When Angeline Stanislaus, M.D., became chief medical officer for adults for the Missouri Department of Mental Health in 2014, she recognized a need for further education to support her new role. After researching programs, she decided to apply to the UMKC Physician Leadership Program to expand her business acumen.
Though working in a senior leadership role while taking the program was challenging, Dr. Stanislaus found it more meaningful. “The experience opened my mind to look at leadership with a wider lens,” she said. “A culture of an organization needs to change for the change to be sustained. That was something I truly gained after attending the program.”
In her current position, Dr. Stanislaus provides leadership and mentors the department clinical staff. She also promotes top quality care, department-wide policy, and professional, clinical and ethical values and standards. Now that she’s completed the Physician Leadership Program, she is able to better understand and incorporate the workplace culture in her work, making her a more effective leader.
“Leading others requires a set of tools that I received through the Physician Leadership Program,” she said. “We focused on planning, building teams, process management and other skills that are different than the work I did as a forensic psychiatrist.”
Before accepting her executive leadership role at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, Dr. Stanislaus practiced forensic psychiatry for 14 years. She earned her medical degree from Tirunelveli Medical College, Madurai Kamaraj University in India, and completed her residency in psychiatry with a fellowship in forensic psychiatry from Southern Illinois University. She has also worked as a consultant, professor, corrections psychiatrist and in private practice. While she credits this diverse experience in helping her become a chief medical officer, she says her education through the Physician Leadership Program gave her the tools to be an effective change maker and leader.
Applications are being accepted for the UMKC Physician Leadership Program, which begins in April 2017. It is a partnership between the UMKC School of Medicine and the Henry W. Bloch School of Management. It is designed to provide comprehensive management skills that will prepare physicians to successfully fulfill the leadership requirements of 21st century health-care delivery. The application deadline is February 3, 2017.
For more information about the program, visit the website.
