About the Academy
Who it’s for
The Physician Leadership Academy, offered exclusively for FMA members who practice in the state of Florida, is aimed primarily at young and midcareer physicians, who are selected annually through an application process. Participants come from a variety of specialties and practice environments but share a common objective of becoming effective advocates for the medical profession and their patients.
Selected physicians will be invited to participate in five in-person, intensive workshops facilitated by nationally recognized experts, with expenses for materials, lodging at the FMA-contracted rate, sponsored meals, and speaker fees covered by the FMA's Foundation for Healthy Floridians. Participants are required to pay their own travel expenses to get to each in-person meeting. The 2025 Leadership Academy will also include a virtual series of interactive sessions between the live workshops.
About Karl M. Altenburger, MD
In 2009, led by FMA Past President Karl M. Altenburger, MD, the FMA Foundation (now the Foundation for Healthy Floridians) applied for and received a grant from the Physicians Foundation to help create an emerging leader program for young physicians. The FMA Physician Leadership Academy was launched the following year as the centerpiece of “Leadership 2015,” a project to identify and train 50 emerging physician leaders by 2015. Since that time, 151 physicians representing a diverse range of specialties and practice environments have graduated from the program. The Academy has also diversified FMA leadership by creating a path for young physician members to serve on the Board of Governors, as well as key councils and committees.
In 2013, the Academy was renamed for Dr. Altenburger in recognition of his extraordinary physician mentorship and passion for getting young doctors involved in the FMA. Though he passed away the following year, his legacy lives on in the program that bears his name and continues to nurture a new generation of physician leaders.
