“I think the mission of every healthcare organization is to help people thrive,” says Dr. Michael Apkon. “Our measure of success is the impact that we have on people’s lives.” That conviction has guided a career spanning pediatric intensive care medicine, research, quality and safety leadership, and hospital administration.
Michael earned his MD and PhD in Neural Sciences from Washington University School of Medicine, began his career as a physician-scientist specializing in Pediatric Critical Care. He later completed an MBA at Yale while remaining a full-time faculty member. He went on to lead some of the most respected pediatric and academic hospitals in North America, serving in leadership roles at Yale New Haven Health as well as Chief Medical Officer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, CEO of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where he was named Canada’s top-rated large-organization CEO with 99% employee approval, and most recently CEO of Tufts Medical Center and The Floating Hospital for Children in Boston. Alongside his hospital leadership, Michael serves as a Director or advisor to companies across the Health and Life Sciences industry and has advised medical device as well as therapeutic startups on bringing good ideas from bench to bedside, expertise he now brings to First Ascent’s mission of getting the right treatment to children with complex cancers.