News Releases

Chicago, IL| December 14, 2021

The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME^®) announces that Steven Craig, MD; Gay Wehrli, MD, MBA, MSEd; and Jon Thomas, MD, MBA were elected as the ACCME's 2023 Officers.

Dr. Craig is a general internist who completed his medical school training at the University of Iowa College of Medicine and his internal medicine residency training at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, CO. He has been involved in internal medicine patient care and medical education in Des Moines, IA since 1983. He is currently an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the UI Department of Medicine and directs the Transitional Year Residency Program at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines. He actively teaches internal medicine to residents and medical students at the Des Moines Branch Campus. Dr. Craig is also active in continuing medical education at UnityPoint Health-Des Moines where he has served as Chair of the Continuing Medical Education Committee since 2017. He served as Governor of the Iowa Chapter of the American College of Physicians from 2002-2006 and in 2014, he was elected a Master in the American College of Physicians. Dr. Craig served as Chair of the Council of Transitional Year Program Directors from 2008 to 2012 and served on the Transitional Year Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education from 2013 - 2019. Dr. Craig also served as President of the Association for Hospital Medical Education in 2013 and he re-joined the AHME Board of Directors in 2019. In 2015, he was elected to membership of the Board of Trustees for the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties, Dr. Craig is active in educational research, faculty development, and education across the continuum, in the areas of evidence-based medicine and preventive medicine.

Dr. Wehrli is the Chief Medical Officer at University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center (UH SMC) and Professor of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Wehrli works with the UH and SMC leadership teams to develop and implement strategies to ensure high-quality, cost-effective care, and she leads the SMC medical staff. She also continues her transfusion medicine clinical work serving as the UH System Director, High Reliability Medicine for Blood Management and System Medical Director, Blood Utilization. Dr. Wehrli has a national and international reputation as a leader in education. Dr. Wehrli has received multiple awards pertaining to education, including her specialty organization, Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies’ (AABB) 2019 and 2022 President’s Awards and multiple Teacher of the Year awards at the University of Virginia (UVA). She serves on numerous education committees, including chair for the AABB Annual Meeting Education Committee (2018-2021) and chair for the AABB Annual Meeting Highlights in the Middle East conference (2018-2020). She has published education-based manuscripts from how to create curriculum to developing and implementing entrustable professional activities for residents/fellows. She recently edited two books, Principles of Apheresis Technology and the new Apheresis Study Guide. She was a member of the American Society for Clinical Pathology’s Resident in Service Exam Committee as Chair for the BBTM section, in addition to serving as an invited contributor for exam questions. Her interests in education extend beyond healthcare providers, to creating universal blood donor educational materials. Prior to joining UH SMC and CWRU, Dr. Wehrli served as an Associate Chief Medical Information Officer with UVA Health and in Medical Director positions at UVA Health, Tufts-New England Medical Center and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Wehrli completed her undergraduate degree at Trinity College (CT), then returned home to complete a medical degree at the University of Southern California (USC) and residency plus fellowship at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center. She also completed her Master of Science in Education at USC. Dr. Wehrli completed her Master of Business Administration plus health sector management certificate at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where she was selected as a Forté Foundation Fellow for her exemplary leadership and commitment to mentoring women.

Dr. Thomas completed his undergraduate education at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He completed his medical school education at Mayo Medical School and residency training at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. He held a subspecialty interest in head and neck tumors. He received his MBA in Medical Group Management from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN. Dr. Thomas spent 28 years in private practice, leading a group of 21 otolaryngologists as President and CEO for 7 of those years. During that time Dr. Thomas was active in the administration of United Hospital, St. Paul’s largest hospital. He held a variety of leadership positions, including Chief of Staff. He recently retired from clinical practice to become an ENT Medical Director for UnitedHealthcare. Dr. Thomas was honored to serve on the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice for 16 years. He holds the distinction for being appointed by a Democratic, Republican and Independent Governor. During that time he served on myriad committees and held many leadership roles including President. Dr. Thomas was also active in the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), serving on numerous committees and holding a variety of leadership roles including Chair. As Chair of the FSMB, Dr. Thomas shepherded the development of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact statute, which ultimately led to the formation of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (IMLCC), to which Dr. Thomas was elected Chair. The IMLCC provides for expedited multi-state licensure. He was recognized for this tireless effort by receiving the FSMB’s Distinguished Service Award and from his alma mater, Mayo Clinic’s Professional Achievement Award. Currently, Dr. Thomas is acting Chair of the Committee for Individualized Review of the United States Medical Licensing Exam. In addition, he currently serves on the Editorial Committee for the American Association for Physician Leadership. Dr. Thomas’ career evinces a commitment to patient protection and physician improvement.

Media inquiries

Ellen Sullivan

312-245-4066

esullivan@accme.org

Other inquiries

info@accme.org

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The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME^®) is a nonprofit organization based in Chicago, responsible for accrediting organizations that offer continuing medical education (CME) and for recognizing state medical societies as accreditors of local CME programs. The ACCME is a cofounder of Joint Accreditation for Interprofessional Continuing Education™. 

The ACCME sets standards for CME that reflect the values of the educator community and aim to accelerate learning, inspire change, and champion improvement in healthcare. These standards ensure that accredited CME is designed to be relevant to clinicians’ needs, evidence-based, evaluated for its effectiveness, and independent of commercial influence. Through participation in accredited CME, clinicians and teams drive improvement in their practice and optimize the care, health, and wellness of their patients. 

Accredited CME facilitates engagement with physicians and healthcare teams where they live, learn, and work. There are approximately 1,700 accredited CME providers within the ACCME System, across the country and internationally, representing a range of organizations including medical schools, hospitals/health systems, government/military agencies, specialty societies, and insurance/managed-care companies. Accredited providers offer about 170,000 activities each year, comprising more than one million hours of instruction and including more than 45 million interactions with physicians and other healthcare professionals. 

For more information, visit www.accme.org. You can also follow the ACCME on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.