Dr. William Kassler, Incoming American Medical Student Association Foundation President, Sees Bright Future

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 15 Jul 2009 - 3:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA) Foundation is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. William Kassler as President and Chair of its Board of Directors.

"We are honored that Dr. Kassler will be leading the AMSA Foundation this year," says Carol Williams-Nickelson, PsyD, AMSA executive director. "As an AMSA alumnus and a prominent and well-respected physician, he brings historical perspective, valued experience and a unique vision to the position. Students view Dr. Kassler as an eminent leader and mentor and will learn much from his approach to improve and shape the organization."

Before the organization can focus on fundraising, Kassler wants to realign the vision of the Foundation and align its mission with the Association. "Our focus now needs to be on sustainability."

Kassler currently serves as Chief Medical Officer for the New England Region of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where his major focus is to implement value-based purchasing initiatives to improve health care quality. Prior to this position, Kassler served for seven years as State Medical Director for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Kassler also spent 17 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he served as an EIS officer, as a medical epidemiologist in HIV Prevention, as Chief of Health Services Research and Evaluation in the Division of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Prevention; and as Senior Advisor for health policy in the CDC/Washington Office, working on Pandemic Influenza planning, medical informatics, health care policy and fostering collaboration between the public health and health care systems.

Kassler received his M.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, completed a primary care internal medicine residency at the Rhode Island Hospital in 1988, and is board certified in internal medicine. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in health services research at the University of California, San Francisco. He received an M.S. in nutrition from Case Western Reserve University, and an M.P.H. from Berkeley. Kassler is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society, and has been recognized with numerous awards from the United States Public Health Service. He is the recipient of the 2003 NH March of Dimes physician leadership award, and the Bi-State Primary Care Association President's Award for "unyielding dedication to community-based access to care for the poor and disadvantaged."

Kassler served as AMSA National President in 1984-1985. "AMSA provided me with the opportunity to work on broad issues of healthcare and policy-based issues. The organization kept me grounded throughout medical school."

"The AMSA Foundation structure needs to be reevaluated. It is a fabulous opportunity to look at what the organization can become and not necessarily be bound by what it has done in the past," continues Kassler. "The future is bright for physicians in training."

For more information on the AMSA Foundation, please visit http://www.amsafoundation.org.

Source
American Medical Student Association