Dare to Jump – Marja Pronk

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Dare to Jump - Marja Pronk
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In the conversation, you’ll hear from a changemaker, Marja Pronk, CEO & Founder of Global Young Leaders, Global experts foundation, and MH Pronk Healthcare Consultancy. Naji and Marja discussed various topics including leadership, health equity, and living life by design. Marja emphasizes the importance of leadership at all levels, including personal leadership. She believes that living life by one’s own design leads to happiness and optimal performance. Marja also highlights the necessity of love, transparency, and room for creativity in organizations. In her final words of wisdom, she encourages healthcare leaders to recognize the holistic nature of healthcare, encompassing both technological advancements and human aspects. Hear more about Marja’s personal journey, insightful learning, and the incredible impact she is having on young leaders across the globe.

“Take the fear out and bring the love in organizations

MEET OUR GUEST Maria Pronk CEO & Founder of Global Young Leaders, Global experts foundation and MH Pronk Healthcare Consultancy.

Marja Pronk is CEO & Founder of Global Young Leaders, Global experts foundation and MH MH Pronk Healthcare Consultancy.

Marja is driven by the patient, healthcare perspective ‘to have access to the right treatment’. Her training as a medical doctor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and her years of experience at the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, inspired Marja to create the first specialized market access consultancy firm in the Netherlands. She since then helped contributed to more than 650 cases in 35 disease areas across Europe bringing innovation access to patients.

She is also founder of Global Young leader where they equip young people with personalized life skills so that they can create life by their own design.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Marja Pronk

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to “Spread Love in Organizations”, a podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host, joined today by Marja Pronk, CEO & Founder GLOBAL YOUNG LEADERS, Global experts foundation and MH PRONK HEALTH CARE CONSULTANCY. Marja is driven by the patient, health-care perspective ‘to have access to the right treatment’. Her training as a medical doctor at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam and her years of experience at the pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline,…

Ask the Big Questions – Melanie Ivarsson

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Ask the Big Questions - Melanie Ivarsson
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In this episode, we chatted with Melanie Ivarsson, Chief Development Officer at Moderna, who led teams in times the world was anxiously waiting for them to deliver us a hope with Covid Vaccine… and they did. How did they achieve this? How do you lead in such unprecedented times? How do you ensure this sense of purpose continues to live today? Hear all about those stories and about Melanie’s biggest leadership learning throughout this once-in-a-lifetime experience: Enable others to be the best they can be, and don’t get in their way.

“Hang on to your true self.”

MEET OUR GUEST Melanie Ivarsson Chief Development Officer at Moderna.

Melanie Ivarsson is Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer at Moderna, where she leads the Clinical Development Operations department. In this role Dr Ivarsson and her team deliver all clinical programs within the Moderna portfolio.

Melanie has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Moderna, she was Head of Global Clinical Operations, at Takeda (following the acquisition of Shire) and spent 9 years at Pfizer in Clinical Development. She also held roles within the early clinical development group at Eli Lilly.

After receiving her PhD from the University of Bristol, she completed postdoctoral research at Lund University and New York University. Dr Ivarsson also holds an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Melanie Ivarsson

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host today, having the pleasure to be joined by Melanie Ivarsson Chief Development Officer at Moderna. In this role Melanie leads the Clinical Development Operations department and delivers with her team all clinical programs within the Moderna portfolio. Prior to joining Moderna, she was Head of Global Clinical Operations at Takeda and spent 9 years at Pfizer in…

Creative Problem Solver – Amy Kimball

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Creative Problem Solver - Amy Kimball
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Leadership is the ability to make decisions that benefit the whole system, it is those who go beyond personal benefit, beyond their own team’s benefit, and do the right thing for the community. In this chat with Amy Kimball, we discussed leadership in healthcare non-profits, and also in entrepreneurship. We talked about the key components of building a thriving culture of excellence, high performance, and people-centered service. Hear Amy’s inspiring journey, and her authentic thoughts about being “lonely at the top”, something we all experience as leaders at some point in our lives.

“It is about what you want for yourself.”

MEET OUR GUEST Amy Kimball Executive & Leadership Coach and former biomedical research CEO.

Amy Kimball is an Executive & Leadership Coach and former biomedical research CEO. Prior to launching her coaching business in 2022, she had been coaching professionals on the side for 15 years, while she held leadership roles in academic biomedical research.

During her tenure as CEO of a midsized biomedical research institute, she led a turnaround to rebuild a culture of excellence, high performance, and people-centered service. Prior to that, she held research administrative leadership roles at large, Boston-based academic medical centers.

She holds an Executive MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and has completed Georgetown University’s Leadership Coaching program. She coaches CEOs and other leadership positions that feel “lonely at the top;” mentors and advises start-ups; and serves in peer coaching roles within the helping professions community.

Learn more about Amy’s work: www.amykimballcoaching.com

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Amy Kimball

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this episode, joined today by Amy Kimball an Executive & Leadership Coach and former biomedical research CEO. Prior to launching her coaching business in 2022, Amy had been coaching professionals on the side for 15 years, while she held leadership roles in academic biomedical research. During her tenure as CEO of a midsized biomedical research institute,…

Human First – Jason Dupuis

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Human First - Jason Dupuis
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Sharing our core values is essential; living by them is crucial. For Jason Dupuis, this is a key part of daily leadership. His values are Passion, Dedication, and Integrity. Passion is “love what you do”; Dedication is “Be there”; integrity is “Do the right thing”, a simple framework that Jason lives by and transmits daily to his people in healthcare. His words of wisdom are powerful for us in healthcare: always put “human first” and show-up!

