Stephen C. Crane, PhD, MPH, has been appointed executive director of the
American Thoracic Society effective September 1, 2007. Crane succeeds Carl
C. Booberg, who is retiring.
Prior to joining the ATS, Dr. Crane served as executive vice president and
CEO of the American Academy of Physician Assistants for 14 years. Under his
leadership, membership in the AAPA grew from nearly 17,000 to approximately
40,000 and the organization’s budget nearly tripled.
“Throughout his career, Dr. Crane has integrated a concern for improving
public health with the belief that developing the next generation of health
care providers and researchers is an essential component of better public
health,” said David Ingbar, MD, president of the ATS. “That integration is
also central to our mission, which is to improve the lives of patients by
setting the standards of care, based on the latest science in pulmonary,
critical care, and sleep medicine.”
Before leading the AAPA, Dr. Crane was vice president at the Association for
Health Services Research and Foundation for Health Services Research in
Washington, DC. During that time, he led several projects to increase health
systems productivity, make health services research available online, and
support research on patient-centered care. While vice president, he was
named the first national director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s
program for Investigator Grants in Health Policy Research.
