At its September 2024 annual meeting, the ACGME Board of Directors approved the following slate of officers.
George E. Thibault, MD is the new Chair of the ACGME Board. In this role, he oversees implementation of the organization's strategic plan and all committees that have activities in accreditation or education and training; is an ex-officio member of each ACGME committee and council; and leads the three major Board meetings each year. Dr. Thibault assumes this role after serving as Chair-Elect. He will serve a two-year term.
Dr. Thibault is the Daniel D. Federman Professor of Medicine and Medical Education, Emeritus at Harvard Medical School. From 2008 to 2018, he was the president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. In his decade leading the Foundation, he envisioned and supported educational reforms to better align health professionals’ education with the needs of a changing patient population and health care delivery system. He created the Macy Faculty Scholars program for the career development of mid-career nursing and medical school faculty members who are educational innovators. Prior to his role at the Macy Foundation, Dr. Thibault spent more than four decades at Harvard Medical School and its affiliated hospitals, where he played leadership roles in undergraduate and graduate education and was recognized for his teaching and mentoring of students, residents, fellows, and faculty members. He also was vice president for Clinical Affairs for the Partners Healthcare System, chief medical officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, chief of medicine at the Brockton-West Roxbury Veterans Administration Hospital, and associate chief of medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital, among other roles in graduate medical education (GME).
Dr. Thibault has been visiting professor at many medical schools nationally and internationally and is the recipient of many national awards for leadership and education, including the 2018 Abraham Flexner Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award. He is the recipient of four honorary doctorates and is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine.
“Dr. Thibault’s extensive experience and visionary leadership make him an exceptional choice to chair the ACGME Board. His dedication to educational reform and commitment to the evolving needs of our health care system are commendable,” said ACGME President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Nasca, MD, MACP. “I am confident that under his guidance, the ACGME will continue to innovate and improve GME, ensuring the highest standards in medical education and accreditation.”
Dr. Thibault received a BA (summa cum laude in philosophy) from Georgetown University, and an MD (magna cum laude) from Harvard Medical School. He trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and Guy’s Hospital in London.
Jessica L. Bienstock, MD, MPH is the Board’s new vice chair. In this role, she will assume the chair’s duties if the chair is absent or unable to perform those duties. She will serve a one-year term.
Dr. Bienstock is the senior associate dean for Graduate Medical Education and the designated institutional official at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a role in which she oversees the 112 residency and fellowship programs and 71 Non-Standard Training programs that each year educate over 1,400 physician learners.
Previously, she was the medical student clerkship director for Johns Hopkins’ Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics for seven years, followed by 16 years as the program director of the obstetrics and gynecology residency there. Dr. Bienstock has taught medical students, residents, and fellows both in the classroom and in the clinical setting for over 25 years. In 2022, Dr. Bienstock and her team established the Office of Graduate Clinical Education at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to provide improved structure and oversight to the Allied Health internship, residency, and fellowship programs. The Office now oversees 39 programs and more than 100 learners. She has served on the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) Undergraduate Medical Education Committee and on the APGO Board of Directors.
Dr. Bienstock is the past chair of the ACGME Review Committee for Obstetrics and Gynecology ; she also served as the chair of the ACGME Council of Review Committee Chairs, a council of the Board that represents every Review and Recognition Committee. She was a member of the ACGME Common Program Requirements Phase 1 and Phase 2 Task Forces, which wrote the educational design and expectations guidelines for all ACGME-accredited residency and fellowship programs in the US. She also led the development of the ACGME Milestones for Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Bienstock served on the leadership committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology (CREOG) and is the past-chair of the CREOG Education Committee. She has received numerous awards, including the National Faculty Teaching Award from ACOG/CREOG and, most recently, under her leadership, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine was recognized with the ACGME’s Barbara Ross-Lee, DO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award.
Dr. Bienstock received her BA in biology from Columbia University, her MD from State University of New York Downstate College of Medicine, and her MPH from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology in the Mt. Sinai Health System, followed by a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Johns Hopkins University.
Josepha A. Cheong, MD is the Board’s new treasurer. In this role, she chairs the Finance Committee. She will serve a one-year term.
Dr. Cheong is a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Florida College of Medicine (UF COM) and a faculty and clinical staff member of the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center in Gainesville, Florida. Her primary areas of focus are education, ethics, and faculty and leadership development and professional mentorship. An area of particular interest for her is physician professional development, specifically, the transition of residents to independent professionals in clinical and academic careers.
Dr. Cheong is a recipient of numerous local and national awards for education and mentorship, including the UF COM Distinguished Teacher Award, the University of Florida Distinguished Faculty Award, and most recently, the Association for Academic Psychiatry Roberts Award. She has been actively involved in the national Veterans Affairs Office of Academic Affiliations and served as an associate chief of staff/education at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System and as assistant chief of psychiatry at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System.
Dr. Cheong is active in national professional and advocacy organizations. She serves in multiple leadership and committee member roles within the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Veterans Health Administration. She served two terms on the ACGME Review Committee for Psychiatry. Currently, she is an American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) director and vice chair of its Psychiatry Council. At the ABPN, she engages in the ongoing development and management of initial and continuing board certification processes in general psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, and geriatric psychiatry.
Dr. Cheong received her BS in interdisciplinary biomedical sciences and her MD from the University of Florida, where she also completed her residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in geropsychiatry.
“This will be an exciting year of transition at the ACGME, with Dr. Debra Weinstein replacing Dr. Thomas Nasca as President and CEO in January after his very successful 18-year tenure, and with 11 new Board members arriving,” said Dr. Thibault. “I am very fortunate to be working with Drs. Bienstock and Cheong as my fellow officers and with our outstanding Board to enable Dr. Weinstein and the organization to reach new heights.”
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