Texas’ corps of physician leaders just got bigger.
The Texas Medical Association’s Leadership College recently graduated its latest class of 15 scholars during TexMed 2023, the association’s annual conference, in Fort Worth.
TMA President and Dallas cardiologist Rick Snyder, MD, celebrated the graduates May 19 during TexMed’s opening session.
“Since the program’s beginning, more than 250 alumni have gone on to serve as thought leaders within organized medicine, closing the divide between clinicians and health care policymakers,” he told the packed auditorium. “As confident physician leaders, they are trusted voices in the professions and in their communities.”
Launched in 2010, the TMA Leadership College is application-based and open to young physicians, defined as those within their first eight years of practice.
The program consists of lectures, interactive workshops, small-group discussions, assigned reading, and case presentations. Scholars also undergo a personal leadership assessment prior to the first in-person session and complete an individual project.
Dr. Snyder said eight of the 15 graduates already serve on TMA councils and committees, demonstrating the program’s leadership pipeline at work.
The TMA House of Delegates at TexMed also elected its first Leadership College alum to serve as the association’s president-elect: Beaumont anesthesiologist Ray Callas, MD, is a graduate of the program’s inaugural class and has been active in TMA leadership, chairing the Board of Trustees and serving as a Texas delegate to the American Medical Association, among other positions.
Graduates of the TMA Leadership College Class of 2023 are:
- Yazan Abdeen, MD
- Katherine McQuade Billingsley, MD
- Savitha Bonthala, DO
- Claudia Cotes, MD
- Cynthia Coyne, MD
- Jeffrey Edwards, MD
- Priya Kalia, MD
- Jennifer Okungbowa-Ikponmwosa, MD
- Brandi Ring, MD
- Pooja Sethi, MD
- Samar Sheth, MD
- Marie Somogyi, MD
- Joshua Stagg, MD
- Renny Varghese, MD
- Gina Vento, MD
Applications are open until Friday, June 16, for the TMA Leadership College Class of 2024.
Emma Freer
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1383