ABIM Foundation Names New Executive Vice President

Jessica Perlo, MPH, formerly of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, to assume the role September 1

The ABIM Foundation, a national nonprofit focused on advancing medical professionalism to improve the quality of health care, announced Jessica Perlo, MPH, as its next Executive Vice President, effective September 1, 2023.

“The health care landscape is changing rapidly, with new challenges arising that will require initiative and innovation to ensure clinicians have the tools and resources they need to deliver the best care they can to patients,” said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation. “Jessica is the right leader to guide the Foundation’s work moving forward to meet these challenges – she understands how the health care system works – or doesn’t – and how to create programs that can truly make meaningful improvements for physicians and patients. We are living in a time when new thinking about medical professionalism is needed, and I am optimistic about the future of both the Foundation and broader health care community under her leadership.”

For more than 15 years, Perlo has worked to design and implement health system improvement efforts including roles at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency, Strong Memorial Hospital, Mass General Brigham and the Atlantic Health Equity Fellowship. Most recently, she led IHI’s work to support workforce well-being, which aims to reverse the trend of burnout in health care, and support leaders at all levels to create a positive work environment that fosters equity, meaning, and a commitment to deliver high-quality care.

“The ABIM Foundation has served as an important voice, promoting medical professionalism and trust, and advancing the ever-evolving practice of medicine,” said Perlo. “I am excited to join the team as we adapt to and address the current and future challenges facing our health care system, our health care workers, and patients. While in some ways it is a very uncertain time in medicine, it is also a time ripe with opportunity. I am excited to be a part of the Foundation’s continued impact in shaping that future.”

She is a member of the National of Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Clinician Wellbeing and Resilience and is trained in community organizing from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Perlo earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Vermont and her MPH from Boston University’s School of Public Health.

Perlo’s appointment as the new EVP comes as Daniel Wolfson, MHSA, steps down from the role after more than two decades of service. It was during Wolfson’s tenure that the ABIM Foundation launched a number of significant efforts – including the nationally-recognized Choosing Wisely® campaign, and, more recently the Building Trust initiative. Recognizing the importance of finding a successor who shared the Foundation’s commitment to health care innovation, the ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees created a distinguished search committee, led by Chair David Coleman, MD, who, after a national search, unanimously endorsed Perlo for the role.

“We are thrilled by the appointment of Jessica as the next Executive Vice President of the ABIM Foundation,” said David Coleman, MD, Interim Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation and Chair of the ABIM Foundation Board of Trustees. “She has effectively led efforts to define, analyze, and implement positive and durable change in health systems through partnerships with organizations and individuals. Her experience and expertise are very well-matched with the Foundation’s efforts to employ the core principles of medical professionalism to enhance health outcomes. The Trustees and I are very excited to support and advise Jessica in leading the Foundation in the years ahead.”

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About the ABIM Foundation

The ABIM Foundation’s mission is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policymakers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit www.abimfoundation.org, connect on LinkedIn or follow on Twitter.

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