American Association for Physician Leadership
The American Association for Physician Leadership is the world's premier organization for lifelong learning, professional growth and career support for physician leaders.
Organization
The association is the oldest and largest professional organization solely dedicated to providing leadership education and management training for the physician workforce. Since its founding in 1975 and as the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), the primary focus of the association has been to provide superior education and training for physicians of all types and encourage them to assume more active roles within leadership and management opportunities of the global health care industry.
Beyond the thousands of physicians who receive training annually, the organization has grown to more than 11,000 active members – including chief executive officers, chief medical officers, vice-presidents of medical affairs and other leadership physicians who are located in more than 45 countries worldwide.
The expanding portfolio of the association includes more than 100 courses, numerous certificate programs, four master’s degree programs, a doctorate program in leadership being developed and deep layers of a specialized career support program customized for physicians.
By the numbers:
- More than 3,200 online courses sold annually.
- More than 1,200 graduates from master’s degree programs.
- More than 2,200 physicians with “board certification” (Certified Physician Executive).
- More than 21,000 physicians have completed the popular Physician in Management series.
- > 250 in-house physician leadership courses taught each year at hospitals and health systems.
- Nearly 250,000 physicians have engaged with the association at some level.
All physicians, at some level, are considered leaders and society still expects them to become leaders.
We understand the complexities of today’s rapidly changing health care landscape. We believe collaboration, innovation and dedication are the keys to the future, and physician leaders equipped with those skills are positioned to take on those challenges.
We are proud of our history of service to our members and commitment to their futures. Our members and out faculty are our greatest strengths. We value curiosity, optimism and diversity. Moreover, we work to promote collegiality through our networking and mentoring opportunities.
We believe physicians are uniquely positioned to improve the delivery of health care. We strive to help physicians by giving them the tools, skills and confidence to take on leadership and management roles in their organizations.
In response to the rapidly evolving health care industry and growing recognition that physician leadership is essential to the successful transformation of health care, the current organization is leveraging APCE’s 40-year legacy of superior physician leadership education and management training. The organization’s identity, revised in 2014, better reflects the significant role the association will continue to play in helping physicians from all backgrounds and in all types of positions realize their leadership potential.
By broadening the scope of programs, products and services, the association strives to more fully support the physician workforce across the entire career span, from medical students to physicians in later career stages. This also includes physicians in clinical roles, nonclinical administrative roles and those on nontraditional physician career paths.
With professionally trained and highly skilled physician leaders helping to guide organizations, health care for patients will be further improved and organizations of all types can potentially benefit with more efficient, streamlined high-quality systems of care.
We recognize that optimal health care in many countries frequently involves multi-professional, team-based care. We embrace the implementation and use of physician-led team-based care. Patients and their families ultimately benefit from these approaches.
And while there are many other professionals in health care with strong clinical and leadership abilities that we will continue to work with closely, physicians are often viewed as the most effective leaders in determining and affecting better health care outcomes because of the inherent nature of patient-physician relationships.
Our education programs and organizational approaches are highly capable of providing advanced learning for multi-professional, team-based care – and for the various individuals within those teams.
CEO
Peter Angood, MD, FRCS(C), FACS, MCCM, has provided senior executive leadership for all sizes and types of health care organizations. Since 2012, he has been chief executive officer and president of the association.
Previously, Angood was the inaugural chief patient safety officer and a vice-president for The Joint Commission where he oversaw the National Patient Safety Goals and other enterprise-wide, international patient safety initiatives. He also completed a two-year engagement with the National Quality Forum and National Priorities Partnership as senior advisor for patient safety before assuming the role of chief medical officer with the Patient Safety Organization of GE Healthcare. During these engagements, Angood continued intermittent work with the WHO patient safety initiative after helping lead early development of the WHO Collaborating Center for Patient Safety Solutions.
Prior to these roles, he spent nearly 25 years in leadership roles within academic health care and top-tier institutions as a trauma surgeon and surgical critical care specialist.
Board of Direcctors
The American Association for Physician Leadership Board of Directors is made up of experienced and credentialed physician leaders whose collective knowledge, skills and experiences support the mission, vision and values of the organization.
Each fall, the nominating committee issues a call for applications based on core competencies required for the upcoming four-year term. The final slate of candidates is chosen based on each physician's qualifications. The slate is brought before the membership in an online election the first quarter of each year.
The 2015-16 chair, Hoda Asmar, MD, MBA, CPE, FACP, FACHE, FAAPL, is chief medical officer in system clinical improvement for Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, Tennessee.