ABIM Foundation Announces New Members of Board of Trustees

PHILADELPHIA, July 6, 2017 - The ABIM Foundation announces the appointments of Frederick P. Cerise, MD, MPH, and Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, as new members of its Board of Trustees. Patricia M. Conolly, MD, also joins the Board of Trustees as a new member through her role as Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Board of Directors.

"ABIM Foundation continues to inspire important conversations and projects that foster medical professionalism and evidence-based care. The Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign is in its sixth year and has become a focus for hospitals and health systems across the country and around the world," said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and ABIM Foundation. "I look forward to working with our new members and current Trustees to expand these efforts and continue emerging collaborations."

Dr. Cerise is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Parkland Hospital & Health System. Prior to joining Parkland in 2014, he served as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. From 2007 to 2012, he was Vice President for Health Affairs and Medical Education of the Louisiana State University System. From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Cerise served as Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. He earned his Medical Degree at Louisiana State University in New Orleans and completed a residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2011, he earned a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard University School of Public Health. He was recently appointed as a member of The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) and has served on the Louisiana Federal Health Care Reform Steering Committee and the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum, among others.

Dr. Villarruel is the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Director of the School's WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership. As a bilingual and bicultural nurse researcher, Dr. Villarruel has extensive research and practice experience with diverse populations, and health promotion and health disparities. She is a charter member of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services' Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities and currently chairs the National Academy of Medicine's Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities. She is co-chair of the Strategic Advisory Council of the AARP/RWJ Center for Health Policy Future of Nursing Campaign for Action. She has received numerous honors and awards including membership in the Institute of Medicine and selection as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Villarruel earned her BSN from Nazareth College, an MSN from the University of Pennsylvania and her PhD in nursing from Wayne State University. She is a registered nurse in both Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Dr. Conolly is an Associate Executive Director of The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and the Executive Vice President for IT for the Permanente Federation. In her current role, she practices internal medicine at Kaiser Permanente Oakland and leads TPMG's technology group, with oversight of the EMR and technology tools to optimize care delivery. In addition, she oversees health education and health promotion in Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Dr. Conolly is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a graduate of the University of San Francisco. She received her medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and served on the clinical faculty at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.
"Dr. Conolly will help us explore synergies between ABIM and ABIM Foundation by recognizing physicians for their professionalism and for the important work they do every day to improve patient care," Dr. Baron said. "Drs. Cerise and Villarruel bring perspectives from public health and nursing to advance conversations on high-quality care across the entire health care community."

The Board of Trustees oversees the ABIM Foundation by advancing the Foundation's work in medical professionalism. The Board includes many national leaders in the health care community, some of whom have served on the ABIM's Board of Directors.

The 2017 ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees and its officers include:

Chair: Elizabeth A. McGlynn, PhD, Director, Kaiser Permanente Center for Effectiveness & Safety Research

Immediate Past Chair: Holly J. Humphrey, MD, Ralph W. Gerard Professor of Medicine and Dean for Medical Education, the University of Chicago

Vice Chair: Christine A. Sinsky, MD, Vice President of Professional Satisfaction, American Medical Association; General Internist, Medical Associates Clinic and Health Plans

Secretary-Treasurer: Gregory P. Poulsen, MBA, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Intermountain Healthcare

Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO, American Board of Internal Medicine and ABIM Foundation

Clarence H. Braddock, III, MD, MPH, Vice Dean for Education in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles

Frederick P. Cerise, MD, MPH, President and Chief Executive Officer of Parkland Hospital & Health System

Patricia M. Conolly, MD, Associate Executive Director of The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and Executive Vice President for IT for the Permanente Federation

John G. Harold, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles; Attending Physician, Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute

Jackie Judd, Health Care Communications Consultant

Sharon A. Levine, MD, Director, Geriatric Educational Innovations and Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine

David B. Reuben, MD, Multicampus Program in Geriatrics Medicine and Gerontology and Chief, Division of Geriatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Health Sciences.

Anita Samarth, CEO and Co-founder of Clinovations Government + Health, a management consulting firm focused at the intersection of health and policy enabled by a foundation of technology.

Antonia M. Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and Director of the School's WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership

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About the ABIM Foundation
The ABIM Foundation advances professional as a force to improve quality and cultivate an environment that fosters excellent patient care. We achieve this by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policy makers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit www.abimfoundation.org, connect with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.