Why I chose life membership with ACPE. (ACPE News).

"My entry into the field of the physician executive was by accident. In 1983, when first deployed from residency to a small Air Force base in England, I found I was the highest-ranking physician and was made both chief of clinic services and chief of aeromedical services.

"Later, as a new residency director with a financially strapped residency and while I was helping to build a multispecialty group practice, I realized my need for specific training in business and turned to ACPE to meet those needs.

"At my first PIM (Physician in Management Seminar), I found physician executives with whom I could connect -- they had similar challenges and a thirst for knowledge. This group proved invaluable as friends, confidants and corner consultants."

Now, after earning an MMM from Tulane, my CPE certification and ACPE Fellowship, I decided to join the College as a life member because of my past experiences and my needs for the next 15 to 20 years as a physician executive."

Jack Cox, MD, MMM, FACPE, CPE, senior vice president of Premier Incorporated, Charlotte, N.C.