Dr. Karen Remley is the Executive Director/CEO of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The AAP is a nonprofit organization that represents 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists. The mission of the American Academy of Pediatrics is to attain optimal physical, mental, and social health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents and young adults. Dr. Remley assumed this post in July 2015 and is the first female CEO of the organization. 

Dr. Remley earned her medical degree at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and completed her pediatrics residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital-Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Boarded in General Pediatrics and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, she has practiced in a small practice as well as complex academic centers. 

Dr. Remley received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and an MPH at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Eastern Virginia School of Medicine. 

Dr. Remley most recently was the chief medical director of Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia, which provides service to more than 4 million Virginians. From 2008 to 2012, she served as commissioner of health for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she acted as the lead advisor to the governor on public health issues and oversaw a $560 million budget and 4,000 employees. During her tenure, the state saw significant improvements in key public health indicators including teen pregnancy, infant mortality and cardiovascular disease. 

Her career includes senior leadership positions for several healthcare organizations, including Operation Smile Inc., Physicians for Peace, and Sentara Healthcare, in addition to a prior position at Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia. She was the founding director of the M. Foscue Brock Institute for Community and Global Health at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where she led the institute’s effort to connect the medical school’s clinical, research and educational programs to specific health concerns in the community. 

She is married to John Onufer, M.D., and they have two daughters.