Dr. Speer attended medical school at the University of Texas in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated in 1983 and entered the residency program in family practice at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. He completed his residency in 1986. In 1987 he moved to Great Falls, Montana, and joined a multispecialty group where he started the department of family practice. In 1991 he founded Great Falls Family Medicine and ultimately the group comprised family physicians, OB/GYN, and psychology. He has been involved extensively in hospital leadership. He is looking forward to honing his business and leadership skills in the PEMBA program and being involved in consulting for hospitals and clinics.

Dr. Gajdowski serves as UnitedHealthcare/UnitedHealth Clinical Advancement's Market Medical Director for the Columbus, Ohio region. He is also an emergency physician with extensive experience in organizing and leading healthcare enterprises. He founded Airmaster, a Toronto-based, fixed-wing air ambulance company. He also worked as an assistant director of medical management and physician networks while with Kaiser Permanente in Ohio. Dr. Gajdowski serves as an emergency physician and flight surgeon for the 179th Airlift Wing, Ohio National Guard. As its chief of professional services he presides over the unit's laboratory, radiological, pharmacy, credentialing, and drug testing programs. Dr. Gajdowski earned his medical degree at the University of Ottawa and completed residency at McGill University in Montreal.

Dr. Christmann is a pediatric ophthalmologist trained at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Since completing her MBA in 2004, she has served in the VPMA and Administrator roles in North Carolina and Quebec. In 2009, she completed a Certificate in Health Informatics at the University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston. She is currently the VPMA/Regional CMO for CHRISTUS Central Louisiana in Alexandria. Her responsibilities, in addition to those traditionally managed by the CMO, include significant leadership to incorporate best practices and evidence based medicine as the region moves to CPOE and physician documentation in their EMR. Professionally, she is a board member for Women in Ophthalmology, and a member of the Physician Community Steering Committee for HIMSS. She and her husband Michael have 5 children and 3 grandchildren they enjoy visiting. In addition to travel, they love to play tennis, cook, and fly Michael's airplane.

Dr. Nair is a pain management physician in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the medical director of Kentuckiana Pain Specialists, where he specializes in interventional techniques in the treatment and relief of acute and chronic pain. After growing up in Hong Kong, Dr. Nair completed medical school training at Kasturba Medical College in India. He attended the University of Buffalo for internship training in family medicine, following it with an anesthesiology residency at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Nair also completed a fellowship at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, in pain management. Rounding out his clinical education, he earned a master's degree in pain medicine at the University of Newcastle. His wish is to use this business acumen from the PEMBA program to open India's first Center of Excellence dedicated to the treatment of cancer and chronic pain.

Dr. Rivera graduated from the emergency medicine program at Wayne State University in 1993. His first job was in the emergency department of a large community trauma center in Tampa, Florida, where he served as medical director of the Care Flight program. During his leadership, the flight program expanded to three helicopters and tripled its fixed wing transports, and became profitable for the first time in five years. Dr. Rivera returned to Michigan in 1996 where he worked briefly at Wayne State University and then started Independent Emergency Physicians with nine other founding members. IEP is a democratic, physician-owned company that provides emergency services to five hospitals and 200,000 patients each year. Dr. Rivera has been the managing partner and a board member of IEP since its inception. His position entails corporate financial management, contract acquisition, and third party payer negotiations, as well as clinical practice. Dr. Rivera believes physicians should be primarily involved with the financial management of their business. IEP has grown significantly since 1997 and he hopes PEMBA will give him skills to continue the success and growth of his company.

Dr. Stock was born and raised in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and sociology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and doctor of osteopathic medicine degree from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury, New York. Following graduation, he completed a combined internal medicine/pediatrics residency at The Ohio State University Hospitals/Clinics in Columbus, Ohio, and then an infectious disease fellowship at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Stock is board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, and infectious diseases. He began private practice in infectious diseases in Charleston, South Carolina in 1999 and currently serves as the practice's managing partner. He is also active in several hospital leadership positions, including Chairman of Medicine and Chief of Staff Elect at Trident Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina. He serves as the infection control director for two area hospitals, is chairman of several hospital committees and acts as a delegate for the Charleston County Medical Society to the state medical association. Dr. Stock participated in Leadership Charleston for 2002-2003. He is recognized as a 2003-2004 South Carolina Department of Education Policy fellow and he received the 2003 State of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's Physician of the Year for the Lowcountry Health District.

