Dr. Chip Watkins on Physician Leadership:

“I believe that the future of….medicine looks very bright with the help of organizations and programs that foster physician leadership.” Dr. R.W. “Chip” Watkins, Family Physician.

For more than a decade the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation (NCMS) has helped to develop physician leaders through its Leadership College program. In 2012, in recognition of the complexity of the changes facing health care delivery, the program was expanded to become the Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership. Now, in addition to the general curriculum of the Leadership College, the Clinical Quality track focuses on pilot projects to provide educational resources and training to physicians in the quality improvement realm. Starting in 2014, the institute also will offer a Health Care Management program to focus in on the business and financial aspects of leadership in health care.

Dr. Watkins is part of the inaugural Clinical Quality program this year. “Everyone goes into medicine to help those in need, but leadership of and advocacy for your profession are keys to the future,” he says. “Until you’re in a leadership role you don’t understand how things really work, and that understand is paramount to making change.”

Learn more about Leadership College and the Kanof Institute for Physician Leadership.