Gretchen Morgenson is the senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. A former stockbroker, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her “trenchant and incisive” reporting on Wall Street. Previously at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, she and coauthor Joshua Rosner have written a new book, These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America.In the 1902 State of the Union Address, Theodore Roosevelt said, “Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inventible development of modern industrialism. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good.” What would President Roosevelt have to say about private equity’s recent interaction with healthcare?As private equity firms invest in everything from dermatology practices to emergency room staffing companies, the impacts are not always obvious. Gretchen Morgenson’s new book, excellently researched and compiled, examines private equity influence in America. You will be surprised by the findings.Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.2495333609

We all know a family member, friend, or a patient self-diagnosed with the help from search engines. Although some clinicians roll their eyes when patients arrive armed with information from online research, the Internet has opened the door to health education. And we know that more engaged, informed patients have better clinical outcomes. John Whyte, MD, MPH, is chief medical officer at WebMD, and leads the development of strategic partnerships that create meaningful change around important public health issues. He has written extensively, creating award-winning health content for TV and the web, and developed numerous initiatives addressing diversity in clinical trials. In this interesting discussion with host Mike Sacopulos, Whyte talks about his career path and provides a behind-the-scenes look at WebMD which provides an important service by presenting quality health information to our citizens. https://www.webmd.com/Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.7899277070

Mike Sacopulos speaks with Kristin E. Lauter, PhD, about her chapter titled, “Trust, Access, and Visibility,” in the book, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Leaders in STEM. Lauter is the director of Research Science, North American Labs for Meta AI Research.The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a series of articles looking at AI in medicine. After spending more than 20 years at Microsoft, Lauter is now at the forefront of AI research at Meta. In this interview, she describes the basics of AI and how the power of AI will be powerful for society. She also describes risk inherent because of human involvement; how humans could misuse the tools. As a past president of the Association of Women in Mathematics, Lauter has been a strong advocate of women in STEM positions. She describes her philosophy of the goal of “1/3” and her work in launching the Research Networks program to support and advance women in math and computer science. She finds the chapters in the Lessons Learned book to be inspiring – both in messaging to younger professionals that, “You are not alone” and in advocating for both access and recognition of work of women and other underrepresented minorities in the sciences. Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.2674302624

Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, is the Myron M. Levine MD, DTPH Professor in Vaccinology, professor of medicine and pediatrics, and is the director for the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.Mike Sacopulos speaks with Neuzil about her chapter in the book, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders, her work for a non-profit, and her work in academic medicine. Throughout her career the power of mentorship, both as beneficiary and as benefactor, has been an inspiration to her. But what makes a good mentor?  How do women find role models who balance a family and a successful career? How has the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on women and young families advancing in their healthcare careers?Neuzil’s leadership story is inspirational. She shares how small acts of kindness, via mentorship, can result in tremendous returns. Her clinical and policy talent, anchored on the bedrock of science, has benefited countless people around the globe.Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.4092973746

Wendy Dean, MD, is a writer, speaker, podcast host, and the president and co-founder of The Moral Injury of Healthcare (fixmoralinjury.org), a nonprofit focused on alleviating distress in the workforce through training and consultation. She and her co-founder, Simon G. Talbot, MD, began the conversation about moral injury in healthcare with the publication of their seminal work in STATNews on July 26, 2018. They have also recently published the book, If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First.In this interview with host Mike Sacopulos, Dean discusses what constitutes a moral injury and how technology and compensation models can add to the problem for healthcare employees. They discuss the boards of medicine and their role in protection to physicians. In addition, she shares some ideas on viable solutions to the situation currently in healthcare.wdean@moralinjury.healthcarehttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.9409851287

Describing her own path as a physician leader, Deborah M. Shlian, MD, MBA, also shares her book plan and the resulting project with 30+ contributors to the book published by the American Association for Physician Leadership, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders. Fascinating stories from women in leadership roles – as models and templates for other physicians.Further, Shlian discusses with host Mike Sacopulos the main reasons keeping women from leadership roles, the statistics on women in medical school and medical training, and COVID-19 and its impact on women physicians.Shlian is a board-certified family practitioner with more than three decades of clinical and management experience. She has been able to balance work-life with writing, producing several nonfiction articles, chapters, and books on medical management issues. She also writes fiction. Her works of fiction have won literary awards, including the Florida Book Award’s Gold Medal.https://doi.org/10.55834/sp.5428854134

