Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA

Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, a practicing board-certified orthopaedic surgeon, was first elected to the American Medical Association Board of Trustees in June 2019 and served as board chair from June 2024 to June 2025. Throughout his career, Dr. Suk has been a national voice on the role of organized medicine, resident work hours, the social determinants of health, and a wide range of pressing public health issues.

An active and engaged leader from his earliest days in organized medicine, Dr. Suk was the first medical student and first Asian American elected to the AMA Board of Trustees in 1994. He has also served on the AMA Council on Medical Service and as chair of the AMA Resident and Fellow Section, where he spearheaded governance guidelines on resident work hours. In 2016 he was appointed to the board of directors of the AMA Political Action Committee in Washington, D.C., helping to advance advocacy for the medical profession. Reflecting his expertise in performance excellence, quality and safety, he also serves on The Joint Commission Board of Commissioners where he is currently chair.

For over a decade, Dr. Suk was professor and chair of the Musculoskeletal Institute and the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at the renowned Geisinger Health System based in Danville, Penn. Additionally, he served as chief physician officer of Geisinger System Services, where he provided clinical leadership over the system’s $1.5B enterprise supply chain and pharmacy division. As an academic chair, he expanded graduate medical education—doubling the size of the orthopaedic residency, founding new programs in physical  medicine and rehabilitation, and establishing multiple fellowship programs.

An innovator and futurist in health care, Dr. Suk disrupted the conversation on value-based care by introducing the world’s first “lifetime warranty” for total joint replacement. He has advanced the use of digital health, AI and data-driven models to improve physician engagement, redesign clinical workflows and build sustainable systems of care. He is also a national leader in lifestyle medicine, advocating for the integration of nature, recreation and play into strategies for well-being.

A White House Fellow under President George W. Bush and a Baldrige Executive Fellow, Dr. Suk is widely recognized for his ability to bridge clinical, legal, business and policy perspectives to drive transformative change.

Dr. Suk earned a BA in African American history from Carleton College before simultaneously completing an MD at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a JD/MPH with a concentration in health law at Boston University. He trained in orthopaedic surgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York and completed a fellowship in orthopaedic trauma at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He later earned an MBA at the University of Scranton.

Dr. Suk enjoys coaching innovative, entrepreneurial leaders seeking to cross traditional boundaries, all activities in the great outdoors, travelling with his family, and playing golf and tennis. He and his wife, Jennifer, have three children.

2025–2026

Board of Trustees speaker request form

To request a member of the AMA Board of Trustees to speak at an upcoming event, please read the terms and conditions, complete and submit the form.

For the media

• Download a high-resolution image
• For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]