Nkem Chukwumerije, MD, MPH, FACP

President and Executive Medical Director, The Southeast Permanente Medical Group

Nkem Chukwumerije, MD, serves as the president and executive medical director for The Southeast Permanente Medical Group, one of Georgia’s largest multispecialty medical groups with over 650 physicians caring for more than 316,339 Kaiser Permanente members. Services are delivered through a network of 27 medical offices, specialty centers, and contracted hospitals, including Emory University Midtown, Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Northside Hospital, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Prior to this role, Dr. Chukwumerije served as regional physician director for utilization management and physician leader for Care Without Delay in Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Region, which includes 15 hospitals and 235 medical offices serving over 4.7 million members. In that role, he led a team in defining and executing the vision and strategy of Care Without Delay across the 15 regional hospitals and the post-acute continuum of care.

He also held leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center, including chief of hospital medicine, physician director for inpatient quality management, physician lead for performance improvement, and area assistant medical director. He is a recipient of several awards from the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, including the Panorama City Medical Center's Leon I. Cohen Physician Recognition Award, and the medical group’s Physician Exceptional Contribution Award.

Dr. Chukwumerije, a hospital medicine physician, received his medical degree from the University of Nigeria. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in New Jersey and a Kennamer Fellowship in general internal medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine.

He also holds a certificate in global health and an executive master’s degree in health care management and policy from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and board-certified in internal medicine.

In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 children.