01 is working day and night to ensure the delivery of critical medical equipment. Fuller oversees the procurement and distribution logistics for six acute care hospitals, six surgery centers and a 175,000-square-foot consolidated services center.
Drawing on the support of a dedicated warehouse and a self-distribution model for equipment, Fuller believes that Johns Hopkins Hospital System is better positioned than many, but the demand for equipment far outstrips supply. Most personal protection items, including gloves, gowns and masks, are manufactured overseas, and the need has never been more urgent. “The market dynamics are challenging in that 95 percent of these items are manufactured in China,” said Fuller. “We’ve had to find new ways of doing business.”
The pressing demand has driven Fuller and his team to adapt to what he calls a “gray and black market,” in which new, unfamiliar companies are offering their products or services. In this new reality, Fuller believes a quick response to fluctuating export laws and a careful, systematic vetting approach are critical.
In addition, transporting the materials successfully to Johns Hopkins presents other challenges. Shipments from China are sometimes re-routed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to areas identified as in greater need.
Facing global shortages, Fuller and his team have been extraordinarily resourceful and creative. Recently, they facilitated a partnership between Johns Hopkins, Maryland’s correctional system and a spirit distillery in Baltimore to produce hand sanitizer. The makeshift bottling operation is located in the hospital system’s warehouse and supplied the hospital staff with 27,000 liters, enough for the whole staff.
How has his job changed since the rise of the pandemic? “I’ve had two days off in the last five weeks,” Fuller said. When under pressure, he sees his time at StC as formative in developing how he approaches his work. “A lot of my work ethic was the result of my experience in athletics at St. Christopher’s,” he said. As a football player and wrestler, Fuller learned the importance of resilience. “That mindset and mentality of putting your head down and bouncing back was something I took into college and my career.”
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