Dr. Atul Grover Named as AAMC Chief Advocacy Officer

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2009—The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) announced today that Atul Grover, M.D., Ph.D., has been selected as the association's new chief advocacy officer after a nationwide search. Until this appointment, which took immediate effect, Dr. Grover served as an AAMC director for government relations and health care affairs.

"Dr. Grover brings an extensive portfolio of experience to his new position. His training as an M.D., combined with his public health, legislative and regulatory experience, and his deep understanding of the nation's medical schools and teaching hospitals will be great assets in his new role as the AAMC's 'voice' on advocacy issues," said AAMC President and CEO Darrell G. Kirch, M.D.

"I am privileged and pleased to be part of an organization whose members and missions are at the very heart of what's best in America's health care system," Dr. Grover said. "Now that the debate on reforming health care has been reinvigorated, I look forward to working with my AAMC colleagues and the association's members to ensure the voice of academic medicine stays strong and clear as we continue to improve the health of the nation."

In his new role, Dr. Grover will serve as the main architect and strategist of the AAMC's advocacy agenda, effectively mobilizing the association's government relations and communications teams and resources to accomplish the legislative goals of the academic medicine community. He replaces Richard Knapp, Ph.D., who retired from the AAMC in 2008 after 40 years of service to the association and its members.

Dr. Grover joined the AAMC as associate director for the Center for Workforce Studies in 2005, where he managed research activity and directed externally funded workforce studies. He became a director of government relations and health care affairs in 2007. In this role, he coordinated advocacy related to clinical care, training, financing, and education, including legislative efforts related to Medicaid and Medicare. As lead liaison to the AAMC's Advisory Panel on Health Care, Dr. Grover helped develop the association's health care reform principles and its position statement on the medical home.

Prior to joining the AAMC, Dr. Grover was a senior consultant in health care finance and applied economics for The Lewin Group, Inc., from 2003 to 2005. He came to the consulting firm after serving with the U.S. Public Health Service, Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). From 2001 until 2003, Dr. Grover worked as a chief medical officer for HRSA's National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, and as a medical officer for the children's hospital graduate medical education program. Trained as a general internist, Dr. Grover practices medicine and holds faculty appointments at the George Washington University (GWU) School of Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he obtained his Ph.D. in health and public policy. He received his M.D. from GWU School of Medicine in 1995, and completed his residency in internal medicine and primary care at the University of California at San Francisco.

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The Association of American Medical Colleges is a not-for-profit association representing all 131 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 68 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 128,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 110,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.

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