James G. Haughton was a veteran public health administrator, serving in numerous capacities across the country, most recently as medical director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services from which he retired in 2004 at age 78. In 1980, Haughton moved to Los Angeles to run operations at the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School. He left Los Angeles in 1983 to head the health department in Houston, Texas but returned to Los Angeles in 1987 to become chief of staff for the King/Drew Medical Center.