Preparing and Supporting the Next Generation of Health Care Leaders

The grace, beauty and breathtaking athleticism on display during the just-concluded Winter Olympics reminds us that excellence is achieved in steps and earned through endless hours of practice and preparation.

The same discipline applies to the best leaders in health care. The dedicated men and women who are driving innovation and meaningful change to keep pace with a fast-changing society bring many years of experience and learning to the task, gathered as they rose through the ranks of our complex and challenging field.  

Our country is blessed with many outstanding leaders who are deftly navigating the health care environment and guiding their organizations to a bright future. And we need to ensure that the next generation of gifted leaders is on deck, ready to step up when the time comes to assume the key roles that sustain and advance progress. 

The AHA Next Generation Leaders Fellowship  focuses on developing leaders and empowering them to bring about real and lasting change in the hospitals and health systems in which they serve, as well as in our field overall. 

The AHA’s latest cohort of 2025-2026 Next Gen Fellows is a group of 34 talented thinkers and doers who will tackle key challenges affecting health care. The group includes 12 Age-Friendly Fellows supported by The John A. Hartford Foundation. The Next Gen Fellows represent states coast-to-coast across urban, suburban and rural communities, as well as a wide range of roles including quality, medicine, operations, nursing, market intelligence, business development and geriatrics.

The highly interactive 12-month fellowship program provides tomorrow’s health care leaders with the tools, experience and ability to drive innovation in health care delivery as they expand their knowledge on leading change, navigating the new health care environment, driving transformation, improving care delivery and developing operational strategies for success. 

Its unique design pairs each Fellow with an executive-level mentor who guides them through the planning and execution of a year-long capstone project at their hospital or health system, tackling key issues and challenges affecting health care affordability, cost, quality and safety.

The results are impressive and signal great things to come. A few examples of recent capstone projects include:

• Redesigning protocols for coronary artery bypass grafts that reduced readmissions for CABG patients by 39%.
• Creating a workplace violence prevention toolkit that decreased the number of reported incidents of physical assault and abuse, reduced injuries related to violence and helped increase nurse retention rates.
• Implementing a standardized process for imaging study interpretation services that reduced costs by $2 million and maximized capacity for medical imaging review and interpretation.

Bringing fresh eyes and fresh thinking to longstanding challenges is the right prescription for preserving and strengthening a health care system that will continue to meet the needs of patients, families and communities into the future. Fellowship participants and mentors both say they get a lot out of the program as they aspire to make significant contributions to the health of health care in our country.

We’re working to further honor former AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock, who also served as AHA Board Chair, and his longstanding commitment to mentoring emerging leaders by refocusing our RJU Executive Fellowship to more broadly mentor and develop the next generation of health care executives. That’s why we’re providing scholarships in his name for our Next Generation Leaders Fellowship program that focuses on developing hospital and health system leaders and empowering them to bring about lasting change in their organizations. In addition, we’ve renamed our internal program the Richard J. Umbdenstock NextGen@AHA Leadership Development Program, focused on ensuring emerging leaders on the AHA team are equipped with the skills and knowledge to help lead the association into the future.

Please visit our website to learn more about the program and spread the word about its mission and goals as we work together to advance health in America.