Brenda Denzler, PhD, is an author and editor. Her career as an editor and writer was cut short after her diagnosis with inflammatory breast cancer in 2009, at which time she was also diagnosed with treatment-related medical PTSD springing from medical encounters she had experienced at the age of five. After a difficult and re-traumatizing (but successful) course of cancer treatment, she began writing short pieces focused on cancer and, increasingly, on mPTSD that were published in local venues, on the Cure Today website, on MedPage Today, and in the British Medical Journal. The Facebook support group that Brenda Denzler moderates for treatment-related medical PTSD now has 1000 members.In Brenda Denzler’s discussion with Mike Sacopulos, she describes how patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by past medical treatments, choose to call themselves “treatment-traumatized” patients although healthcare professionals may categorize these patients as, “difficult.” The American Association for Physician Leadership takes the opportunity to share Brenda’s story with the SoundPractice audience of physicians and inter-professional healthcare providers.A complete list of her health-related work can be found at: https://muckrack.com/brenda-denzlerLearn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.5851007754

Healthcare can be tough on patients, clinicians, and administrators who work in the system. Clinicians are burning out at alarming rates; depression and suicide are on the rise. Patients often feel alone in a complex system, and administrators balance competing demands in what feels like a zero-sum game.Enter COVID. Our healthcare system, and our country, has never seen anything like it. We need empathy and human connection now more than ever.Jennifer Sweeney is a co-founder of X4 Health and the co-creator of 3rd Conversation, an innovation program that brings together patients, clinicians, and health system leaders to connect deeply, build trust, and develop bi-directional empathy.A trained leadership coach and patient advocate, Jennifer Sweeney is interviewed by host Mike Sacopulos on strategies for healthcare administrators and physicians to have the best outcomes.www.X4Health.comLearn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.1609837094

Host Mike Sacopulos interviews Beth (Elizabeth) Garner, MD, MPH, who contributed her life and career story to the AAPL book, published in 2022, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders. Garner is currently chief scientific officer of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and president of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). She received joint MD and MPH degrees from the Harvard Medical and Public Health Schools and trained in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s (BWH)/Massachusetts General Hospitals. She was a 2019 awardee of the PharmaVoice 100 Most Inspiring Individuals in the life sciences industry and received the 2022 Women in Science Award from AMWA.Physicians working to improve our healthcare system give us hope. Prepare to meet one of those extraordinary physician leaders. Dr. Garner’s story and career trajectory should inspire other physicians, other women.@egarnermdLearn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.3986517666

Physician autonomy, patient autonomy, state authority. When it comes to end-of-life issues, these spheres do not interact smoothly. Legal and medical ethical questions abound. Physicians wrestle with this important topic. This episode takes a deep dive into topics surrounding right-to-die with one of our nation’s leading medical ethicists. Ira Bedzow, PhD, is a senior fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University, and head of the Unit of the International Chair in Bioethics at Emory University. His interests relate to understanding the ethical implications of biotechnology and healthcare policy as well as how organizations can create an ethical culture through values-driven leadership. Bedzow is also a senior scholar at the Aspen Center for Social Values, co-director of the Maimonides Institute for Medicine, Ethics, and the Holocaust (MIMEH), and a regular contributor in Forbes for their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion section. He is also an Orthodox rabbi (yoreh yoreh, yadin yadin).Prepare for a thoughtful exploration of an important and complex topic including topics such as these: MAID (medical assistance in dying): Is avoiding suffering enough of a reason legally, or even morally, to take one's own life?  And how does a society decide when the suffering is great enough to legally approve that choice?How can the U.S. create laws that would manage the nuanced individual cases that would arise in an area as sensitive as this? Obviously, any laws on voluntary end-of-life must consider the rights of the individual to make decisions for himself or herself.  But should these laws also consider the effects of an individual decision on other people, especially those who might be involved in fulfilling the person's wishes?https://www.cuanschutz.edu/centers/bioethicshumanities/education/aspen-ethical-leadership-program-2023ijbedzow@gmail.comLearn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org.https://doi.org/10.55834/sp.6003006825

