Christy Harris Lemak, PhD FACHE is Professor in the Department of Health Services Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also serves as Deputy Director of the UAB Heersink School of Medicine's Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation and is an Executive-in-Residence for the non-profit Scottsdale Institute.
Christy teaches in the areas of healthcare management, strategy, and leadership. She was previously on the faculty at the University of Michigan where she directed the Griffith Leadership Center in Health Management & Policy and co-directed the Leadership Development Program for the Department of Surgery.
For ten years, she was on the faculty at the University of Florida, serving as MHA Program Director and Associate Department Chair. At Florida, she was recipient of Department and College teaching awards and the 2005 College of Public Health and Health Professions Faculty Leadership Award.
Christy's research focuses on organization and management issues in health care. Recent projects include evaluation of a large physician pay-for-value program and exploring career inflection points for women hospital CEOs. She has also studied Medicaid programs and providers and community-based collaboratives. Her work has been published in a variety of healthcare management and health services research journals, including Health Services Research, Medical Care Research and Review, Journal of Healthcare Management, and the Journal of Health Administration Education.
Christy is a past board member and Chair of AUPHA Board, past board member and Chief Academic Officer for the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and a former Chair of the Academy of Management Health Care Management Division. She is currently on the board of Community Hospital Corporation (Plano, TX) and the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame.
She holds a PhD in Health Services Organization and Policy from the University of Michigan (1998), MHA and MBA degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia (1988), and a BS in Health Planning and Administration from the University of Illinois (1986).