Fifteen years after the Texas Medical Association’s Leadership College accepted its first class, graduates continue to apply their newfound skills to lead within TMA and their communities.
Now, the program seeks new scholars.
TMA’s own G. Ray Callas, MD, credits foundational leadership skills to his participation in the inaugural Leadership College class. He is the first alumnus of TMA’s Leadership College to chair the association’s Board of Trustees and to serve as its president, calling the experience “paramount to my development.”
“It made [my class] better spokesmen and spokeswomen for the House of Medicine, and it made us better physicians,” the Beaumont anesthesiologist said. “It allowed me to be critiqued early in my career, allowed me to listen to what people think of me and how I could improve, and made me better in my role as a physician leader.”
Other graduates have gone on to lead councils, committees, and sections of the association, as well as their county medical societies, and have become key advocate voices for their patients.
In an economic and regulatory landscape that puts unique pressure on physicians, Dr. Callas says the Leadership College “gave me the platform to be confident to make decisions that put patients first.”
Since 2010, the Leadership College has graduated more than 300 early-career physicians (in their first eight years of practice) across a wide range of specialties and practice settings. The nine-month instruction consists of lectures, interactive workshops, small-group discussions, assigned reading, and case presentations, along with an individual project.
While the program itself is free, participants are responsible for their own travel and accommodations, with significant time commitment and travel to Austin and to TexMed, TMA’s annual conference.
Learn more about the Leadership College application process, which is open now until June 13 for the program’s class of 2026.