Dr. Nelson is a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He is trained in critical care and nutritional support medicine. Dr. Nelson has practiced medicine for 20 years and he supervised and taught residents at the University of Tennessee Medical Center for ten years. Currently, he is an intensivist/nutritionist at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, Tennessee.

Dr. Patel is currently in practice at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. After completing her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin she attended medical school at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston followed by a physical medicine and rehabilitation residency at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. She now serves on the Medical Executive Committee of Physiatric Medicine Associates and the Compensation Committee of Health Texas Physician Network. She also works as a volunteer physician for Baylor Sportscare events such as the White Rock Marathon, Dallas Cup Soccer Tournament, and Hoop It Up basketball tournament. Previously, she served as medical director for the BaylorWorx occupational medicine clinic at Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine. Dr. Patel pursued her MBA to acquire the leadership skills that will assist in better managing her practice and in facilitating future projects in the Baylor Rehabilitation System. She is also interested in working on health care policy in the future and feels this program will be of great benefit toward reaching that goal.

Dr. Nachbauer is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He received a bachelor of arts from Miami University and a doctor of medicine degree from Ohio State University. He completed general surgical training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and thoracic surgical training at Ohio State University. He has served as Fellow in Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and Clinical Associate in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. He is a diplomat of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, Fellow in the American College of Surgeons, and member of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons and the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. Dr. Nachbauer has been in practice since 1991. He is a member of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Associates, a five-man partnership practicing in Lexington, Kentucky. The physicians operate in Lexington, but also conduct 15 outreach clinics throughout central and southeastern Kentucky where new patients are seen and post-operative patients are followed. The practice operates a non-invasive vascular laboratory of which Dr. Nachbauer is the Medical and Technical Director. He became a Registered Vascular Technologist in 2000 and has been instrumental in the laboratory's 2003 re-certification by Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Vascular Laboratories.

Dr. Prielipp received his bachelor of science degree in medical microbiology and his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin. Following two years of general surgery training at the University of Minnesota, he completed an anesthesiology residency at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a critical care fellowship at Stanford University Hospital, Stanford, California. Following his graduation in December 2004, Dr. Prielipp accepted appointment as the J. J. Buckley Professor and Chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Prielipp served as a professor of cardiac anesthesiology and was the former Section Head of Critical Care Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine prior to his current appointment where he was also program director for the specialized year of critical care fellowship program at Wake Forest. He is an Associate Examiner for the American Board of Anesthesiology, on the Editorial Board of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia, and previous editor of the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Multidisciplinary Critical Care Knowledge Assessment Program. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists and the chairman of the 1998 ASCCA Annual Meeting. He has won several teaching awards and is a recipient of a research grant from the Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research and two safety grants from the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.

Dr. Blue attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and majored in biology. He attended the University of South Dakota School of Medicine. He completed a residency in family practice and was in private practice for eleven years. He has always had an interest in business and a desire to focus more of his time toward improving the processes and day-to-day operational issues of the practice of medicine. In 2000, Dr. Blue accepted and developed the new role of chief medical officer for the Sioux Valley Health System, an aggressive, visionary system that stretches across a four-state area. After three years he was chosen as the president of Sioux Valley Clinic which is composed of 300 physicians and 1500 staff in both urban and rural settings. Many of his duties include strategic planning and initiatives system-wide, in addition to direct responsibility for clinic activities.

