Janis M. Orlowski, M.D., MACP, chief health care officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, will present “Health Care Delivery 101: Managing the Health Care of Americans” on Thursday, Jan. 14 as first speaker in 2016 for UAB Medicine’s expanded Leadership in Academic Medicine Lecture series. The Leadership in Academic Medicine Lecture began in 2014 as an annual event that brought high-profile leaders to Birmingham to discuss issues facing UAB and other prominent academic medical centers across all missions. Based on the popularity of the series—as well as an effort to continue to expose UAB Medicine leaders and faculty to best practices and innovative thinking—the series is expanding to include 2-3 speakers throughout the year, along with the keynote in the summer.
Orlowski’s presentation will begin at noon in the Margaret Cameron Spain Auditorium. A limited number of lunches will be provided for attendees.
As the AAMC chief health officer, Orlowski focuses on the intersection between academic medicine and healthcare delivery. Before joining the AAMC, she oversaw the medical staff, clinical care, quality, patient safety, medical risk, perioperative services, ambulatory care and the medical education programs in her nine-year tenure as chief operating officer of MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.—the largest hospital of the MedStar Health system.
Orlowski graduated from Marquette University’s College of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering in 1978, and earned her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1982. She completed her residency (1982-1985), chief residency (1985-1986) and nephrology fellowship (1986-1988) at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. After the completion of her fellowship, Orlowski built her medical career at Rush, rising to associate vice president and executive dean of the Rush University Medical School before leaving in 2004.
She currently serves as chair of D.C. Board of Medicine, Board of Trustees of Marquette University, Board of Montini Catholic High School and was recently appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Medical College of Wisconsin. She has been the president of the Chicago Medical Society, and board member and chair of the Illinois State Medical Society. She served as editor of Disease-A-Month, and was on the editorial board of Nephrology.
Orlowski was inducted as a Master in the American College of Physicians (ACP) in 2007.