Three AAPL Members Voted onto Board of Directors

Michael R. Canady, MD, MBA, CPE, FACS, says his leadership style is founded on trust and the empowerment of front-line decision-making, which he derives from a “proceed until apprehended” mantra he borrowed from his commanding officer during his early years as a staff surgeon and department head at the hospital on the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in North Carolina.

Michael Canady

The philosophy behind the phrase is the antithesis of micromanagement, and it’s an approach that doesn’t come without risk, Canady warns: “There will be times when you have to take responsibility for a bad decision that one of your direct-reports make [but] you can’t blame them because you’ve given them the freedom to make a decision. If you then take it back and persecute them when they make a bad decision, you lose all the trust and credibility that you built.”

On the other hand, he adds, “The benefits can be immeasurable with respect to the growth of individuals, and while I do encourage individuals [in leadership positions] to take responsibility, I also embrace shared goal-setting and accountability.”

Anne VanGarsse

Anne VanGarsse, MD, CPE, FAAP, CHCEF, Stephanie Juister Duggan, MD, FACEP, CPE, and Canady all share an opportunity for their own personal growth and goal-setting — they’re the most recent additions to the American Association for Physician Leadership’s board of directors.

Selected from among 22 candidates, all three distinguished themselves with their credentials, professional experience and an active commitment to the association.

Canady, CEO of the not-for-profit Holzer Health System in rural southeastern Ohio and northwestern West Virginia, has been an AAPL member since 2014. Since earning a Certified Physician Executive credential in 2015, he has become a CPE mentor and cohort leader, written articles for the Physician Leadership Journal, and served as an ambassador, session host, keynote participant, lab presenter and panelist at association institutes.

Stephanie Duggan

He also was the subject-matter expert for AAPL’s new educational course, which shares a name with his “Proceed Until Apprehended” mantra. The course analyzes the difference between cultures of fear and trust — and how to shift an organization from one to the other by empowering front-line individuals to make decisions for themselves.

Canady says his CPE credential prepared him for the chief medical officer position at Holzer, which he filled immediately upon completion of the education in January 2015. A year later, he was appointed CEO at Holzer, and since has produced remarkable results.

“I am proud to have been part of a turnaround that took us from a $5 million deficit to a nearly $6 million profit within 18 months,” he says. “I attribute much of that success to implementation of lessons that I have learned from the education that I have received in AAPL and the CPE program.”

RELATED: Dr. Mark Lester named chair of AAPL’s Board of Directors

VanGarsse, associate dean of clinical affairs, community engagement and population health at the California Health Sciences University in Clovis, helps prepare accreditation self-study documents, oversees the development of third- and fourth-year clerkship sites, and is responsible for the development and maintenance of relationships with community clinical partners.

She also is an associate professor of pediatrics and administrative science in the university’s colleges of osteopathic medicine and pharmacy, respectively, and is director of student medical education at the A.T. Still University College of Osteopathic Medicine.

In addition to serving on four other boards of directors, she has chaired, co-chaired, held officer positions or served on dozens of committees, councils, task forces, panels or groups.

VanGarsse has been an AAPL member since 2014. She got CPE accreditation in 2018, and has been a workshop presenter at association institutes. She says her AAPL experience has prepared her well for her current leadership role. 

“My leadership style is collaborative and supportive yet challenging through the encouragement of relentless self-reflection,” she says.

Duggan, who was named president of Ascension Michigan Northern Ministries in August 2018, wasted no time improving the organizational culture, productivity and profits within three months in her new position. Under Duggan, AMNM increased its overall department productivity from 42 percent to 91 percent and, consequently, met budget for the first time in 17 months. She attributes that rapid success to full transparency with her staff and acknowledging their sacrifices and hard work.

“It’s just connecting the purpose and helping people to understand the ‘why’ behind it,” Duggan says. “That’s really the only way to have that lasting success, because if people don’t understand where you’re headed, I think they actively pull the boat in the other direction.”

An AAPL member since 2004 and a CPE since 2007, she also is on the mobile medical response board in Saginaw County, Michigan; has been on 25 committees and alliances, including four currently at Ascension; has a frequent and active media presence with publications, radio and television; and is a former Michigan emergency physician of the year.

The three new board members will fill the vacancies of departing members Bret Burton, MD, MBA, FAAPL, and Laura Clapper, MD, MPPA, CPE, FAAPL, whose four-year terms with the board have expired, and J. Greg Jolissaint, MD, MS, CPE, FAAPL, who will remain an additional year because of his status as outgoing chair.

AAPL’s 2019 Board of Directors:

• Chair

  : Mark Lester, MD, MBA, CPE, FAANS, FACS, FAAPL

• Vice chair

  : Byron C. Scott, MD, MBA, CPE, FACEP, FAAPL

• Greg Jolissaint, MD, MS, CPE, FAAPL

• Albert Tzeel, MD, MHSA, CPE, FAAPL

• Howard Shaw, MD, MBA, CPE, FACOG, FACHE, FAAPL

• Thomas Higgins, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAPL

• Lisa Laurent, MD, MBA, MS, CPE

• Linda Lawrence, MD, CPE, FACEP

• Ash Gokli, MD, CPE, FACEP, FAAPL

• Gregg Davis, MD, MBA, FAAFP.

• Michael R. Canady, MD, MBA, CPE, FACS

• Stephanie J. Duggan, MD, FACEP, CPE

• Anne VanGarsse, MD, CPE, FAAP, CHCEF

Daniel Lace, MD, CPE, FAAPL, remains on the board as chair of the Certifying Commission to Medical Management, but in a nonvoting capacity.

Click here to learn more about the AAPL board of directors and its competencies.