Dear Colleagues-Friends,
Tom Yackel, M.D.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Tom Yackel, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., as president of MCV Physicians, the faculty practice plan of VCU Health. He will also serve as senior associate dean for clinical affairs in the VCU School of Medicine.
Dr. Yackel will serve collaboratively in our well-integrated and matrixed team as a member of our senior leadership. In this role as a strategic and collaborative physician executive, he will lead MCVP in managing and growing our clinical enterprise, while embracing and supporting the entirety of our academic mission.
He comes to us from Oregon Health & Science University in Portland where he most recently served as vice president and chief clinical integration officer for OHSU Healthcare and associate dean for the clinical practice in the OHSU School of Medicine.
“Dr. Yackel’s recruitment is the result of a highly competitive national search,” said Marsha Rappley, M.D., chief executive officer of the VCU Health System and VCU vice president for health sciences. “He is the first-ever external recruitment to this position, and he follows in the steps of physicians who have come up through the ranks and done exceptional jobs leading MCVP.”
Deborah Davis, CEO of VCU Health System Hospitals and Clinics, noted “Dr. Yackel’s long tenure at Oregon and the breadth of his experience in several leadership positions contributed to an exceptionally well-run health system and have well equipped him for this role.”
Dr. Yackel brings a passion for mentoring junior colleagues, and he is a strong advocate for the role of evidence-based practice. His published academic contributions chronicle OHSU’s clinical innovations, and we look forward to his partnership to similarly raise the profile of our efforts at VCU Health.
Dr. Yackel joined OHSU in 2000 and was named chief health information officer in 2008. He built the department of clinical informatics, successfully deploying the Epic electronic health record in the hospital and 65 ambulatory clinics. Under his leadership, OHSU was the first hospital in Oregon to qualify for the Meaningful Use program and the OHSU Faculty Practice was the top UHC hospital for Meaningful Use. In 2015, he created the department of clinical integration and evidence-based practice to leverage the academic center’s unique contributions to medicine across OHSU’s clinical partners. He has participated in numerous payor-partnerships and led his institution’s accountable care organization.
Dr. Yackel graduated from George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1996, earning both a medical degree and a Master of Public Health focusing on healthcare administration and management. He continued his training as a primary care internal medicine resident at GW and served as chief resident. In 2002 he completed a fellowship and Master of Science in medical informatics at OHSU. He is a practicing primary care internist and is board certified in internal medicine and clinical informatics. In June 2018, he will graduate from the OHSU Healthcare MBA program.
He will succeed John Ward, M.D., M.S.H.A., who has provided stellar leadership of MCVP for two four-year terms in an era that has seen unprecedented growth in our health system. His breadth of knowledge, wisdom and willingness to be a great partner to all of us has been a vital part of that growth. We are fortunate that Dr. Ward will remain on the clinical faculty where he will continue to lead by example – as he has done throughout his tenure as MCVP president – and will maintain an active practice in neurosurgery. We are also grateful that we all can continue to benefit from his mentorship and senior leadership.
We thank Laurence J. DiNardo, M.D., chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, and David P. Chelmow, M.D., chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, along with the other members of the search committee for their service in this process. In addition, the administrative leadership of Ms. Maria Carlton, VCU Health’s director of human resources, and MCVP’s Ms. Anne Bonnevie was invaluable. We also appreciate the contributions of the MCVP board members who were involved in Dr. Yackel’s recruitment and selection. His appointment was ratified by the MCVP board at their meeting on February 7, and Dr. Rappley will seek approval of the VCU Health System Board of Directors this coming March. Dr. Yackel will begin his new role on April 2.
Warm regards,
Peter F. Buckley, M.D.
Dean, VCU School of Medicine
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, VCU Health System