Dr. George is currently Business Unit President of CogentHMG, a leading hospitalist company that sets the standard in providing excellent inpatient care. There she oversees hospitalist programs in a several states in the Midwest and West. Prior to her current position, she was Medical Director of Hospitalist Services at OSF St. Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, Illinois. She also served as Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at UIC Medical School in Rockford. She is board-certified in internal medicine and is a practicing hospitalist. After receiving her medical degree in 1998, she completed an internal medicine residency from the University of Illinois, Mercy Hospital, and Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. George served on several committees in her former position, including the medical executive committee, and is currently active on multiple committees with the Society of Hospital Medicine, of which she is an active member. In her own words, the Physician Executive MBA has helped her achieve the next level as a physician executive.

Dr. Baker was raised in western Kentucky, enlisted into the U.S. Marine Corps at age 18, and served in Vietnam in 1970-1971. His combat experiences were a significant reason for his entry into the medical field. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Kentucky and his medical degree from the University of Louisville in 1979. His next 12 years were spent in the U.S. Navy in San Diego, California. There he trained in the Navy as a general surgeon and at the University of California, San Diego as a cardiothoracic surgeon. Upon completion of his training in 1987, he found himself to be the only practicing cardiac surgeon in the U.S. Navy. He helped to successfully re-establish the cardiac surgery program at Naval Hospital, San Diego. In mid-1990 he left the military for private practice in eastern Tennessee. After three years in Chattanooga he was encouraged by a former Navy colleague to set up a solo practice in Johnson City, Tennessee. Dr. Baker was successful in building that practice into a 5-physician cardiovascular and thoracic surgery group. This group became the dominant cardiovascular surgery group in Northeast Tennessee, resulting in that hospital becoming the fourth largest cardiac surgery program in the state and a member of the top 200 cardiac surgery hospitals in the nation. Dr. Baker has represented the medical staff as chairman of the department of surgery and as vice chief of staff.

After receiving his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Mississippi, Dr. Townsend completed residency in family medicine at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. While there, he served as chief resident and was in the inaugural class of a developing practice management curriculum for the residents. In the two and a half years since completing residency, Dr. Townsend was in a four-physician practice in Northeast Tennessee. He quickly discovered many of the pitfalls of trying to practice medicine and business without adequate knowledge of the way the two should coexist. He looks forward to the challenges and opportunities the PEMBA program will provide. He is currently a physician with Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Dr. Patel is a family physician by training, or more simply, a jack of all trades. Her job description requires her to be a medical doctor, a social worker, an educator, and a learner. She is sure there are many more facets to the profession that she has yet to discover. After finishing her residency training in family medicine, Dr. Patel spent some time working in Pakistan and then in New Zealand. This experience gave her a more practical insight into the role of a family physician. It also gave her an opportunity to explore the management aspect of a health organization. Dr. Patel is the leader of her recently restructured group practice's self-managed team. This has provided her with a unique opportunity to develop her managerial skills and contribute towards implementation of cost-efficient patient care. She strongly feels that a degree in business with the health management as the main focus with help her grow as a multifaceted health care provider and will provide the opportunity to form a better understanding of the functioning of the health care system. Dr. Patel states that, I aspire to utilize the knowledge gained to form an effective and powerful union between medicine and business.

Dr. Granacher is president and director of Lexington Forensic Neuropsychiatry, a private forensic neuropsychiatric practice in Lexington, Kentucky, providing consultation throughout the United Sates. He has practiced clinical and forensic psychiatry since 1975. He obtained a chemistry degree from the University of Louisville and a medical degree from the University of Kentucky. After serving as resident and chief resident in psychiatry at the University of Kentucky, he completed a clinical and research fellowship at the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital. His recent contribution to the neuroscience literature includes Traumatic Brain Injury: Methods for Clinical and Forensic Neuropsychiatric Assessment, 2nd Edition, CRC Press, 2008. Dr. Granacher has written other textbooks, book chapters, and many scientific articles as well. His board certifications include general psychiatry, behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, sleep medicine, and clinical psychopharmacology. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and he teaches fourth year psychiatric residents and physician assistant students as a voluntary professor of psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He was chairman of the board of St. Joseph Hospitals in Lexington and oversaw policy for their 630 beds and 18 clinical divisions in 1999-2002. Dr. Granacher currently serves as a director of St. Joseph Health System, operating seven hospitals, and he chairs the Quality and Process Improvement Committee. He is an advisor to Dean Perman through the Dean's Council of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. He is a director and shareholder of CBA Pharma. His company has submitted a New Drug Application for approval of CBT-1 to reverse resistance of cancers to chemotherapy.

