Banner – University Medical Group Tucson, the physician practice plan for Banner – University Medicine doctors affiliated with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, has named the UA Department of Medicine’s Tammy Clark Ojo, MD, as its executive medical director for ambulatory care in Tucson.
Department Chair Monica Kraft, MD, lauded the appointment.
“I think Dr. Ojo is uniquely qualified and will do an outstanding job in this role. We are in need of more physician leadership in the ambulatory setting. I know Dr. Ojo will not only be a leader, but engage other faculty to assist her and lead as well,” Dr. Kraft said.
Dr. Ojo is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, medical director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program and associate chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Medicine.
Nationally known in the field of cystic fibrosis care, she joined the UA faculty in May 2016, coming from Ann Arbor, Mich., where she was medical director of the Ambulatory Care Unit for Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Michigan Health System's Taubman Health Care Center and served on multiple committees, including being a member of the Executive Council for Clinical Affairs.
The announcement was made Tuesday, April 24, in a letter sent to all BUMG Tucson clinicians signed by BUMG President and CEO Scott Goodwin, MD, and BUMG COO Scott Hofferber.
“Dr. Ojo will be the dyad partner with Runjhun Nanchal, Sr. Administrator for Clinical Practice, working with our departmental and clinical leadership to promote a highly efficient and patient-centered ambulatory care practice of the highest quality,” they said.
Goodwin and Hofferber noted that she also is deeply involved in the All of Us℠ Arizona Research Program, as a physician lead for Southern Arizona.
Dr. Ojo is a graduate of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, where she also completed her residency and an internship in internal medicine and served as chief resident. She completed her fellowship in pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Michigan Health System. Her clinical and research interests now focus on cystic fibrosis, for which she helped establish the first free-standing adult cystic fibrosis clinic in the history of Tucson.
New DOM Associate Chairs Named
In other news, recently named to new shared posts as associate chair of quality and safety within the UA Department of Medicine are Tejo Vemulapalli, MD, chief of the Division of Inpatient Medicine, and Sireesha Koppula, MD, MPH, an assistant professor in the UA Division of Nephrology.
Dr. Vemulapalli will handle inpatient operations and Dr. Koppula—who also is medical director, inpatient dialysis, Banner – UMC South; medical director, nephrology clinic operations, BUMG Tucson; and medical director, quality, BUMG Tucson—will handle outpatient operations.
They fill the role played previously by Phil Factor, DO, who left in January to join the faculty at the University of California – San Diego.
NOTE: The previous title of vice chair has been converted to associate chair for all those who hold the position in the UA Department of Medicine.
ALSO SEE:
“Drs. Bime, Juneman, Koppula Chosen for ‘Class of 2018’ Banner Leadership Program” | Posted March 14, 2018
“Devastation, Recovery in a Hurricane’s Wake, with Drs. Tammy and Lolu Ojo” | Posted March 2, 2018
“Four from DOM Among New Banner Leadership Program Grads” | Posted Oct. 18, 2016