NAMES IN THE NEWS

AAAHC Announces New Board Officers and Elected Directors

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) announced the names of its new board officers and two elected directors, according to a release. The 2024-2025 board, comprising leaders from diverse areas of ambulatory healthcare, will advance AAAHC’s mission of improving healthcare quality through accreditation.

“With the election of these new leaders, AAAHC remains committed to advancing patient and team safety and quality improvement across the ambulatory healthcare continuum,” said Noel Adachi, president and chief executive officer of AAAHC, in the release. “Their diverse experience and leadership will encourage and assist ambulatory healthcare organizations to provide the highest achievable level of care."

The new board officers’ one-year terms began November 17, according to the release. While board members bring varied backgrounds, they share a common history of dedication to the provision of healthcare in the ambulatory setting.

Joy Himmel, RN, board chair, is the first licensed behavioral health provider elected as AAAHC board chair, the sixth female board chair and the third college health professional elected to the position in the organization’s history. She has more than 40 years of experience in behavioral health working in hospital and community-based programs, with more than 25 years in college health and counseling. She is a fellow with the American College Health Association (ACHA) and served on the Continuing Education and Program Planning Committees for 15 years. Himmel has been on the board of directors of AAAHC for five years, has served as a surveyor since 2009, and is part of the teaching faculty for the organization. In addition to her work with ACHA, AAAHC and the Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD), she serves as a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) federal grant reviewer, reviewing proposals for substance abuse prevention and mental health initiatives. She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from State University of New York at Plattsburgh, master’s in counseling psychology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and doctorate from California Southern University. Recently, Himmel presented strategies to promote a trauma-informed organizational approach to wellness, building resiliency skills in today's youth and innovative counseling treatment models in college health. She was the health and wellness center director at Penn State Altoona for 20 years, providing oversight for health services, counseling and psychological services, health promotion, and education accessibility services. She served as the counseling center director at Ross University School of Medicine in the South Caribbean for two years before assuming her current position as counseling center director at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
Steven Butz, MD, board chair-elect, practices pediatric anesthesiology in the Milwaukee area. He holds board certifications in anesthesia and pediatric anesthesia by the American Board of Anesthesiology. Butz graduated from Northwestern University Medical School and proceeded to complete a residency in anesthesia training at Emory University and a pediatric anesthesia fellowship in Chicago at what is now Lurie Children’s Hospital. He is currently a professor of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he acts as medical director of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Surgicenter.
Jan Davidson, RN, immediate past board chair, has worked as a perioperative registered nurse for more than 40 years. In addition to her OR experience in a large metropolitan trauma center, Davidson has served as clinical director of a freestanding ASC. She began her work there from its groundbreaking through the first five years of its operation. Her role included management of the clinical staff, staff education and training, risk management, employee health, and infection prevention. Davidson also was the practice administrator for a plastic surgeon with an AAAHC-accredited, office-based OR. Additionally, she has been employed in professional liability, risk management and patient safety roles throughout her career. This has allowed her to educate both the nursing staff and the medical staff on various clinical and ethical issues. Until her recent retirement, she was the director of the Ambulatory Surgery Division at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN). Davidson has been an AAAHC surveyor for 13 years.

Additionally, Lawrence Kim, MD, will serve the second year of his second two-year term as AAAHC secretary/treasurer.

Kim joined the AAAHC board of directors in 2004. He has served in numerous roles for this organization, including as surveyor, committee chair and governing council member. He is a partner at South Denver Gastroenterology, a 27-physician independent GI practice in Colorado. A graduate of Princeton University, he received his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His postgraduate training included an internal medicine residency at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. He currently serves as president-elect of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and previously served as secretary treasurer and clinical practice councilor for that society. He also serves on the board of directors for the Digestive Health Physicians Association, an advocacy group for independent GI practices. Kim is focused on improving the quality of digestive care worldwide and has traveled on multiple medical missions to Vietnam, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Peru.

The two elected directors, whose three-year terms will expire in 2027, also assumed their positions November 17. Together they bring decades of experience in ambulatory care and healthcare management:

Keith Anderson is a licensed psychologist with more than 30 years’ experience providing behavioral health services in a primary care/student health setting. During those years, he was engaged in activities that are consistent with the profession of a psychologist: teaching, research and practice. Anderson holds his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh. He received his PhD from the University of Georgia in 1992. As a member of the board of directors of the American College Health Association (ACHA), he had the opportunity to chair two major task forces: Membership Task Force and Mental Health Best Practices Task Force. He also is an AAAHC surveyor and has been a member of the organization’s Engaged Constituency since 2020. He is a fellow of the ACHA and served as a board member for many years and as vice president from 2013–2015.
Valerie Kiefer, elected for a second three-year term on the board has more than 40 years of experience in healthcare, including critical care, emergency transport as a flight nurse paramedic, special procedures, internal medicine, primary care and college health. She has extensive experience in quality improvement (QI), quality assessment and peer review, and has been the primary researcher in multiple quality improvement projects throughout her career. She presently works as the director of Medical Services at The University of Tampa. She worked at UConn Student Health and Wellness for more than 15 years, where she chaired the QI program. Kiefer holds her master's degree and doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut. She has served as an AAAHC surveyor for more than 10 years and is an active faculty member and mentor for AAAHC surveyors. Additionally, she has served on several AAAHC Engaged Constituency committees.

“I’m honored to lead the AAAHC board as the first licensed behavioral health provider to be elected chair in the organization’s history,” Himmel said in the release. “With a focus on continuous improvement and innovation, our newly named board officers and elected directors will ensure that we not only uphold AAAHC’s legacy of excellence but also advance our mission to enhance patient care and safety within ambulatory healthcare."

For more information about AAAHC leadership, visit www.aaahc.org/governance/.