The American Medical Association has named Dr. James Madara, a former CEO of the University of Chicago Medical Center, as its new top executive.

Madara's diverse background as an administrator, academic and clinician should help the Chicago-based group as it faces an unprecedented period of challenges, the AMA said. He will serve as the top executive of a national doctors group that has been losing members for years and is trying to stay relevant in the day-to-day lives of doctors who are entering an era of massive health care overhaul.

The AMA represents about 215,000 doctors, which is less than one-third of the practicing doctors in the U.S. The association once represented two-thirds of the nation's doctors.

"Today, more than ever, America's patients and physicians need a strong and vibrant AMA to tackle the many challenges facing them," Madara said in a statement. "I look forward to leveraging my skills and experience to help the AMA succeed and fulfill its core mission to promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health."

The position is largely administrative for the AMA, which relies on its internally elected board, leadership and policymaking House of Delegates to set the group's lobbying agenda on issues such as health care overhaul. But the AMA's policy decisions are critical to attracting new members, which the organization has lost over the years and continues to do so.

Doctors, including many specialty societies, were unhappy that the AMA backed the health care legislation pushed by President Barack Obama and most Democrats in Congress that was signed into law last year. The AMA said at the time that the overhaul expanded benefits to 30 million uninsured Americans, and that was key to its support.

AMA board Chairwoman Dr. Ardis Hoven called Madara a "strong strategic thinker and planner who has a track record of bringing people together to accomplish significant, ambitious, health-related goals and projects."

"Having overseen a $1.6 billion integrated academic medical center (in the University of Chicago), Dr. Madara understands many of the complex clinical, academic and business-related issues confronting medicine and health care today," Hoven added. "His insight and perspective will be invaluable in helping the AMA tackle its agenda."

Madara's tenure at the U. of C. was not without controversy. He resigned as the medical center's CEO two years ago amid debate over a plan known as the Urban Health Initiative that reshaped the South Side teaching hospital's relationship with the surrounding community and put it at the center of a national debate about how to care for poor and indigent patients.

Some U. of C. doctors and residents opposed Madara's changes, which included redirecting patients from the medical center's emergency room to neighboring community hospitals and clinics.

On a conference call Thursday morning with reporters, Madara said he was "very proud" of the Urban Health Initiative as it focused on wellness and prevention and finding patients without doctors a "medical home."

"There were challenging issues in this," Madara said. "It was not pushing out. It was reaching out."

He said he learned lessons from the development and implementation of the Urban Health Initiative but did not provide specifics beyond saying, "People are uncomfortable with change, and people don't like it."

Madara, 60, takes the position of executive vice president and chief executive on July 1. He replaces longtime AMA CEO Dr. Michael Maves, who is retiring. The AMA would not comment on what Madara would be paid. Maves' salary and benefits package was about $1 million in 2009, according to the AMA's most recently filed annual statement.

AMA insiders say the organization's board was impressed with Madara's diverse and lengthy resume.

At the University of Chicago, Madara "oversaw a significant renewal of the institution's biomedical campus, including the Comer Children's Hospital, the Gordon Center for Integrative Science, a new adult hospital pavilion, and the Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery" from 2002-09, the AMA said. He was also dean of the U. of C.'s internationally known Biological Sciences Division.

"My experiences and lessons learned will serve me well at the AMA," Madara said.

bjapsen@tribune.com

Twitter @brucejapsen