Anthony Shih, M.D., M.P.H., has been appointed executive vice president for programs of The Commonwealth Fund, effective January 12, 2011. Dr. Shih directed the Fund's Program on Quality Improvement and Efficiency from 2006 to 2008. He left The Commonwealth Fund in 2008 to serve as chief quality officer and vice president of strategy for IPRO, one of the nation's leading independent, not-for-profit, health care quality improvement organizations. In addition to guiding the overall strategy and growth of IPRO, he provided expert consultation to government and non-profit clients. His responsibilities at the company included oversight of the eServices and Health Care Transparency team that develops and maintains the Fund's WhyNotTheBest.org Web site.
Dr. Shih first joined IPRO in 2001, and held a variety of positions there, including vice president of the Health Care Quality Improvement Program, and medical director of managed care. While at the Fund from 2006 to 2008, in addition to directing the quality program, Dr. Shih conducted policy analysis for the Commission on a High Performance Health System and coauthored several influential reports, including Bending the Curve: Options for Achieving Savings and Improving Value in the Health Spending, and Organizing the U.S. Health Care Delivery System for High Performance. Earlier in his career, he was assistant medical director for a community-based mental health organization serving immigrant and refugee populations in Oakland, Calif.
"We are really fortunate to have Tony Shih return to the Fund as executive vice president for programs," said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. "He has the mix of health care delivery and improvement, policy analytic, and management skills that will enable him to lead our program staff effectively and represent the Fund in working with partners to bring about delivery system and payment reform, improve policy, and track health system performance."
Dr. Shih will succeed Stephen C. Schoenbaum, M.D., who will conclude more than 10 highly productive years of service at the Fund in December. "Steve Schoenbaum has not only been an outstanding executive and health system improvement thinker, but also a dear friend to us all," Davis said. "Among his successes are the launch of the Fund's health care quality improvement efforts, which have helped make health care quality a national issue, and the Commission on a High Performance Health System."
Dr. Shih is board-certified in public health and preventive medicine, and holds a B.A. in economics from Amherst College, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa; an M.D. from the New York University School of Medicine, where he graduated Alpha Omega Alpha; and a M.P.H. from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
