About

The Fire Chief podcast, hosted by Dr. Lee Scheinbart, brings you frontline, candid conversations about what its like to be a Chief Medical Officer at a time when the health care is on fire. And getting hotter all the time. Being a CMO is no small task and it takes intentional preparation, although some of it feels like a trial by fire. Becoming a CMO is like a career in firefighting. You start by going to firefighter school and you train and drill until you are ready to fight a fire. You put on the uniform day in and day out doing your job, maybe even becoming a squad leader or captain one day. And then, perhaps, you become a Fire Chief or, in this case, the Chief Medical Officer. This podcast is dedicated to the CMO.

Lee Scheinbart, MD, CPE, FAAPL, earned his BS in biology at the University of Michigan and his MD from Ohio State University. He completed his internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the University of Florida Shands Hospital.

Dr. Scheinbart practiced hematology/oncology with Melbourne Internal Medicine Associates (MIMA) and Health First (HF) for over 20 years. During that time, he served on the MIMA Board of Directors and the Hospice of HF Board of Directors. A founder of the William Childs Hospice House and former Medical Director for the HF Cancer Institute, he went on to serve as VP for Medical Affairs and later the Chief Medical Officer at HF Hospitals, a division within the HF Integrated Delivery Network.

Dr. Scheinbart currently serves as the Chief Health Affairs Officer and Assistant Professor of Leadership Development at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine and is a Board Member for the Coalition for Osteopathic Excellence. He has a keen focus on physician leadership and its impact on organizational success. His writings and research have appeared in the Healthcare Administration Leadership & Management Journal (HALM) and the Physician Leadership Journal (PLJ), respectively. His writings also have appeared in several books dedicated to the CMO, all of which have been published by AAPL.  His most recent work, The Chief Medical Officer's Financial Primer: The Vital Handbook for Physician Executives, was published by AAPL in August of 2024.  

Dr. Scheinbart is the principal instructor for AAPL’s Chief Medical Officer Academy, the only certified educational experience designed by and taught by CMOs.  In 2024, Dr. Scheinbart launched the podcast, The Fire Chief, as the only podcast dedicated to the role of the CMO and the show benchmarked as one of the fastest growing podcasts for physician leadership.  

When he is not writing, researching, teaching, advising or speaking at national forums, he is mentoring medical students and aspiring physician executives.  When he is not doing that, he is fly fishing in parts unknown without cellular service.