2 minute read
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
DR. SUSAN SCHAYES ’84 HONOURED AMONG TOP 50 WOMEN LEADERS OF GEORGIA FOR 2022
A StFX alumna who has lived her life by a mantra of trying to make a di erence has been honoured among Top 50 Women Leaders of Georgia for 2022.
Advertisement
Dr. Susan Schayes, originally from Ponoka, Alberta and now based in Atlanta, Georgia where she is the Chief Transformation O cer (CTO) for ChenMed, a national leader in primary care, received the honour from Women We Admire, which celebrates the accomplishments of women leaders. Dr. Schayes is the only physician on this year’s list and is honoured “for her expert clinical and business contributions helping the hyper-growth company transform care of the neediest populations through nearly 100 centers in 12 states,” reads a release from the organization.
As ChenMed CTO, Dr. Schayes is accountable for preparing new center leadership teams to transform care with VIP service that delivers best-in-class health outcomes. Dr. Schayes also oversees creation of a road map for growing each ChenMed center opening in a new market. Recently, she also launched Fellowship in Transformative Care (FIT), speci cally designed to train ChenMed physician leaders of the future.
“Dr. Schayes is a tireless champion for the highly personalized primary care that’s absolutely vital for underserved seniors living with major and multiple chronic diseases,” says Jessica Chen, M.D., ChenMed Chief Clinical O cer. “A humble healer, with an uncanny ability to inspire both patients and other physicians delivering VIP care, Dr. Schayes constantly helps ChenMed innovate. Her keen eye for improving the patient experience is reinforced by e ective coaching to generations of physician leaders – all energized by her resolute focus on ‘doing whatever it takes to transform care, one patient at a time’.”
Stfx Foundation
Dr. Schayes spent three years at StFX, where she took biology, from 1981-84, and was a freshman starter on the X-Women basketball team, its rookie of the year, and a second team AUAA all-star. She also excelled academically—including nishing rst in her class in her third year, when she was accepted into and entered medical school.
“I loved my time at StFX. It was educationally, professionally, and personally ful lling. I loved the family atmosphere, the congeniality.”
She also loved the university’s Catholic framework, and the faculty and sta who invested in and cared about her success.
“I nished the top of my class in my third year. e reason I could do that is because of the people who poured into me,” she says. “It allowed me to be academically successful.”
She recalls once scoring a perfect 100 on a nal physics exam, and her basketball teammates jokingly telling her, “Okay, your new name is Vector.” ree women from that team went on to become doctors—Dr. Adele Belliveau ’83, Dr. Barb (Hassler) Smyth ’86 and Dr. Schayes —“which is unheard of,” she says.
Dr. Schayes says StFX provided an enriching and rewarding environment, and its service mission aligned with her own.
She says she knew she wanted to be a doctor since she was ve. Having meaning and purpose in life is important to her, and through medicine she has been able to impact people and communities.
Dr. Schayes formerly was a faculty member for 16 years at Emory University School of Medicine, where she was the Division Chief of Family Medicine, as well as the Residency Program Director for the Emory Family Medicine Residency Program.
Prior to this, she worked for the University of Toronto, and was in private practice. As the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians educator of the year in 2012, she has been a champion of educating and training medical students, residents, physicians, and other allied healthcare learners for more than two decades in two countries.
She earned an M.D. from the University of Alberta and an M.P.H. in Management from Emory University. Dr. Schayes did her Family Medicine Residency at Queen’s University. She is board certi ed in family medicine in both Canada and the United States, and actively practices medicine.
As for advice for today’s students?
“A liate yourself with higher education institutions, companies and businesses that have meaning and purpose and nd your calling and passion so that you are able to make a di erence in the world.”
