A radiologist and nuclear medicine physician for 35 years, Dr. Ziffer now serves as executive vice president, chief clinical officer and chief physician executive for Baptist Health South Florida. His responsibilities include strategic, operational and policy oversight for Baptist Health’s physician initiatives and enterprises. His principal focus is coordinating vision, strategy and operations among the physician leadership for the system, concentrating on its clinical centers of excellence (the Cardiac and Vascular, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Cancer and Neuroscience Institutes), hospital medicine and primary care, and pursuing the highest quality, destination healthcare for all its patients. He and his team aspire to deliver the highest levels of evidence-based care, outcomes, value and patient experience. In addition to Baptist Health Medical Group and Baptist Health Quality Network, selected areas of oversight include value-based care and population health, system research, medical informatics, advanced analytics, the system’s pharmacy program, home health, continuing medical education and medical staff affairs. He continues to practice radiology and nuclear medicine at Baptist Health facilities.
Prior to becoming a physician-executive at Baptist Health, Dr. Ziffer served for more than six years as president and CEO of RASF, one of the 10 largest multispecialty physician groups in South Florida. He was chief of radiology at Baptist Hospital of Miami and prior to that director of cardiac imaging at Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute in Miami, as well as medical director of nuclear medicine and positron emission tomography (PET) at Baptist Hospital.
Before joining Baptist Health, Dr. Ziffer was director of cardiovascular nuclear medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, where he completed his fellowship in cardiac MRI and nuclear medicine, as well as his residency in diagnostic radiology. He received his PhD in molecular biology from The Rockefeller University, in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman, MD, PhD, and Bruce Cunningham, PhD. He received his medical degree from the University of Miami in its two-year accelerated PhD to MD program. He simultaneously received his BS (summa cum laude) and MS degrees in chemistry from Emory University.
Dr. Ziffer has excelled in principal leadership positions in a number of national and international medical organizations, bringing together the diverse constituencies and interests of cardiologists, radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians, and scientists. Having recognized the need for a multidisciplinary organization that focused on cardiac CT, he became one of the founders of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, a 4,000-member group of physicians and scientists worldwide devoted to the development of that field, and he served as president in 2009-2010. He was also a founding member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, of which he is vice president and a member of the executive council. He has served as president of the Cardiovascular Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and president of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Southeastern Chapter.
Dr. Ziffer has played pivotal leadership roles in defining quality, training, and education and sits on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Independent Medical Centers. In the field of imaging, particularly in the cardiovascular field. He was a founding board member of both the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography and the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology. He was a director of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine (an ABMS board), the Joint Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology, and the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories. He was a frequent oral board examiner for the American Board of Radiology. Dr. Ziffer has also had leadership roles in the American Heart Association, the Radiologic Society of North America, the Society of Nuclear Medicine, and the North American Society of Cardiac Imaging. He has been recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Board of Radiology, the American Heart Association, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, and a Master of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology, with Special Competence in Nuclear Radiology, the American Board of Nuclear Medicine, the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology, and the Certification Board of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.
Constantly active in the professional development of his field, he is the author of over 100 published peer-reviewed scientific articles, book chapters, and scientific abstracts. He has been an editorial reviewer for a number of scientific journals, including Radiology, Circulation, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and the Journal of Nuclear Cardiology.
Dr. Ziffer is highly sought after as a speaker and presenter. He has given hundreds of invited international, national, and regional lectureships. Devoting even more time to the education of the next generation of medical practitioners, he has held numerous academic appointments and visiting professorships, including positions in the radiology departments at the University of Miami, Emory University and Florida International Univeristy and in biomedical engineering at Florida International University. He has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report and Castle-Connolly as one of the top 1% of doctors in the nation in his specialty. At Emory University, he was a John Gordon Stipe Scholar.
In his spare time, Dr. Ziffer is an avid saxophone player, with two rock-and-roll bands. His local band has played at a number of large venues in the Miami area; and the other band, the Thallium Stallions, with musicians from around the country, has played in such venues as the Silver Dollar Club in Toronto, the House of Blues in New Orleans and Los Angeles, and the Performing Arts Center in Denver.
Raised in Orlando, Florida, Dr. Ziffer has lived in Miami for 31 years with his wife of 36 years, Hope, and having two children.
