Dr. Peter Valenzuela, medical director for PeaceHealth Medical Group, has been named 2012 Physician Executive of the Year by Medical Group Management Association and its standard-setting division, the American College of Medical Practice Executives.

The award honors a physician executive in a medical group practice who has exhibited outstanding leadership to achieve exceptional medical group performance in the delivery of health care in his or her practice and community through personal example and collaborative team management.

Valenzuela has been instrumental in helping reduce costs and improve the quality of care, according to PeaceHealth.

In addition, Valenzuela was last year named by Gov. Christine Gregoire to the Robert Bree Collaborative, the state’s inaugural public-private partnership to identify evidence-based strategies to improve the quality and affordability of health care in Washington state.

“Dr. Peter Valenzuela’s ongoing commitment to each patient—both in his practice and as an administrator—demonstrates his medical expertise, management acumen and PeaceHealth’s core values of respect and stewardship,” Nancy Steiger, CEO and chief mission officer for the PeaceHealth Northwest Network, said in a press release.

Valenzuela has a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. He graduated from UT’s Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and completed his family medicine residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

He earned his physician’s executive MBA from Auburn University. He also holds a Green belt designation in the Six Sigma business management strategy, with a focus on health care.