From healthcare leadership to academia: A strategic shift for practitioner-scholars

Author's Biography

Shyam Paryani, MD, MHA, FACHE, attended the University of Florida, where he received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering magna cum laude and a master’s degree in nuclear engineering/ radiation physics. He also earned a master’s in health administration from the University of North Florida (UNF) in 2002. In his second year of college, Dr Paryani was admitted early to medical school in the junior honours programme. He received training in internal medicine at the University of Texas and MD Anderson Hospital. Following this, he received training in radiation oncology at Stanford, California. With the completion of his training in 1983, he returned to Jacksonville to join Dr Bhojraj Paryani and Dr Walter Scott in practice. He helped found the Florida Radiation Oncology Group, a large multispeciality group. He has served on the UNF Foundation Board, College of Health Dean’s Council and the Health Administration Advisory Board. He is the Founding Chairman of the Health Administration Alumni Board. Dr Paryani was selected as the UNF Distinguished Alumnus in 2007 and the Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Health Administration in 2017. He is currently Director of the Executive Master of Health Administration (EMHA) programme and also Director of Community Engagement.

Kay Thiemann, MBA, FACHE, is a strategic healthcare executive with over 33 years of leadership experience in healthcare IT, practice management and leadership development/coaching. She spent the majority of her career at Mayo Clinic, where she held executive roles in education, research and practice administration. She was the Administrator of the 304-bed hospital on the Mayo Clinic Florida campus and spent the remainder of her healthcare career as the Chief Clinical Systems Officer for Mayo Clinic enterprise-wide. In this role, Kay provided strategic oversight and assurance of converged clinical systems for Mayo Clinic enterprise-wide, including Epic and associated applications, real-time location services using Bluetooth technology and digital imaging and video systems. In January 2022, Kay shifted to academia and teaches full time at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She is also Director of the Brooks College of Health Leadership Institute and Program Director of the Master of Science in Health Informatics. Kay currently holds academic rank of Assistant Professor, Health Systems Engineering, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and is a fellow at the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Michael A. Mayo, MS, DHA, MSHA, FACHE, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Baptist Health. Dr Mayo has more than 32 years of healthcare executive experience. He earned his doctor of health administration from the Medical University of South Carolina, his master of science in healthcare administration from Texas Woman’s University and his bachelor of science in human resource management from the University of Alabama. He is board certified in healthcare management and a fellow at the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE). He was elected to the ACHE Board of Governors and served for 2019–2022. Dr Mayo has also served as the ACHE Regent for Florida — Northern and Western, on the Healthcare Executive Editorial Board and on the Regents Advisory Council. Dr Mayo is an adjunct professor in the Master of Health Administration (MHA) Program of the Brooks College of Health at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida.