Christy Harris Lemak, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Health Services Administration at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has been named recipient of the 2022 Gary L. Filerman Prize for Educational Leadership.
The Filerman Prize, delivered by the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, recognizes individuals from AUPHA member programs who have made outstanding contributions to the field of health care management education, who have exhibited leadership in their field, and who have enriched their institutions, their students and health care management through their work.
“Receiving the 2022 Filerman Prize is the most meaningful honor of my career. Dr. Filerman and many of the previous recipients have been my mentors, role models, co-authors and friends,” Lemak said. “I am grateful for this recognition and, more importantly, to have been able to work with dedicated individuals — academic colleagues, industry executives and students — to improve health administration education in order to develop leaders who will change the world.”
Lemak leads a team of more than 50 faculty and staff who are developing leaders to shape tomorrow’s health care. The department offers degrees in health care leadership, health informatics, health care simulation, health services research, and health care quality and safety. The graduate program in health administration is in its 57th year.
Her teaching and research focus on leadership and high performance in health care. She is currently working to develop organizations where all leaders can thrive. Under her leadership, UAB has developed several programs to support women and under-represented populations to become health care leaders, including the UAB Women in Healthcare Leadership initiative and the UAB Academy for Addressing Health Care Disparities through Health Care Leadership.
Lemak currently serves on the boards of Community Hospital Corporation (Plano, Texas), the National Center for Healthcare Leadership and the Alabama Healthcare Hall of Fame. She was previously on the boards of the Commission on Accreditation of Health Management Education, Academy of Management Health Care Management Division and the Association of University Programs in Health Administration, where she was board chair.