Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group has announced a major reorganization of its senior leadership team. “Change is happening all around us in healthcare and rather than react to the pressures of our industry, we must lead change in the region to sustain our mission and meet the needs of the patients and communities we serve,” said Franciscan Health Physician President James Craven, MD. “This new leadership structure will build on the high-quality care that already exists within our system and drive development, innovation and efficiencies that will have an even greater impact on the health of our community.”
Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group has created a dyad leadership model, in which operational administrators and physician leaders collaborate under this shared vision. The dyad partners work collaboratively on aligning processes with the goal of improving the patient and team member experience, quality and patient safety, and financial success.
"The new dyad partnership we are pursuing will result in improved decision making, more efficient operations with fewer administrative layers, consistent excellence in service delivery, and patient experience, and ultimately, better patient outcomes," said Craven.
In a dyad partnership, physicians assume primary responsibility for the clinical vision for the organization or subspecialty area and administrators operationalize that vision. This collaborative structure will build a strong culture with engaged physicians and will help Our Lady of the Lake Physician Group accelerate the integration of new physicians into its group. In this model, physicians provide leadership in developing standards of clinical care, set the tone of company culture, and have a clear voice in the vision for the future.
The senior medical directors and their operational partners meet weekly to discuss feedback they hear from providers through regular meetings and other touchpoints, and to develop plans to support the growth of the group. These leaders are available to listen to ideas and concerns, and to provide support. The senior medical directors for the Baton Rouge market are as follows:
Lauren Barfield, MD
Lauren Barfield, MD, received a bachelor’s degree from LSU, and then went on to receive a medical degree from the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. She completed an internal medicine residency at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge. Barfield is a member of the American College of Physicians and the Catholic Medical Association. She specializes in adult primary care and preventive medicine in an office setting.
Karl Leblanc, MD
Karl A. LeBlanc, MD, earned a medical degree from LSU Medical School in Shreveport, where he also completed an internship and residency in general surgery. He also received a Master of Business Administration from LSU. He is board-certified in general surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). He is also a member of the Society for Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS), Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES), and is one of the founding members and past presidents of the Americas Hernia Society (AHS). He is a master surgeon for Laparoscopic Surgery and has been active in minimally invasive and laparoscopic surgery since its origin. He helped found the Minimally Invasive Surgery Fellowship in Baton Rouge and served as the fellowship director from 2004 - 2020.
LeBlanc has authored eight textbooks on minimally invasive, robotic, and hernia surgery and has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed medical literature. LeBlanc specializes in hernia and abdominal wall reconstruction surgery. He also has special interest in surgery for weight loss, gastroesophageal reflux, and foregut disease.
Daniel Nuss, MD
Daniel W. Nuss, MD, a New Orleans native, completed medical education at Louisiana State University. After a six-month residency elective in head and neck surgical oncology at M.D. Anderson Hospital, he served a two-year fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Cranial Base Surgery. At LSU, he has been professor and chairman of otolaryngology for 20 years, with a joint appointment as professor in the LSU Department of Neurosurgery. He is a past president of the North American Skull Base Society (2009), and in 2014, he was awarded the inaugural President’s Distinguished Service Award from the NASBS.
Currently, Nuss’ clinical practice includes management of skull base tumors using traditional approaches as well as minimally invasive and stereotactic techniques, and he has a special interest in reconstructive problems of the craniofacial region and skull base. He has to his credit more than 100 scientific publications and has given over 200 scientific presentations on five continents. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American College of Surgeons, and American Head and Neck Society, and has served as a senior examiner for the American Board of Otolaryngology.
Denzil Moraes, MD
Denzil Moraes, MD, completed an internal medicine internship and residency at St. James Hospital (also in Dublin, Ireland) and Trinity College, as well as a second internal medicine residency at the Boston University School of Medicine in MA. Moraes also completed fellowships in cardiovascular disease and interventional cardiology. He is board-certified in interventional cardiology, cardiovascular disease, and internal medicine. Moraes visits patients at the Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and Denham Springs clinics.
Angie Johnson, MD
Angela Johnson, MD is the section chief of internal medicine for LSU-Baton Rouge, the associate program director for the LSU internal medicine residency in Baton Rouge, and an associate professor of clinical medicine. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Louisiana State University, and her M.D. from LSUHSC in New Orleans. She is currently governor for the Louisiana Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Johnson completed an internal medicine residency at LSUHSC in Baton Rouge, where she also served as a chief resident. Her clinical responsibilities include resident and medical student education through direct supervision of inpatient and outpatient care, and the presentation of various lectures and conferences. In addition to her clinical activities, she serves as the ambulatory clinic director for the primary care and medicine subspecialty clinics for LSU Health at Our Lady of the Lake and serves on numerous hospital committees and workgroups.
She also plays an active role in state/regional natural disaster medical response efforts. Areas of research interest include heart failure quality improvement, patient education and resident QI/patient safety engagement. Johnson is active in the American College of Physicians, both at the state and national level, and is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.
Ashley Lucas, MD
Ashley Lucas, MD, earned a medical degree from the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, Texas. She completed a pediatric residency at Tulane, Ochsner, and University Hospitals in New Orleans, where she was named outstanding pediatrics resident in 1999. Lucas has special interests in early childhood, obesity prevention, breastfeeding, and ADHD.
James Gardner, MD
James “Jay” Gardner, MD, completed a medical degree and general pediatrics residency at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. He stayed an additional year as co-chief resident of LSU Pediatrics. After a year of transport medicine, Gardner completed a three-year fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at UAB Health Sciences Center and Children’s Health of Alabama. His research focus was phosphate balance in children with growth hormone deficiency, investigating new therapies for idiopathic advanced bone age, and for 18 months he was director of the Cystic Fibrosis Related Diabetes Clinic.
Gardner returned to Louisiana to join Our Lady of the Lake Physician group and Children’s Health to begin his practice in pediatric endocrinology as section chief. From 2013 until 2020, Gardner was the Baton Rouge site director for the LSUHSC New Orleans third year medical student pediatric clerkship, and since 2012, he is director of the pediatric endocrine rotation for Our Lady of the Lake Pediatrics Residency Program. In the clinical realm, he enjoys all aspects of pediatric endocrinology, but he has a particular interest in diabetes technology, genetic conditions in endocrinology, pediatric cancer’s long-term effects on endocrine systems, and metabolic bone diseases.