Board of Governors Adds New Public Member

Christy Harris Lemak, PhD, has joined the ABR Board of Governors (BOG) as a public member. The BOG oversees fulfillment of the organization’s mission and is responsible for the ABR’s corporate powers, business, and affairs.

As a public member, Dr. Lemak brings a different perspective to the board from that of a physician or physicist. She replaces Toby Gordon, ScD, who served as the BOG’s first public member.

Dr. Lemak is the executive vice president for research and learning at The Scottsdale Institute, where she develops insights to advance digitally enabled care delivery at leading U.S. health systems. In particular, she works to understand and drive executive leadership teams who can leverage artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to improve outcomes and patient experience.

Previously, Dr. Lemak served as professor and chair of the department of health services administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), home to the nation’s top-ranked graduate program in health administration (US News & World Report).

Dr. Lemak serves on the boards of Community Hospital Corporation (Plano, Texas) and the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. She has been recognized for her leadership, including the 2022 Gary L. Filerman Prize for Educational Leadership from the Association of University Programs in Health Administration and the 2020 Myron D. Fottler Exceptional Service Award from the Academy of Management Health Care Management Division.

Her previous academic appointments include the University of Michigan, where she directed the Griffith Leadership Center, and the University of Florida, where she held the Michael O. and Barbara Bice Term Professorship in Health Services Research, Management, and Policy. She earned her PhD from the University of Michigan, MHA and MBA from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and BA from the University of Illinois-Urbana. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.