Buffkin / Baker Names Chief Clinical Officer

September 6, 2022 – Executive search firm Buffkin / Baker has added David Ballard as chief clinical officer in its healthcare practice. “David is a welcome addition to the Buffkin / Baker team,” said Craig Buffkin, managing partner. “His extensive healthcare experience provides us with a strong foundation to provide quality service for our clients seeking today’s leading physician, nursing, and healthcare executives.”

“Dr. Ballard brings a unique set of leadership skills, and his background as a physician leader in academic health science centers such as the University of Virginia and Emory University, as well as in large healthcare systems such as Mayo Clinic and Baylor Scott & White Health, will add substantial depth to our team, strengthen our capabilities, and allow us to serve our clients at an even higher level,” Mr. Buffkin said.

Dr. Ballard will support the healthcare delivery vertical of the firm’s healthcare practice, serving health systems, AAMC institutions, not-for-profit, and for-profit hospital and medical groups with physician executive and healthcare executive searches.

As a global healthcare executive, Dr. Ballard brings proven expertise in improving healthcare value and organizational financial performance, while providing international thought leadership. He was recognized by Becker’s four consecutive years as one of the top 50 experts leading the field of patient safety, is the past president of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare, and received the distinguished alumnus awards from the University of North Carolina Schools of Medicine and Public Health in 2008 and 2019.

Dr. Ballard previously served as chief quality officer of Baylor Scott & White Health, where the organization received both the Leapfrog Patient-Centered Care Award and the National Quality Forum Health Care Award under his leadership. Additionally, he has held leadership roles at Emory University, University of Virginia, and Mayo Clinic, and completed five degrees with honors in economics, public health, epidemiology, medicine, and business at the University of North Carolina, where he was a John Motley Morehead Scholar. He is a board-certified internist, having completed his residency training in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Ballard continues to serve as healthcare policy section editor for the Mayo Clinic Proceedings and associate editor for the Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes. He also serves on the boards of several global healthcare companies, including as a director and audit committee member for Mentice, the world’s leading endovascular simulation performance solutions company. Dr. Ballard has several leadership roles at the University of North Carolina, where he is adjunct professor of health policy and management, a member of the UNC Chancellor’s Global Leadership Council and a member of the UNC Center on the Business of Health Leadership advisory board.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Craig Buffkin and his colleagues,” said Dr. Ballard. “Craig and I share an extensive interconnected history through the Morehead/Morehead-Cain Foundation and the UNC baseball program, as well as both of us being MBA graduates of the Kenan-Flagler Business School. My career has been devoted to efforts of making healthcare safer and more affordable, while reducing health disparities.”

“As chief clinical officer for Buffkin / Baker, I look forward to assisting healthcare systems, academic health science centers, and other organizations across the United States in their pursuit of these and other strategic objectives, ensuring that they have the executive talent to do so,” he said. “Given our national imperative to make healthcare safer and more affordable, while reducing health disparities, Buffkin / Baker is a critical partner in the recruitment and successful engagement of healthcare executive talent.”

A Specialty Boutique Firm

Buffkin / Baker is a specialty boutique search firm composed of industry leaders in their respective fields and each has over a decade of retained search experience. Their focus as search professionals is to recruit leaders in digital marketing/advertising, technology, healthcare, media/entertainment, finance, higher education, and non-profit. The firm serves public, private, venture, and private equity-backed companies. Its office locations include Nashville, TN; New York; Washington, D.C.; and Winston Salem, NC, with affiliate offices in London.

Buffkin / Baker is a member of Panorama Search, an international federation of retained firms with 18 firms and over 30 offices globally. Buffkin / Baker formed in 2017 with the merger of the Buffkin Group and Baker and Associates LLC.

Related: Buffkin / Baker Taps Chief Information and Technology Officer for CarePayment

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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