Dr. Rajendran has been practicing occupational medicine in the Chicago, Illinois area for the past six years. She served as center medical director of an occupational medicine clinic for four years. She enjoys being part of a large organization, the business aspects of occupational medicine such as diverse corporate clients, and the clinical aspects of providing medical care to workers. Dr. Rajendran believes firmly in the value of physician leadership in health care organizations, the health care industry, and the community. Dr. Rajendran pursued the Physician Executive MBA as a means of obtaining formal education in leadership and business skills and looks forward to applying these skills as a physician leader.

Dr. Crane completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, receiving a bachelor of arts in Spanish linguistics while completing his premedical requirements. He completed his medical training at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, and went on to the University of Illinois in Chicago where he finished his residency training in emergency medicine. He returned to Virginia where he currently serves as the associate director of his group, Fredericksburg Emergency Medical Alliance. In 2004, he graduated from the Physician Executive MBA Program at the University of Tennessee where he currently teaches classes in lean health care. Since graduation, he has served as business director of his group of 18 physicians and 10 physician assistants. His consulting company, Innovative Healthcare Consulting, focuses on innovative approaches to ED and hospital-wide operational and patient flow improvement. He currently serves as a faculty member in the IHI's National ED Collaborative.

Dr. Berlin graduated from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in 1998. He completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the New York Methodist Hospital in 2001 with the Academic Achievement award. Dr. Berlin has served as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, for more than five years; there he was instrumental in designing and implementing a brand new ED Observation Service. He then served as a Director of a privately-held Immediate Medical Care center in Wheeling, Illinois. Since 2008, Dr. Berlin has been living and working in Israel; his current position is the Director of Medical Education in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa. In addition, Dr. Berlin continues to perform independent consulting projects in healthcare information technologies, marketing, operations, and new ventures for clients in the United States and Israel.

Prior to his current position, Dr. Adams owned and was the president of Adams Family Practice in Marion, Illinois. He had been Assistant Chief of Medicine at Heartland Regional Medical Center as well as Chair of the Performance Improvement Committee. Dr. Adams wants to pursue further education in physician leadership in order to provide consultative services in communication and practice management. He recently made the transition to Cogent Healthcare as the Program Medical Director in Great Falls, Montana.

Dr. Amin received his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 1995. He graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School in 2000. He completed a residency at New York Methodist Hospital where he serves as chief resident. As the corporate and medical worlds continue to merge, he feels it necessary to further his education. This will allow him to achieve his personal goals as well as ensure that his patients' best interests are being met.

Dr. Jensen has spent over 20 years in emergency medicine management and clinical care. Board-certified in emergency medicine, he has been medical director for several emergency departments and is President and Chief Executive Officer of Southeastern Acute Care Specialists. Starting in 1997, Dr. Jensen has been a faculty member for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and a participant in three previous IHI Breakthrough Series collaborative focusing on patient flow, quality improvement, and patient satisfaction in the emergency department. Dr. Jensen is currently chair of the IHI collaborative on improving patient flow in the acute care setting. In addition, Dr. Jensen is on the expert panel and site examination team for Urgent Matters, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation initiative focusing on helping hospitals eliminate emergency department crowding and congestion as well as preserving the health care safety net. Under his leadership, Nash General Hospital's Emergency Department achieved national recognition as a Best Practice Clinical Site by the Emergency Nurses Association as well as several VHA awards for quality and clinical effectiveness.

