Ten physicians were recognized for completing KMA’s award-winning Kentucky Physicians Leadership Institute (KPLI) during the 2023 KMA Annual Meeting. As part of their training, KPLI graduates studied the personal, business, advocacy, and communications aspects of leadership, as well as heard from expert guests during the popular “Fireside Chat” sessions.

Members of the 2023 class are Kandis Adkins, M.D., Louisville, Muhammad Ifran Atiq, M.D., Lexington, Wesley Barnett, M.D., Cynthiana, Marisa Belcastro, M.D., Lexington, Hannah Brown, M.D., Lexington, Kellen Bo Yung Choi, D.O., Louisville, Destiny Etheridge, M.D., Louisville, Eric Fisher, M.D., Glasgow, Neelima Jayavant Kale, M.D., Nicholasville, and Siddharth V. Pahwa, M.D., Prospect.

KPLI is the premiere leadership training program for physicians in Kentucky. Each year, this exclusive program selects up to 15 physicians to participate in a year-long series of learning events that cultivates the next generation of physician leaders across the state. The four weekend events help address many of the challenges facing the physician community.

During the 2023 House of Delegates, President-Elect Evelyn Montgomery Jones, M.D., pointed out that each member of the newly elected KMA Executive Committee was a graduate of the KMA and KFMC’s Kentucky Physicians Leadership Institute (KPLI).

“This is one of the most diverse groups of individuals leading any organization in this state right now, whether by gender, color, ethnicity, geography, or specialty. And it is not lost on me that every one of us in this group is a graduate of the KPLI program. So please, if you have not already done so, go through the KPLI program next year. It not only teaches you so much, it provides you with the opportunity to do what I think everyone here today wants to do – LEAD. Make changes. Improve the health of the commonwealth.”

Physicians interested in joining the 2024 class should contact KMA Education Director Miranda Mosley, mosley@kyma.org.