Today the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) announced William A. McDade, MD, PhD as the organization’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Dr. McDade will lead the ACGME’s internal and external diversity and inclusion activities. He will focus on national initiatives to diversify and include underrepresented groups throughout the medical education continuum with the goal of providing physicians with the knowledge and skills required to serve the American public in humanistic environments where clinician and patient well-being is promoted.
“Dr. McDade is a distinguished leader in the medical community, and we are fortunate to have him on board as we continue to embrace opportunities to enhance diversity and develop inclusive environments where everyone is prepared to meet the needs of the patients we serve,” said Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP, ACGME president and chief executive officer.
“In order to train the next generation of physicians to be prepared to care for the American public, we must ensure that opportunities to train in all areas of medicine are open to diverse populations,” said Dr. McDade. “Additionally, the clinical learning environment must be safe and inclusive for all residents and fellows to afford the best possible means to achieve this.”
Dr. McDade comes to the ACGME from Ochsner Health System in New Orleans, where he was executive vice president and chief academic officer. Prior to his appointment at Ochsner, Dr. McDade was a professor of anesthesia and critical care at the University of Chicago, where he completed terms as deputy provost for research and minority issues and as associate dean for multicultural affairs at the Pritzker School of Medicine.
Dr. McDade has served on the ACGME Board, as a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners, and as a member of the US Department of Education’s National Committee on Foreign Medical Education and Accreditation. He is a member of the AMA Board of Directors, and the AMA Board representative to the Coalition for Physician Accountability.
He is past president and past chair of the boards of trustees of both the Illinois State Medical Society and the Chicago Medical Society. A recipient of the 2012 Chicago Medical Society Physician of the Year Award, Dr. McDade was named a senior scholar at the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence in 2013, and, in 2016, was recognized by the University of Chicago Alumni Association for Distinguished Service.
Dr. McDade received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from DePaul University, his PhD in biophysics and theoretical biology from the University of Chicago, and his medical degree from Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program. He completed his internship in internal medicine at the University of Chicago and residency training in anesthesiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School. A member of Alpha Omega Alpha and recipient of the National Medical Association’s James Whittico Award, Dr. McDade has made clinical anesthesiology and the treatment of sickle cell disease the focus of his clinical care and research.
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