Edward Walker MD, MHA

Edward Walker MD, MHA is the founding Director of the University of Washington Healthcare Leadership Development Alliance (HLDA). He is the Cheryl M. Scott / Group Health Cooperative Endowed Professor of Health Administration at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is also a Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, and holds adjunct appointments in the departments of OB/GYN and Family Medicine. From 2002 until 2008 he was Medical Director for the University of Washington Medical Center and Associate Dean of the School of Medicine.

Dr. Walker is an executive coach with over 20 years of supervisory and coaching experience in a variety of medical leadership settings. He specializes in developing physician leaders and coaching senior executives both within and outside healthcare, including Fortune 500 companies. Using a clinically-informed coaching style, Dr. Walker combines his executive and clinical experience in an approach to leadership performance improvement that maximizes self-awareness, positive psychology and transformational leadership behaviors. He is particularly interested in and effective with leaders who have personality characteristics that have repeatedly impaired their leadership effectiveness. He frequently coaches other coaches on how to deal with challenging senior leaders, and he accepts selected referrals from coaches who have reached a point of diminishing returns with their clients. .

In addition to these local responsibilities, Dr. Walker is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Washington Physicians Health Program. He is a core faculty member for the American College of Physician Executives where he teaches courses on Medical Quality, Advanced Quality and Coaching.