March 16, 2022
Delegates Elect First Physician Assistant to the Board
Columbia, MD – AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care (PALTC) Medicine has elected its 2022-2023 Board of Directors. Suzanne Gillespie, MD, RD, CMD, is President; Milta O. Little, DO, CMD, is President Elect; Rajeev Kumar, MD, FACP, CMD, is Vice President; and Leslie Beth Eber, MD, CMD, is Secretary.
The House of Delegates also broke new ground by electing a physician assistant (PA) for the first time: Allison Villegas, PA-C, from Arvada, CO, joins the Board as a representative of the House of Delegates (HOD), making this the first Society Board of Directors with two voting clinicians who are not physicians. Barbara Resnick, PhD, CRNP, from Baltimore, MD, is a returning HOD representative and the other voting clinician on the Board.
Dr. Gillespie is Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Geriatrics/Aging and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She also is Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics Extended Care & Rehabilitation and serves as Medical Director of two Community Living Centers (nursing home) in the VA Finger Lakes Healthcare System. She has served AMDA in a variety of capacities—Chair of the House of Delegates, Chair of the Annual Meeting Program Planning Committee, Vice Chair of the Public Policy Committee, and Chair of the Workgroup on Telemedicine, to name just a few.
Dr. Little is an Associate Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Duke University and Senior Fellow in the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. She has spent a significant portion of her medical career teaching and practicing in the PALTC continuum. Dr. Little previously served three terms on the board of directors for AMDA: Secretary, 2012-2014; Chair of the House of Delegates 2014-2016; and State Chapter President Counsel Representative, 2017-2020. She currently sits on the AMDA board as the incoming President-Elect and is proud to also serve on the NP/PA counsel, the editorial board for JAMDA, and as a regular scientific contributor for the Caring for the Ages publication. Her primary scholarly interests are interprofessional education, deprescribing initiatives, non-pharmacologic management of dementia, and implementation of Dementia-Friendly and Age-Friendly Health System programs across settings of care.
Dr. Kumar is a Chicago-based geriatrician working in PALTC for more than 20 years. He is currently the medical director for Humana I-SNP in the north-central region. He previously led a team of clinicians providing palliative care and chronic disease management to homebound seniors in Illinois and Missouri as the regional medical director for Prospero Health. He also serves as the medical director for Plymouth Place and Burgess Square nursing facilities. In his previous role as the managing partner of a large geriatrics practice, he mentored many PA and APRN students, family practice residents, and geriatrics fellows, and has received awards for excellence in teaching and for inclusiveness. He served as president of AMDA’s Illinois state chapter and just finished a term as secretary on AMDA’s Board.
Dr. Eber is board certified in internal medicine and is a Certified Medical Director. She divides her time between clinical practice, medical directorship, and research. She has provided medical directorships for both long-term care facilities and hospice and is the medical director of Orchard Park Health Care Center in Greenwood Village, CO. She is the co-investigator for 3 CCTSI community engagement grants. She is the chair of the Colorado Dementia Partnership, is an advisor to the Colorado COVID-19 Residential Strike Team, and provides expertise for the Colorado AHRQ ECHO National Nursing Home COVID-19 Action Network. Dr. Eber served as president of AMDA’s Colorado state chapter from 2016-2021. She was awarded the AMDA Medical Director of the Year for 2021.
The 2022-2023 Board is rounded out by:
- Treasurer: Swati Gaur, MD, MBA, CMD, Gainesville, GA (Returning)
- Chair, House of Delegates: Wayne Saltsman, MD, PhD, CMD, Burlington, MA (Reelected)
- State Presidents Council Representatives: Danny Felty, MD, FAAFP, CMD, North Chesterfield, VA (Newly Elected); Diane Sanders-Cepeda, DO, CMD, Cooper City, FL (Returning); Victoria Walker, MD, CMD, Vermillion, SD (Returning)
- House of Delegates Representative: Sing T. Palat, MD, CMD, Golden, CO (Returning)
- Immediate Past-President: Karl Steinberg, MD, HMDC, CMD, Oceanside, CA
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present enormous challenges for post-acute and long-term care, and this board is more than up to those challenges and anything else that comes its way,” says Christopher E. Laxton, CAE, the Society’s Executive Director. “I’m excited to work with all of them as we continue to serve our members, as well as our residents and their families.”
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AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine is the only medical specialty society representing the community of over 50,000 medical directors, physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and other practitioners working in the various post-acute and long-term care (PALTC) settings. Dedicated to defining and improving quality, we advance our mission through timely professional development, evidence-based clinical guidance, and tireless advocacy on behalf of members, patients, families, and staff. Visit www.paltc.org for more information.