Dr. Curley has practiced as a family physician in underserved areas of downtown Los Angeles for many years. She is currently employed as a Physician Specialist for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians and for the past 8 years has served as a volunteer assistant professor of clinical family medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine Introduction to Clinical Medicine. After graduating from the University of California Davis School of Medicine, she completed a master's degree in public health at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Curley completed her residency at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine/California Hospital Medical Center Family Practice Residency program and a fellowship in maternal and children's health. She is the co-founder of Project Africa Global, a 100% volunteer nonprofit 501(C) 3 organization that has provided medical and humanitarian services to improve the health of underserved and disadvantaged populations in the United States and Africa since 1997. She mentors high school, college, medical students and residents in training for careers in the health professions and prepares volunteers for medical and humanitarian missions in cross-cultural international settings by developing curriculum, lectures and international CME programs in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Center for Continuing Education in the health sciences. Dr. Curley's desire to further the work of the medical and humanitarian organization she co-founded, and her work in underserved communities, was the impetus behind obtaining a master's degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee Physician Executive MBA program. She is a member of the board of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based global organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 100,000 people in 22 countries throughout the world. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the nation's largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care. She is a member of the Inglewood Pacific Chapter of the Links, Inc., and serves in multiple organizations throughout her community locally, nationally, and internationally. Dr. Curley is married to a wonderful and supportive spouse Reginald Haley and is the adoring fan of her three grandchildren, Haley, Symone, and Kameron.

This Physician Leader profile is under revision. Please check back later.

Dr. Carlson graduated from the University of Colorado Medical School in 1984 and completed family practice residency training in 1987 at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colorado. He has worked at various locations in Washington state since that time, including group practice, solo family practice, contracted care for the Navy, multiple emergency rooms, and urgent care centers at Group Health Cooperative. Presently he is employed as lead physician at the Eastside Hospital Urgent Care. Recent management experiences include Urgent Care Chief at Group Health Eastside Hospital, and prior to that role, Chief of the Ambulatory Care Clinic at Bremerton Naval Hospital. He also is president of MU Educational Enterprises, a not-for-profit teaching and medical presentation company. His passions include photography, plants, and tropical fish. Non-medical accomplishments include photographer for Pacific Northwest Ballet Sleeping Beauty fundraiser and videographer and editor of the Tiny Teas DVDs children's ballet videos.

Dr. Soori is a medical oncologist and hematologist practicing in Omaha, Nebraska, with six other associates. He graduated with honors from the University of Ceylon School of Medicine in Sri Lanka and received his residency training in internal medicine in the United Kingdom. He is certified by the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom in internal medicine. He has completed his fellowship training in medical oncology and hematology at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Soori has received additional training at Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research in the U.K. He is board-certified in internal medicine, geriatric medicine, medical oncology, and in hematology. Dr. Soori is actively engaged in clinical cancer research and is a member of the board of directors and past-president of Missouri Valley CCOP. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Creighton University School of Medicine and serves as the Medical Director of Alegent Health Bergan Mercy Cancer Center and Co-Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. He is currently the vice-chairman of the medical staff of Alegent Bergan Mercy Medical Center and will assume duties as the President and Chief of Staff in January 2005. Dr. Soori has held many leadership positions and is a recipient of honors from many communities and regional and national organizations. He has published in peer-reviewed journals and written book chapters in oncology. He is listed in Marquis's Who's Who in the World and in Who's Who in Science and Technology. Dr. Soori's interest in health care management led to his enrollment in PEMBA.

Dr. Stilley trained in family medicine and has practiced emergency and urgent care medicine in Central Iowa since 1988. He served as the medical director for the highest patient volume emergency department in Iowa, Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, for a number of years. He also serves as a medical director for area ambulance services and the Central Iowa Suburban Emergency Response Team. Board-certified in both family medicine and emergency medicine, Dr. Stilley completed his MBA from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2004. A commercial instrument-rated fixed wing pilot for 25 years, he added his helicopter private rating summer 2005 and commercial helicopter pilot rating in January 2008. Iowa Helicopter, a flight training and services company, grew from his MBA experiences at Tennessee, and is the only helicopter flight training organization in Iowa. Since leaving his hospital position in 2006, he has applied this background to his new company, DoctorsNow Walk-in Care, LC. Dr. Stilley is Chief Medical Officer for DoctorsNow, a privately owned company providing urgent care and occupational medicine services. Founded in Des Moines in spring 2007, DoctorsNow has three clinics in Central Iowa, and added new locations outside Iowa in 2008.