Jeffrey T. Gorke is the author of The Employed Physician: Your Essential Guide to the Business of Medicine. His experience ranges from Medicare administration to running both large and small, single-specialty, privately held medical group practices to medical society management on a national level. Gorke specializes in turning around employed health systems and revenue cycle process improvement and delivering quantifiable returns on investment (ROI) for practices and health systems. As more and more physicians opt for employed positions, either when starting their careers or transitioning from independent practice to “employee” status, or when a practice is sold or merged, this podcast interview sets the stage for giving physicians the history and elements of business know-how to succeed as an employed physician. This episode offers an important briefing on trends in employment for physicians by an accomplished official. Jeff Gorke (678) 333-3419https://doi.org/10.55834/sp.7474388397

As we consume news and information in different ways than in past generations, it is both an opportunity and a challenge for physicians to make use of social media platforms to inform and connect with each other … and their patients.Mike Sacopulos interviews Umbereen Nehal, MD, MPH, FAAP, a digital health physician leader. She is an MIT Sloan Fellow MBA candidate, a former Medicaid medical director, and a former CMO. Nehal has been named a “Top Voice” four times by LinkedIn. She is now developing a FemTech venture at MIT, combining her experiences as a patient, caregiver, payer, public servant, certified coach, physician, and advocate.Crafting an influential presence on social media platforms, Nehal shares:Strategies that have had an impact on the way she practices medicine.How to be a patient advocate via access to patients’ perspectives and patient stories.https://www.linkedin.com/in/usnehalhttps://www.nehalgroup.com/Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.1800891373

Aimee Greeter, MPH, FACHE, is a principle at SullivanCotter in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the author of Effective Crisis Leadership in Healthcare: Lessons Learned from a Pandemic. A popular speaker across the nation, and an author of articles on topics such as hospital-physician alignment, clinical engagement, practice mergers, professional service agreements, and executive leadership, Greeter is also a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and holds a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt.In this timely podcast, host Mike Sacopulos and Aimee Greeter discuss the elements of planning for and managing a crisis for any healthcare organization through the lens of the recent pandemic.In addition to her work in crisis management, Greeter also specializes in helping organizations assess, develop, and implement pay and career equity initiatives and consults with employers on ways to improve fairness, transparency, and advancement for all people regardless of their gender identity, race, and ethnic background. She also collaborates closely with clients to optimize physician and advanced practice provider alignment and affiliation activities to support quality care outcomes, cost efficiencies, integrated care team delivery, and patient-centered operations.https://doi.org/10.55834/sp.6250908509

Susan Fink Childs, FACMPE, is the author of the new book, The Emotionally Intelligent Physician Leader, published by the AAPL. Ms. Fink Childs’s mission is to help healthcare practices build compassionate, accessible care while ensuring each staff member is respected and recognized for their individual value, impact, and contribution to the organization. Host Mike Sacopulos discusses the following with Susan Fink Childs:The genesis of the book project.Childs’s philosophy on communication in the healthcare practices (both with staff and with patients).Hints for physicians and non-clinical staff members on increasing their EQ (emotional quotient) via communication skills and body language. Childs is a national presenter and international author for organizations including AAPL, AAOE, AAP, MGMA, Ascent, ACC, and the AMA. She also served as the ACMPE education advancement chair with MGMA.https://evohcc.com/contact/Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.6392024767

Richard J. Baron, MD, MACP, is president and CEO of the American Board of Internal Medicine and the ABIM Foundation. In this timely and important podcast, Baron discusses the history and mission of the ABIM and its role in healthcare in the United States. The ABIM, most recently, has taken on the issue of medical misinformation and how it has contributed to the deterioration of trust in medicine and science. Baron discusses, in detail, a recent piece in The New England Journal of Medicine where he and his co-author discuss the importance of the medical profession maintaining independence from political interference and the consequences of attempts to politicize medical issues. Baron expands on how this situation is having an impact on physicians, their patients, and medicine.As a bonus, host Mike Sacopulos and Dr. Baron discuss Baron’s undergraduate degree in English and how those studies helped both his writing and his skills as a physician leader.Protecting the Legitimacy of Medical Expertise by Richard J. Baron, MD, and Carl H. Coleman, JDhttps://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2214120https://www.abim.org/Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.orghttps://doi.org/10.55834/sp.3186837611