Dr. Craig Best named as new head of Tufts Physicians Organization

Dr. Craig Best will assume his new role as president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center’s 500-doctor Physicians Organization (PO) in January, a year and a half after Tufts Medical Center started its search to fill the position.

Best, who is currently the medical director, business development lead and chair of the obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) department at Reliant Medical Group in Worcester, Mass., will succeed Michael Wagner, who left the post in 2014 to become the president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center, according to an Oct. 15 Boston Globe article .

In his new role, Best will work with Wagner and department chairs to further Tufts Medical Center's success in providing medical education and care to the community, according to an Oct. 16 press release.

“I hope to get resources from [the department chairs], to be able to look at some of our current operations and see how we might improve those things and to be able to act as sort of a go-between for our specialists and the community physicians," Best said.

Best believes his career experience in medicine and business has prepared him for his new position at Tufts and he is excited to apply what he knows. He explained that when Reliant Medical Group hired him to be the OB/GYN chair, they also hired him to work at St. Vincent Hospital, where he ran the OB/GYN department for about four years before transitioning into business development.

“[The] experiences I’ve had in business and networking will come in handy," he said. "I like the business development side, and probably about 50 percent of the PO job will be getting out into the community, meeting with the primary care physicians and making connections between them and our tertiary specialists, so I’m really looking forward to that.”

Dr. Paul Summergrad, chair of Tufts Medical Center PO Board, said he has been acting as the interim CEO of the PO during Tufts' search for a permanent CEO. He believes the PO will gain valuable expertise with Best as its leader.

“[Best] brings several things that are very, very important," Summergrad said. "Number one, he’s an accomplished and experienced physician executive, and he also has the experience of being a physician entrepreneur and developing and running his own company … I think he’ll bring tremendous skills as far as that’s concerned.”

Summergrad also said that Best has deep knowledge of the Boston area physician and hospital market. This is valuable to the Tufts Medical Center, which collaborates with many different groups, he said.

“We have relationships with literally hundreds of primary care specialists and physicians throughout eastern Massachusetts, and he will be a great resource for us," Summergrad said.

Dr. Michael Wagner, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center, was quoted in the press release saying that Best will be able to lead the physicians organization, while connecting with the community.

"[Best] will do an outstanding job of not only providing strategic and operational leadership within the PO, but also in ensuring that we forge even stronger connections to physicians in the community," Wagner said.

Best added that he has a lot to look forward to when he starts working for Tufts.

“Tufts has a fantastic culture," he said. "I’ve spent some time at other academic institutions in Boston, and I think the culture that you have at Tufts Medical Center is transparent, open and collaborative, and I really like that. So I’m really excited about getting involved and working with the folks there.”