46 - Dr. Richard Baron - Pres/CEO of ABIM - Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in Medicine

Summary: In this episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. Richard Baron. Dr. Baron is currently the president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine, or ABIM. He received his MD from Yale and completed his internal medicine residency at NYU-Bellevue Medical Center. He served a 3-year obligation in the National Health Service Corps in rural Tennessee, practiced general internal medicine and geriatrics for almost 30 years at Greenhouse Internists, served as the CMO of Health Partners, a Medicaid HMO in Philadelphia, and was the Group Director of Seamless Care Models at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. In the episode, we discuss how his interest in English informed his career trajectory, some memories from training at Bellevue and practicing in rural Tennessee, and the difference between working in leadership for an HMO, and for the government. We also discuss the ABIM, and the increasing issue of the public rejecting expertise, how that impacts the medical field, and steps the ABIM is taking to address it and maintain the trust of patients. Show Notes Dr. Baron’s Bio https://abimfoundation.org/person/richard-j-baron-md-president-and-ceo From the Journal of a Leper – John Updike https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1976/07/19/from-the-journal-of-a-leper The Message in the Bottle – How Queer Man Is, How Queer Language Is, and What One Has to Do with The Other - Walker Percy https://www.amazon.com/Message-Bottle-Queer-Language-Other/dp/0312254016