ReachMD

Janet J. Lathrop is the president and CEO of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) and has served the organization since 1997. Prior to becoming the CEO in 2002, Ms. Lathrop functioned as the associate executive director and was intimately involved with all functional areas of the organization. Under her leadership, the NCCPA has experienced considerable evolution and success. Ms. Lathrop led the organization's transition from manual to automated processing through the deployment of state-of-the-art Web and database technology. Exams that were administered once per year when Ms. Lathrop joined NCCPA are now available year round. Under her leadership, the organization has taken full responsibility for the development, administration and scoring of its examinations after contracting with a third-party for these services for more than 30 years. In 2007, NCCPA received the Georgia Oglethorpe Award for Performance Excellence, the state's equivalent of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

Ms. Lathrop has been invited to speak on issues relating to physician assistant certification at various state and national conferences. She has conducted workshops and presentations on nonprofit governance, board development, strategic planning, and Myers Briggs personality types in the workforce.