Quarantine Graduation Special

A special edition of the Health Leader Forge dedicated to the University of New Hampshire Health Management and Policy Class of 2020 and all of the future health leaders who are graduating this spring. In this podcast, Bonica goes back through the archives and gather advice for early careerists from nine previous guests. Bonica then share a little advice of his own, and closes with a reading of a passage from Henry David Thoreau\u27s Walden

Mark Mellott, Senior Director, Cerner Corporation

Mark Mellott is a senior director with the Cerner Corporation. Prior to joining Cerner in 2017, Mark served in the Army first as a combat medic, and later as a Medical Service Corps officer specializing in health information systems management. He describes the field of health information systems management as the confluence of people, problems, and technology, and it was helping people solve problems through the appropriate and efficient use of technology that drew him to the field. In particular, some fifteen years ago Mark began thinking about the problem of electronic health records in combat zones and how to ensure the information about injured soldiers was being captured and preserved. Mark had observed this problem during his deployments to Kosovo and Iraq. This passion led him to earn a PhD in policy and to deploy to Afghanistan to test his theories. After retiring from the Army, he followed his passion for improving medical records to the Cerner Corporation where he is part of the team working to deploy an integrated electronic medical record to both the Department of Defense and Veterans Administration

Vanessa Druskat, PhD, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Management, UNH

Dr. Vanessa Druskat is an associate professor of Organizational Behavior and Management here at the University of New Hampshire. Vanessa studies and teaches about team emotional intelligence, helping organizations develop more effective norms and behaviors. In the full length version of the interview, they go through Vanessa’s intellectual journey from an early interest in social work to work on leadership, teams, and emotional intelligence. They talk in detail about a few of her papers, particularly a Harvard Business Review paper she coauthored called Building the Emotional Intelligence of Teams, which they have included a link to in the show notes below

LTC Jarrod McGee, Commander, 11th Field Hospital

If you were paying attention to the news about the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City you will remember that two Army field hospitals deployed to provide support to the beleaguered health system. Today’s guest is LTC Jarrod McGee, commander of the 11th Field Hospital. They discuss what a field hospital is, what its capabilities are, and what it’s like to move one from Ft. Hood, Texas to New York City with only a few days’ notice. This interview focuses mostly on the logistics of the movement to give listeners a sense of what it takes to accomplish something this complex and make it look easy. In the full length version of the interview they follow the discussion of the 11th Field Hospital’s mission with a discussion of LTC McGee’s career – he started out in the Army as a combat engineer “running around the woods and blowing things up” to later getting a commission as an Army Medical Service Corps officer and becoming a health services comptroller, so he has had a varied and interesting career. He is also the Army Regent for the American College of Healthcare Executives, so they talk about the importance of professional organizations, and how his ACHE contacts actually helped provide intelligence as he brought his unit into New York. They conclude with a discussion about leadership

Richard Corder, Managing Director, TiER1 Performance

Today’s guest is Richard Corder, a healthcare management consultant and Managing Director at the management consulting firm TiER 1 Performance. In this podcast we discuss Richard’s journey from his start as an apprentice in the hotel industry in London, England, following his heart to Boston, Massachusetts, his decision to enter the healthcare industry after his own experience as an inpatient, how he applied lessons he learned from the hospitality industry to become an expert on patient experience, and ultimately his move into healthcare consulting. We conclude the podcast with a discussion about leadership and mentorship

Steve Ahnen, President & CEO, New Hampshire Hospital Association

Today’s guest is Steve Ahnen, the President and CEO of the New Hampshire Hospital Association. The New Hampshire Hospital Association is an independent, non-profit association representing the interests of the hospitals in the state of New Hampshire. Steve joined the New Hampshire Hospital Association in 2008 after spending sixteen years in progressive leadership roles with the American Hospital Association in Washington, DC. In this podcast we talk about the role of both the American Hospital Association and the New Hampshire Hospital Association, and what it is like to work as an industry advocate at the national and state levels

Gerald J. Gerry Vicenzi, President, Synernet Inc.

The guest in this episode of The Health Leader Forge is Gerald “Gerry” Vicenzi, the President of Synernet, Inc. Synernet is a for-profit provider of a broad portfolio of administrative and management services to healthcare organizations including workers compensation administration, clinical engineering, credentialing, coding, and transcription. Gerry has been the President of Synernet since 1999, and under his leadership, Synernet has grown from 25 to more than 270 employees. Gerry brought a wealth of experience with him when he moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Portland, Maine where Synernet is headquartered. Starting out his his career as an industrial engineer and it is fascinating to hear how his engineering background influenced his management approach. He shares his successes and struggles over his forty three year career. They discuss organizational leadership and mentorship, and close on the importance of networking through professional organizations such as ACHE

Tyler Jamison, PhD, UNH Human Development and Family Studies

Today’s guest is my colleague Dr. Tyler Jamison, associate professor of Human Development and Family studies here at the University of New Hampshire. Tyler is an expert in the field of young adult romantic relationships. I asked Tyler to join me today because romantic relationships are an important part of health and leading a meaningful and fulfilling life. In this podcast we talk about how Tyler came to study emerging adults and romantic relationships, what emerging adulthood is, and ultimately how leaders should understand that emerging adults have unique needs particular to their life-stage

Brian Hall, President, Physicians Resources LTD

Brian Hall is the president of Physicians Resources Limited, a revenue cycle management firm based in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Brian was employee number one of PRL more than thirty years ago, and on his way to being the president and eventually the owner of PRL, he did everything from sweeping the floors to business development. In this podcast they talk about Brian’s career, and what it’s like to be an entrepreneur working in a family business