The Group Health Permanente Board of Directors
Group Health Permanente is governed by physician leaders who provide general strategic direction and collaborate with GHC leaders to promote the best interests of the enterprise.
Learn more about what the board does.
Paul Flugstad, MD
Board Chair
Anesthesiologist Paul Flugstad has been with Group Health since 1976. He earned his medical degree at Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, and completed an internship at the University of Oregon in 1973. He joined Group Health following completion of his anesthesiology residency at the University of Washington in 1976. Currently a member of the anesthesiology team at Bellevue Medical Center, he's also served as local anesthesiology chief there since 2003.
Robert Karl, MDVice Chair; At-Large Representative, Consultative Care South
Board vice-chair Bob Karl has been a member of the Group Health medical group since 1988 and a member of the GHP Board since 2001. Boarded in radiology and nuclear medicine, he received his medical degree at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, before completing a diagnostic radiology residency at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver, Colorado, and a nuclear medicine fellowship at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. He's served as chair of Group Health's Credentialing & Privileging Committee and district radiology chief (2002). He's currently a member of the radiology group at Tacoma Medical Center.
Michael Soman, MD GHP President and Chief Medical Executive
Michael Soman, MD, MPH, is Group Health's Chief Medical Executive, as well as the President of GHP. Previously Dr. Soman served as Executive Medical Director, Group Practice Division. He joined Group Health in 1984 as a family medicine doctor at the Burien Medical Center, and practiced in Group Health clinics for 17 years. He has served as the Medical Director for Primary Care at Group Health, overseeing 20 primary care facilities. He earned his medical degree from University of California, Davis in 1978.
Stephen Duncan, MDAt-Large Representative
The newest member of the board, Stephen Duncan was elected in 2009, but has been a family medicine physician at Group Health since 1983, currently practicing at the Puyallup Medical Center. A 1977 graduate of Indiana University School of Medicine, Dr. Duncan did his Family practice residency at Union Hospital, Terre Haute, Ind. During his career at Group Health, he has been involved in medical staff management and served on the Compensation and Benefits Committee.
Barbara Detering, MDAt-Large Representative, Primary Care North
A 1993 graduate of the Group Health Cooperative Residency Program, Barbara Detering served as a member of Group Health's locum tenens staff before joining the family practice team at the Family Health Center at Capitol Hill in 1994. She's a graduate of the University of Washington, where she earned her medical degree in 1989, and completed an internship at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont in Burlington in 1991. She's been on the staff at Capitol Hill Campus since 1994.
Eric Froines, MDAt-Large Representative, Consultative Care North
Eric Froines joined Group Health in 1992, not long after completing his surgery residency at Kaiser Permanente Foundation in Oakland in 1991. A graduate of the University of Washington, he earned his medical degree there in 1986. He served as service line chief for surgery from 1999 to 2004 and currently serves as a member of the general surgery team at the Capitol Hill Campus in Seattle.
David O. Miller, MDAt-Large Representative, Primary Care South
David O. Miller graduated from Rush Medical College in Chicago in 1982, and completed his family practice residency at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Camp Pendleton, California, in 1985. He is currently a member of the family practice team at Silverdale Medical Center, where he has served as medical center chief since 1999. He is also the chair of Group Health Permanente's Policy Committee. He joined the Group Health staff in 1989.
Zachary I. Miller, MDAt-Large Representative, Consultative Care
A member of the medical group at Group Health since 1977, Zachary Miller, MD, earned his medical degree at Columbia University in 1970. He completed a pediatric residency at Stanford University, followed by a pediatric infectious disease fellowship at the University of Washington and Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle in 1977.
Robert Riggs, MDAt-Large Representative, East
Family physician Robert Riggs joined the Group Health medical group in Spokane in 1992. A graduate of Oregon Health and Sciences University School of Medicine, he completed his family practice internship and residency at Florida Hospital in Orlando in 1987. He currently provides family practice care with obstetrics at Spokane's Veradale Medical Center, where he has also served as clinical chief since 2003.