Avera announces that Mara Groom, DO, MBA, has been named the new Chief Medical Officer for Avera Medical Group, Avera’s physician and advanced practice provider group.
Dr. Groom is a family medicine and obstetric physician at Lakes Regional Healthcare, an Avera partner facility, in Spirit Lake, IA. Additionally, she is the lead clinic physician at Lakes Regional Family Medicine and is a board member of the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Groom will transition away from her clinical practice to fulfill this new role in February, and her patients will be transferred to other medical providers at Lakes Regional Family Medicine. Patients will receive letters regarding their personal transition of care.
“As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Groom will lead Avera Medical Group in advancing the Avera mission to provide the highest quality care to our patients while supporting our tremendous growth,” said Kevin Post, DO, Chief Medical Officer for Avera Health. She will focus on physician relationships, clinician well-being and engagement, quality care, service lines and leadership development.
Lakes Regional Healthcare President and CEO Jason Harrington added, “Dr. Groom is obviously highly regarded as a physician and member of the medical community and for her service and leadership. I respect her desire to utilize her skills and education in a broader way to have an even greater, albeit different, impact on healthcare in the region. Although I am sad to lose her as a member of our medical community, I am very proud of her and excited for this next chapter in her career.”
At Avera, Dr. Groom has completed numerous leadership programs. She has served as a physician representative in the strategic planning process and has held roles in Avera’s primary care and pediatrics service lines, working with physicians across the system.
Growing up in a military family, Dr. Groom lived many places and graduated from high school in Germany. After graduation, she attended college at Wartburg College in Waverly, IA, and received her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from Des Moines University. She also recently received her MBA from the University of Tennessee. In her free time, she likes to run, hunt and travel with her husband and two dogs.
