Influential Physician Leader to Join University of Maryland Capital Region Health as Chief Medical Officer

Tom-meka Archinard, MD, MBA, FACEP has been named the new Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer for the University of Maryland Capital Region Health (UM Capital), effective June 1.  After a national search, Dr. Archinard was selected to join the senior executive team to lead the overall clinical vision, direction and partnership with medical staff across UM Capital Region Health. She is expected to help drive the mission of the organization to provide advanced clinical care and community leadership with vigor while meeting the highest standards of patient quality and safety.

Dr. Archinard most recently served as a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Alabama Birmingham Department of Emergency Medicine and as Associate Director of UAB Freestanding Emergency Department in Gardendale, AL. She previously was the Regional Director for Island Medical Management with oversight of Huntsville system partner Emergency Rooms.

"I am proud of this appointment and know that Dr. Archinard will serve our organization and community well," says Nathaniel Richardson, Jr., President and CEO, UM Capital Region Health. "We are at an exciting juncture in the UM Capital journey and I know Dr. Archinard will meet challenges with poise and leverage her leadership and clinical expertise with great intention."

With more than 20 years of experience, Dr. Archinard has focused her career on creating cultures of inclusiveness where administrators, physicians, advance practice providers work hand-in-hand with other clinical teams that result in respectful and successful working relationships. She was a founding faculty member for the Emergency Medicine Residency at Rutgers in Newark, NJ (formerly known as UMDNJ). She established EM clerkships for medical students from the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine, PA and NP students from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Alabama at Huntsville, and Samford University. She helped found a fellowship that created an alternative path to emergency board certification for internists and family medicine doctors in underserved and critical access areas in Alabama.

"I am at a stage in my career where I have a track-record of success in managing large clinical teams," says Archinard. "I am now poised to contribute my leadership skills while serving at an organization that takes pride in being a provider of clinical excellence to the Prince George's County community and surrounding area."

Currently, Archinard is certified in Lean Six Sigma, Green Belt Six Sigma and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the Golden Key Graduate National Honor Society, American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Association for Physician Leadership.

Interestingly, Dr. Archinard pursued her undergraduate studies on an athletic scholarship in basketball and track. As a medical resident she took up competitive boxing and trained for competition in the female Golden Gloves of New York. She continues that fighting spirit as a Breast Cancer Survivor bringing a unique point of view as both physician and patient.

Dr. Archinard received her B.S. from Newcomb College of Tulane University; her M.D. from Wake Forest University School of Medicine at Bowman Gray; Emergency Medicine training at King's County SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn and a M.B.A from Harbert School of Business at Auburn University. She is an ABEM board certified emergency physician.

About University of Maryland Capital Region Health

Providing primary and specialty health care services to Prince George's County and the neighboring area, University of Maryland Capital Region Health was established in September 2017 upon formal affiliation with the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), and is committed to improving health outcomes in the communities it serves. University of Maryland Capital Region Health operates the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Largo, University of Maryland Laurel Medical Center, University of Maryland Bowie Health Campus, and the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Group with practice locations in Cheverly, Suitland, Bowie, Laurel and the National Harbor. Together, community physicians and University of Maryland School of Medicine (SOM) faculty provide clinical expertise across a range of specialties and programs including: acute rehabilitation; anesthesiology; critical and chronic ventilation care; emergency medicine; neonatology; orthopedics; and vascular surgery. University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center is home to the State's second-busiest trauma center and a highly regarded cardiac surgery program, which is led by faculty from the University of Maryland School of Medicine; a certified and designated primary stroke center. For more information, visit www.umcapitalregion.org.