Dr. Richard M. Allman is a board-certified geriatrician and a life and leadership Associate Certified Coach (ACC). Richard has more than 30 years of experience as a physician leader for inter-professional research, education, patient care, and public health programs. He has had responsibility for health policy, program development, administration, and evaluation in academic, public and not-for-profit settings. He has provided one-on-one mentoring and consultation to students and professional colleagues throughout his career. He currently provides Executive Life and Career Coaching in support of leaders in health care, higher education, faith-based ministries, and other organizations.
Dr. Allman served as the national leader for policy and planning for the Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in Washington, DC for 4.5 years. His responsibilities included programs in Geriatric Medicine, Palliative Care, home and community-based long-term services and supports, and nursing home care. These programs had an annual budget of over $8 billion.
Before assuming the national VA leadership role, Dr. Allman was a faculty member at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and a physician leader at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. He was the Parrish Endowed Professor of Medicine and Director, Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care, Director, Comprehensive Center for Healthy Aging, and the Director of the VA-based Birmingham & Atlanta Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC). He competed successfully as Project Director for external grant funding from NIH, VA, corporate and not-for-profit foundations totaling more than $17 million. He has more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. His research has focused on mobility, cardiovascular disease, quality measurement and improvement, and health disparities among older adults.
Dr. Allman received his MD and completed a residency in internal medicine at the West Virginia University (WVU) School of Medicine. He then did a fellowship in internal medicine and obtained training in clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. In 2013, he received the Donald P. Kent Award for leadership and service from the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and the Joseph T. Freeman Award from the Health Science Section in recognition of his research accomplishments. He is a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) and was recognized by AGS as the 2017 Henderson Award winner for his leadership in developing and implementing age-friendly health systems. He holds academic appointments as Professor Emeritus, Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and is a Clinical Professor at George Washington University School of Medicine. He serves as a Senior Consultant for the George Washington University Center for Aging, Health and Humanities.