Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., CAE
March 2, 1946 ā March 26, 2017
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Dr. Fisher was the President and Chief Executive Officer of AMGA (formerly
the American Medical Group Association) from October 1980 until his death in
March 2017. He also served as Chairman of the Board of AMGA's subsidiary AMGA
Analytics, the Secretary of AMGA Foundation, and President and Chief Executive
Officer of AMGA Corporation.
Dr. Fisher joined the American Group Practice Association (AGPA), AMGAās
predecessor, in 1980. Through a mix of program development, collaboration with
members and the board, and business acumen, he has guided AMGA through more than
35 years of growth. Under his tenure, AMGA expanded from 8,000 physicians
practicing in its member organizations in 1980 to 175,000 today. Dr. Fisher was
a strong advocate for multispecialty medical groups and other organized systems
of care and for the patients served by these systems by continuously striving to
improve patient care through innovation, information sharing, benchmarking, the
creation of sound public policy, and leadership development.
Prior to becoming the CEO of AMGA, Dr. Fisher served as the first Executive
Director of the American Academy of Physician Assistants in Alexandria,
Virginia. Dr. Fisher was very active in other organizations, in particular those
dealing with health care. He served as immediate past chair and a member of the
Board of Directors of the American International Health Alliance; a member of
the American Association of Medical Society Executives; a member of the American
College of Healthcare Executives; and a member of the American Society of
Association Executives. He was also Chair of the Board of Directors of Alliance
Bank.
Dr. Fisher earned a B.S. in biology/chemistry from Millsaps College in 1968,
his M.S. in anatomy from the University of Mississippi, School of Medicine in
1971 and a Ph.D. in anatomy from the University of Mississippi in 1973. He also
was a Certified Association Executive as designated by the American Society of
Association Executives. His passion was health care, and he served on numerous
related boards and councils as well as received many honors, including the
Russell V. Lee Lectureship and the Presidential Award from the American Academy
of Physician Assistants. Other honors include being elected to Who's Who in
Health Care, being named to Distinguished Leaders in Health Care and named by
Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.