Dr. Burroughs is the Chief Medical Officer for North General Hospital in New York. Previously he served as Associate Medical Director and Chairman of the Department of Medicine at North General. He has broad clinical experience and has served as medical director, educator, and lobbyist. As an innovator and designer of health care services, he has been especially active in the management and delivery of wellness programs for minority and public health patient populations. Dr. Burroughs is an active leader for the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. His educational goals include obtaining a far greater understanding of the health care financial management and accounting, marketing and business development along with the decision-making process associated with these activities. Dr. Burroughs found that he needs these tools to implement his long-term goal of excelling as a physician leader.

Dr. McAlpin is president of Partners in Faith, Inc. He is a practicing peripheral-vascular and general surgeon in addition to his duties as president of this clinic, which delivers health care with a Christian orientation. Formerly, he was Chief of Surgery with an HCA/Columbia hospital in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Dr. McAlpin has served on numerous committees and is especially interested in quality assurance and critical care. He earned his medical degree at Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Dr. McAlpin's physician leadership goal and reason for enrolling in the program is multi-faceted. He seeks to improve access to health care for all patients. He also seeks to better understand the policy forces that influence the delivery model of healthcare so that quality and patient outcomes are maximized.

Dr. Betz is Senior Associate Dean for Osteopathic Education, School of Osteopathic Medicine, Pikeville College, Pikeville, Kentucky. Previously he served as Vice-President/Chief Academic Officer and Dean at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. Prior to this appointment he served as the Associate Dean for Clinical Sciences and the G. Chad and Julianne Perry Chair of Family Medicine at Pikeville College School of Osteopathic Medicine in Pikeville, Kentucky. He received his doctorate in osteopathic medicine at the University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1981 and completed his postdoctoral education at Lakeside Hospital, Kansas City, Missouri. He is active in the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. Through this program, he anticipates an enhancement of his academic and political career in medicine.

Dr. Patel is the chief anesthesiologist at a private free-standing surgical center in Bergen County, New Jersey. He has been in private practice for four years. His practice is limited to outpatient surgery and office-based anesthesiology. Dr. Patel attended the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education and obtained his medical degree from the SUNY-Health Science Center at Brooklyn. He did his residency at the New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Patel believes that pursuing an MBA will provide him the opportunity to improve and obtain the skills of understanding finance, plan creation and implementation, and effective business management.

Dr. Saklecha received his medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in 1996 after graduating from their six year combined BS/MD program. He completed his emergency medicine residency in Detroit, Michigan, from William Beaumont Hospital in 1999. He is currently board-certified in emergency medicine and practices as a full-time emergency room attending physician at Ingalls Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He is medical director at both the Tinley Park and Calumet City Urgent Care Centers and is the Associate Director at the Emergency Department of Ingalls. He was made partner of Midwest Emergency Associates. He is looking to further his management and leadership skills to grow as a physician executive within his current environment and also to broaden his understanding of the health care industry as a whole.

Dr. Marzoni is president of the Palo Alto Division of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Palo Alto, California, with operational responsibility for 450 physicians and 2000 employees at seven locations. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, he attended Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Upon completion of a surgical internship and residency at Stanford University Medical Center, he joined the Palo Alto Medical Clinic as a general surgeon in 1978. Dr. Marzoni served on the voluntary clinical faculty at Stanford from 1978-2003, was chief of staff of the Menlo Park Surgical Hospital from 1992-1996, and was executive board chairman of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic from 2001-2004. He currently chairs the governing board of the Surgecenter of Palo Alto and serves on the boards of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the Council of Accountable Physician Practices. He is Chair Emeritus of the Group Practice Improvement Network, former board chair of the Menlo Park Surgical Hospital, and has served on the board of the American Medical Group Association.