On December 1st, the Association for Future Healthcare Leaders (AFHL) welcomed Ron Castagno, ACHE-SETC President and Don Gibson to our campus to discuss the benefits of joining the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) and active membership in our local Southeast Texas Chapter (SETC)
Each semester, members from AFHL travel to Houston to attend the SETC Breakfast where HPM students are able to stay up to date with healthcare issues and develop professional associations with healthcare executives. Both Ron and Don were proud to announce that our student chapter is the most active of the five student chapters affiliated with SETC and they strive to keep it this way.
AFHL looks forward to their active membership and presence in both the SETC and ACHE by sending twelve students to the annual ACHE Congress in Chicago this March. Eight of our students were awarded Program Assistant positions. They are, Emily Allen, Javier Bonilla, Camille Casey, Keli Dean, Beth Elder, Robert Farias, Jamie-Crystal Lee, and Kaley Meadows. From the ACHE website, “Program assistants are a critical part of a successful Congress. Program assistants must select a total of eight hours of specific activities with the responsibility of ensuring smooth logistical functioning of those activities.”
Carson Dye, FACHE, presented an ACHE program, Practical Leadership Strategies in an Age of Change, for 42 participants on December 10, 2010, on campus, including students, alumni and faculty, as part of a series of educational offerings through the Local Program Council (College Station) of the ACHE-Southeast Texas Chapter.
Dr. Larry Gamm, has stepped down as head of the Department of Health Policy and Management and is now focusing on the Center for Health Organization Transformation. In his place, Dr. Christopher Johnson has taken over as Department Head, and stepped down from director of the MHA program. Dr. Murray Côté is now the Director of the MHA program.
Christopher Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health and head of the Department of Health Policy and Management, has been selected as a Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Manageent Education (CAHME) Fellow for 2011-2013.
The accreditation fellowship program is designed for individuals with the potential to make significant contributions to health services administration education. During his appointment, Dr. Johnson will have opportunities to work with highly regarded practitioners from significant organizations in the health care industry and academicians from leading health care education programs who serve as commissioners.
Fellows participate in all commission activities, which offer them the opportunity to learn about the process, achievements and challenges of evaluating professional education. They serve as the secretary for three to four accreditation surveys during the term of their appointment, attend two commission meetings over an approximate two-year period and participate in the fellowship training programs.
Dr. Johnson’s research has been funded by numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Administration on Aging, Agency for Healthcare Research on Quality (AHRQ), The Commonwealth Fund, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Department of Veterans Affairs and numerous state contracts. He received an AHRQ dissertation grant in 1997, an Extendicare Faculty Fellowship award in 1999, and was a co-recipient for papers of the year awards in 2000 (National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation) and 2001 (Academy for Health Services Research and Health Policy). He was also one of the first non-clinicians to receive a Merit Review Entry Program Career Development Award in 2002 from the Department of Veterans Affairs.