Chicago, IL, Jan. 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is pleased to announce that John Patrick T. Co, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP will join the organization as Chief Education and Research Officer in early March.
In this role, Dr. Co will serve as a member of the ACGME Executive Leadership Team, guiding the organization’s integrated education and research strategy. He will oversee the newly unified Department of Education and Research, provide executive sponsorship for The Journal of Graduate Medical Education, and collaborate closely with ACGME leadership, Board members, volunteers, and other stakeholders to strengthen the educational and research foundations that support continuous improvement in graduate medical education (GME).
Dr. Co brings more than two decades of leadership experience in medical education, research, and health system operations. He currently serves as vice president of Education and designated institutional official at Mass General Brigham, providing strategic leadership for one of the nation’s largest and most complex GME enterprises. Dr. Co is also an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a general pediatrician at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He has held senior leadership roles spanning undergraduate medical education, GME, continuing professional development, and quality and safety.
Dr. Co also has extensive experience in medical education research and has served as principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous federally and foundation-funded projects, including national initiatives focused on competency-based medical education and time-variable training. He is a former member of the ACGME Board of Directors; has contributed through committees at the state and national levels, including through service for his specialty board; and is editor‑in‑chief of Pediatrics Open Science, a journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Co received his BA in biology and economics from Cornell University, MD from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Following a pediatrics residency at Stanford, he completed fellowships in general pediatric academic development at Johns Hopkins and pediatric health services research at Mass General. In 2023, he received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.
“John is a nationally respected physician-educator whose career reflects a deep commitment to improving physician education, with successful leadership of both education and research programs” said Debra F. Weinstein, MD, ACGME president and chief executive officer. “His ability to bring people together and work through complex challenges – and his prior experience with the ACGME and other national organizations – will help accelerate the ACGME’s impact on continuous improvement in GME.”
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ABOUT THE ACGME
The ACGME is a private, non-profit, professional organization responsible for the accreditation of more than 13,700 residency and fellowship programs and the more than 900 institutions that sponsor these programs in the US. Residency and fellowship programs educate approximately 167,100 resident and fellow physicians in 146 accredited specialties and subspecialties. The Mission of the ACGME is to improve health care and population health by assessing and enhancing the quality of resident and fellow physicians’ education through advancements in accreditation and education.
- John Patrick T. Co, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAP