The Board of the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) and GW President Ellen M. Granberg have agreed to restructure the roles of the top officials at the MFA and the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences to provide full-time leadership in both organizations that will enhance the integrated performance of the GW academic medical enterprise.
The announcement was made today by Granberg and Ellen Zane, chair of the MFA Board.
Going forward, Barbara Bass, who has led the MFA since 2020 while also serving as vice president for health affairs and dean of SMHS, will lead the university’s academic clinical enterprise, which includes education, research, patient care and community engagement.
Bass also will expand her involvement with strategic initiative planning across the academic medical enterprise missions, relationships with affiliated hospitals and other institutions and alignment with GW university priorities and programs.
Bill Elliott, who has served the past 15 years as the chief operating officer of the University of Maryland Faculty Physicians, Inc., has been named interim CEO of the MFA and will assume the position May 13.
Elliott will focus on directing and implementing day-to-day operations for the MFA, accelerating improvements and advancing financial stability for the organization.
Granberg praised Bass for her leadership in guiding the MFA through the reintegration with the university and for successfully leading the MFA during four turbulent years.
“When Dean Bass arrived at GW in January 2020, just weeks before the COVID pandemic, she was charged with disrupting decades-old divisions that had diminished the ability of the GW SMHS and GW MFA to reach full academic potential, or financial health,” Granberg said. “She has accomplished that unification while taking on and meeting the organizational, operational and financial challenges that beset the MFA even before the pandemic. We expect the changes we are announcing today will provide an added platform for Barbara to contribute to GW, and we know Bill will also make his mark on the MFA during this time of change and growth.”
Zane added: “It would be impossible to overstate the contributions Dr. Bass has made to the MFA. The tasks of running a high-performing faculty physician practice to serve our patients requires intense and undivided attention. Considering the needs of the future, the time is right to ensure that the MFA has full-time leadership.”
Zane said Elliott is exceptionally well-suited for the tasks at hand.
“Bill is a highly qualified leader with great experience in overseeing medical faculty associations and great knowledge of Washington and the surrounding communities,” Zane said. “Working in partnership with Chief Clinical Affairs and Strategy Officer Chris Smedley and other MFA leaders, Bill can devote his full energies and considerable talents to help the MFA achieve its vision for the future.”
Elliott said he is excited to join the MFA.
“I welcome the opportunity to implement the work that is already underway, the work that has been planned but not yet started and the work still needed to achieve the goals of the MFA,” Elliott said. “The MFA comprises more than 400 superb faculty physicians and advanced medical practitioners – the vital faculty who are fundamental to the education, research and clinical care missions of the GW SMHS. There is no limit on what we can accomplish on the road ahead.”
Bass said the structural and leadership evolution would provide benefits to the MFA and SMHS and help achieve the goal of establishing GW as a destination for the best-of-the-best in the medical care, care that is uniquely delivered in academic medical systems aligned with great medical schools.
“I look forward to my new role at this exciting time for the GW academic medical enterprise,” Bass said. “A strong faculty practice requires state of the art operational structures and processes to meet the financial headwinds of today’s healthcare industry. This change creates an expanded full-time health care executive team to support a high-performing clinical practice business platform to serve our clinical missions - an exciting opportunity for the MFA and SMHS.”