Virtual Leadership Conference Awards

As with many things this year, the COVID-19 pandemic required a new venue for the annual ApolloMD Leadership Conference. Traditionally hosted as an in-person two-day retreat, our teams went virtual for this year’s conference. More than 200 clinical and corporate leaders from across the organization gathered online and enjoyed the same great content, guest speakers and networking opportunities.

During this two-day virtual meeting, our leadership teams tackled the latest on COVID-19, regulatory updates, resilience, endurance and energy in chaotic times, the future of virtual care and more. Thank you to guest speakers, Nicholas Beamon with OneTeam Leadership, Bobby Park with RelyMD, Jason Newton with Curi, and Ed Gaines with Zotec Partners, for joining us this year! Our virtual breakout sessions allowed for each of our teams to take a deeper dive into topics most relevant to their regions, clinical practice, specialty and on-the-ground teams.

Each year we take a moment to celebrate our accomplishments and recognize a special group of medical directors, lead advanced practice clinicians and one practice coordinator who has gone above and beyond to make great strides for his or her teams, hospital and the organization. This year we are proud to announce the following individuals as Medical Director of the Year, Lead APC of the Year or Practice Coordinator of the Year. We are honored to have each of these individuals as members of our team and the ApolloMD family.

Medical Directors of the Year

Anesthesia

Vincent Hoellerich, MD
Central Carolina Hospital

“Dr. Hoellerich has been a leader in the anesthesia space for years before his time with ApolloMD,” explained Ayaz Pathan, MD, MBA, FACEP, ApolloMD Regional President.  “We take great pride in having him as a clinician, a medical director and now our Chief Medical Officer of Anesthesia at ApolloMD.”

Medical Directors of the Year

Anesthesia

Beverly Boyd, MD

Providence Hospital

“ApolloMD is proud to announce Dr. Beverly Boyd as one of the EM Medical Directors of the Year. She has shown a steadfast commitment to her department, patients, community and Providence Hospital,” explained John Hammock, DO, FACEP, Regional President. “Under her leadership, the Emergency Department has shown improvement in many areas, including a core group of engaged physicians, improved patient experience scores and improved clinical outcomes.”

Christopher Hwang, MD

Rush Copley Medical Center

“Dr. Christopher Hwang managed a near-complete turnover of the physician staff using locums and our internal STRIKE travel team for over a year at Rush Copley Medical Center,” explained Ted Patras, MD, ApolloMD Regional President. “He recruited nearly the entire physician and APC team, pioneered the adoption of APCs in the ED, and managed the initiation of becoming a new emergency medicine program site for PGY-2 and PGY-3 residents. Throughout all of this, he continued to strengthen our relationship with the hospital.  His dedication to quality and safety resulted in notable metric improvements including decreased LWOTS from 3% to <1% and 60-minute door-to-provider to <20-minutes. Thank you, Chris, for your devotion to Rush Copley and ApolloMD.”

John Knox, MD

Wellstar Kennestone Hospital

“Dr. John Knox has been a physician at Wellstar and Kennestone for over 20 years, and has been the Emergency Department medical director since 2015,” explained Brett Cannon, MD, ApolloMD Divisional President. “Over the past few years, he’s helped manage the transition from Kennestone’s existing ER to one of the largest in the nation, including working on the design and operational aspects of the new department. The Department of Emergency Medicine also started an Emergency Medicine Residency program during Dr. Knox’s tenure, which will graduate the first class in 2021. Dr. Knox is stepping down this fall after a busy 5-years as Medical Director, but will continue to work clinically in the new department.”

Richard Benson, II, MD

Maria Parham Health

“Dr. Benson made a splash as a young leader at Maria Parham Health three years ago,” explained Ayaz Pathan, MD, MBA, FACEP, ApolloMD Regional President. “In that short time, he has earned the respect of his local partners, hospital leadership and everyone here at ApolloMD with his hard work and engagement.”

Hospital Medicine


Saeed Eskandari, MD

John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital

“Dr. Saeed Eskandari has served as a medical and system director with ApolloMD and in every capacity has brought true dedication and leadership to his programs. As Director of the Hospital Medicine program at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio, Calif., Dr. Eskandari has led his program’s quality, efficiency and documentation efforts to be the best in the company,” explained Martin Duclos, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Hospital Medicine. “During the COVID outbreak, Dr. Eskandari led his team through dramatic census surges and fluctuations with a steady guiding hand.”

Lead Advanced Practice Clinicians of the Year

Eric Grant, PA

Maria Parham Health, Emergency Medicine

Lead Advanced Practice Clinicians of the Year

“Eric Grant started with ApolloMD a decade ago and has been the Lead APC at two of our practices over the years. At his current practice, he has been an incredible mentor and instrumental with recruitment, retention, and development of his APC team,” explained Evan Howell, PA-C, Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Chief Advanced Practice Clinician. “He leads by example and has shined both clinically and with patient experience. He has also been active politically and met with government leaders in his state to voice concern with balance billing legislation that would have been harmful to his physician and APC colleagues.”

Heidi McClain, NP

Rush Copley Medical Center, Emergency Medicine

“Heidi McClain has been the Lead APC at her facility since 2018. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the APC team. Heidi has been instrumental in advancing the APC scope of practice at a hospital that did not utilize APCs four years ago,” explained Evan Howell, PA-C, Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Chief Advanced Practice Clinician.  “She has a keen understanding of throughput and the importance of collaboration with her team and nursing colleagues. Her efforts and leadership by example have made an indelible impact on APC practice at Rush Copley in Illinois.”

Juan Class, NP

Erlanger Health System, Emergency Medicine

“Juan Class has always been led by example and been one of the most efficient APCs I have ever met. He single-handedly impacts metrics and flow despite working at a large trauma center, and has been praised repeatedly by the administration at each of the hospitals in the Erlanger system,” explained Evan Howell, PA-C, Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Chief Advanced Practice Clinician. “Juan set a true example of what this award embodies when tornadoes ripped through his city a few months ago. Knowing one of his facilities was going to be overwhelmed with injuries and trauma, he left home to help in the middle of the night. When Juan could not drive any further due to impassable roads, he walked the additional miles to get the ED. After hours helping in any way he could, he walked several miles back to his car and went home to assess the damage to his own house and neighborhood. He is truly an impressive APC and an even more impressive person.”

Tiffany Webster, NP

Grandview Medical Center, Hospital Medicine

“Tiffany Webster became an RN in 2004 and has done everything from bedside nursing to ICU charge nursing and intake/clinical coordinator for a large hospitalist group.  She continued her education while working as an RN and joined her current hospitalist team as an NP in 2015,” explained Evan Howell, PA-C, Chief Clinical Operations Officer, Chief Advanced Practice Clinician.  “With her diverse background, she quickly became a leader in the practice and has launched campaigns for improvements in LOS, patient flow, scheduling, and continuing education. She was recently named the Regional Lead APC for our HM practices and is helping us to build out the content for our HM APC Advancement Program.”

Practice Coordinator of the Year

Pamela Black

Atrium Health

“Pam has shown incredible resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and made her support of many ApolloMD practices appear effortless,” explained Casey Crane, Executive Vice President, Front-End Billing Operations.

“We are very fortunate to have Pam who is dedicated to supporting our team at Atrium Health Union and ApolloMD,” explained Jeff Mullins, MD, ApolloMD ED System Medical Director at Atrium Health. “She has been the backbone of our Union team for ten years and is a major reason for all of our successes. She has been extremely supportive of all of our teammates and has helped create an environment for our APC and physicians to excel in their careers.”

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