Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, is the National Medical Director in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, holding the position of Clinical Thought Leadership, responsible for core program development across the enterprise. He recently transitioned from his previous role of almost two years as Chief of Staff to the Chief Medical Officer at Aetna, having been in his this role since 2011, and remains as part of the team responsible for communicating and deploying the strategic efforts of the CMO in multiple areas, including leveraging of business acquisitions, and clinical integration and clinical program development.

He joined Aetna in 2006 as a Medical Director in the Northeast Region. In 2009, he transitioned to the corporate-level National Accounts Sales and Support group, where he was involved in the development of new benefits designs, financial and clinical analytics for National Accounts, and the evolution of oncology strategies.

Prior to joining Aetna, Dr. Klein was the Medical Director for Quality and Case Management at Bayshore Community Health System in New Jersey.  Before that, he also served as the Chief Medical Officer of Elderplan, an 11,000-member Medicare Social HMO that focused on the frail elderly.

Ira is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and participates in numerous professional organizations including the Association of Health Insurance Plans, the American College of Physicians and the Medical Society of New Jersey. His honors include Alpha Omega Alpha membership since medical school, receiving the Master Clinician Teaching Award, Physical Diagnosis Program, from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and being elected as Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Ira received his B.S. in Pharmacy, and an M.B.A. from Rutgers University, and his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, all with highest honors. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Brown University and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.