Carol A. Aschenbrener, M.D.  ELAM Alliance  2854 28th Street NW  Washington, DC 20008  Phone: 202-518-6840  Fax : 202-518-6734  Email:caasch@verizon.net

Dr. Aschenbrener provides a broad spectrum of consulting services for academic health centers and other healthcare organizations (other than medical schools), specializing in the design and assessment of strategy and the development of people. Her typical clients are executives of academic health centers or professional societies, deans and department chairs of health professions schools, as well as individual health professionals seeking to improve their leadership skills.

Dr. Aschenbrener provides the following services:

• Comprehensive Strategic Planning and Strategy Design

Planning services comprise a comprehensive, intellectually rigorous approach to strategic thinking that helps an organization establish new directions, assess relevant environmental factors, identify key priorities and generate focus for action. Clients may contract for any or all of the following: Environmental Scan (analysis and synthesis of internal and external environment), Analysis of Strategic Issues, Scenario Planning, Strategic and/or Operational Planning, Integration of Strategic Planning with Quality Improvement, Training in Planning Skills for Leaders and Managers. The model for planning is dynamic and flexible and encourages participation across the organization as a means of building consensus on direction and energy for implementation. Wisely used, strategic planning should provide a clear, broadly understood and accepted statement of direction, a guide for action and tool for resource allocation. This model for planning emphasizes planning as learning and is a powerful tool for increasing faculty and staff awareness of the impact of environmental factors and the emergence of new opportunities.

• Aligning Systems with Strategy

Effective executive of strategy requires alignment of systems with priorities, effective organizational communication, and development of people, at all levels of the organization, who have the skills for implementation. Services include organizational design, assessment of the executive team, development of accountability systems for senior management, systems redesign, development of interventions to shape institutional culture and design and implementation of internal programs to develop people. The latter might include skills in leadership, conflict management, teamwork, mentoring or management of people.

• Leadership Development and Executive Coaching

Dr. Aschenbrener assists executives and individuals aspiring to executive positions to enhance their leadership skills. This may include comprehensive assessment of skills, assistance with a customized plan for continued development, and protracted coaching or it may take the form of short-term, coaching focused on specific skills and/or situations. She also assists organizations to plan and design leadership programs that meet their specific needs. Other frequently requested services include seminars and other presentations on leadership, conflict management, and organizational change and culture.

Dr. Aschenbrener has extensive executive experience, including 9 years in various Deans' Office positions at The University of Iowa College of Medicine and 4 years as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. As Chancellor, she was responsible for four health colleges, School of Allied Health, Graduate Program, University Hospital, Cancer Institute and Rehabilitation Institute. She has considerable experience in strategic and capital planning, faculty recruiting, conflict management, curriculum development and program evaluation, leadership development and general administration. In 1997, Dr. Aschenbrener spent 8 months as Senior Scholar in Residence at the Association of Academic Health Centers, thinking and writing about leadership and organizational change. After two years as Senior Vice President of the Kaludis Consulting Group, she formed her own independent consulting practice in July 1999.

A board-certified neuropathologist, Dr. Aschenbrener earned a B.A. in Psychology from Clarke College, a M.S. in Anatomy from Iowa and the M.D. from University of North Carolina. She has served on a variety of professional and civic boards and governmental task forces and has held a number of elected leadership positions in organized medicine, including chair of the Iowa Medical Society and member of the American Medical Association's Council on Medical Education. She served terms as appointment member of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the Accreditation Committee for Continuing Medical Education, and the Accreditation Committee for Graduate Medical Education. She currently chairs the executive board of the National Board of Medical Examiners and holds appointment as Clinical Professor of Pathology at George Washington University Medical School. She has been a member of the faculty for both the AAMC Professional Development Seminars for Women in Medicine and the ELAM program since their inceptions