“Showing up is a choice that every great leader makes.”

MEET OUR GUEST Jason Dupuis a passionate Human Experience Strategist, Thought Leader, influencer, and speaker.

Jason Dupuis is a thought leader, speaker, and organizational behavior enthusiast who believes in the power of Human Experience as a key driver of organizational performance and strategy. Over the last 20 years, Jason has served as the Chief Experience Officer for PM Pediatrics Care as well as the Administrative Director for Admitting and Emergency Services at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Most recently, he joined Fidelum Health as a Consultant and Principal Healthcare Advisor to bring the Human Brand concepts of Warmth and Competence into the Human Experience in Healthcare. As a Core Value advocate and fanatic, Jason has devoted his career to successfully demonstrating that being “human first” and leading with personal and organizational core values can create efficient and profitable operations while simultaneously delivering an exceptional experience for patients, families, and care teams. In addition to his professional roles, Jason is an Adjunct Professor in the Hellenic College School of Leadership & Management as well as recently joining Boston College as an Adjunct Professor in their Masters in Healthcare Administration program.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Management & Policy from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters of Health Administration from Simmons College in Boston, MA.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Jason Dupuis

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast joined today by Jason M. Dupuis, a thought leader, speaker and organizational behavior enthusiast who believes in the power of Human Experience as a key driver of organizational performance and strategy. Over the last 20 years, Jason has served as the Chief Experience Officer for PM Pediatrics Care as well as the Administrative Director…

Scale Yourself Up – Cheerag Upadhyaya

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“Drive and determination to take care of patients” is what describes this week’s inspiring guest Dr. Cheerag Upadhyaya. As a neurosurgeon and leader, Cheerag shares his lessons from the operating room leading teams in a high-stress environment to the administrative roles leading strategy and transformation in this episode. The essential ingredients for him to lead high-performing cross-functional teams are grounded in setting high expectations, articulating them well, ensuring a safe place for people’s feedback, and being humble that it is teamwork. Several powerful insights, stories, and words of wisdom in this great chat we’re sure you will enjoy!

“Do not ignore mistakes. Own them. Acknowledge them. And think how could I and we have done better.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Cheerag Upadhyaya Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Chief Transformation & Business Strategy Officer.

Cheerag D Upadhyaya, MD, MBA, MSc is Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Chief Transformation & Business Strategy Officer. He completed neurosurgical residency at the University of Michigan, complex and minimally invasive spine fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, and research fellowships at the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes / National Institutes of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program resulting in a Masters in Science from the University of Michigan.

He recently completed his Masters of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He is a member of the Executive Committee for the AANS/CNS Spine and Peripheral Nerve Section as well as a member of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Medical Association, American College of Surgeons, and Scoliosis Research Society.

He has been awarded the Scoliosis Research Society Edgar Dawson Traveling Fellowship and AANS/CNS Spine and Peripheral Nerve Outcomes Committee Award. Dr. Upadhyaya was elected to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine in 2021.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Cheerag Upadhyaya

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this episode joined today by Cheerag Upadhyaya, Clinical Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, and Chief Transformation & Business Strategy Officer. Cheerag completed neurosurgical residency at the University of Michigan, complex and minimally invasive spine fellowship at the University of California San Francisco, and research fellowships at the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes / National Institutes of Health and…

The Helping Profession – Shahin Gharakhanian

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The Helping Profession - Shahin Gharakhanian
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Careers are a mix of decisions, serendipity, and chance. At least for Dr. Shahin Gharakhanian, this is his belief about his career reflecting his humility. Innovation is about “daring”. Through this chat, you’ll hear from a physician, a pharmaceutical expert, and a leader who lived through one of the most challenging outbreaks of HIV since its very beginnings and led teams who developed life-saving drugs. His deep belief is anchored in “doing well by doing good”, this is a constant motivation that we should all have in biotech. For Shahin, as biopharma leaders, we should have 3 facets: being an inspirational leader, a strong administrator, and a great manager. Hear more about the mix of those three capabilities, incredible other stories, and powerful words of wisdom in this episode!

“Have the guts to come out of your comfort zone.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Shahin Gharakhanian physician and Pharmaceutical Executive.

Dr. Shahin Gharakhanian is a physician and Pharmaceutical Executive with expertise in Pharmaceutical Medicine, Leadership/Management, and operational experience both in the US & in Europe.

Shahin is specialized in HIV Medicine and Infectious Diseases and has practiced clinical medicine for over 20 years in AP-HP Hospitals in Paris France. Shahin joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1991, progressing to Vice-President of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, with roles in 3 main areas: Clinical Development, Medical Affairs, and Strategic Leadership including membership in the corporate Operating Council. Overall, within the industry, he has held positions ranging from General Manager of a Contract Research Organization to Program Executive leading product development, and regulatory approval/launch in multiple therapeutic areas across the world. Shahin has also founded, built, and organized full functional departments/units for biotechnology companies and hospitals and two LLCs as an entrepreneur.

He is a member of several international societies. His passion is Patient-focused programs for drug & vaccine development, approval, and launch.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Shahin Gharakhanian

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast, having the pleasure to be joined by Dr. Shahin Gharakhanian, a physician and Pharmaceutical Executive with expertise in Pharmaceutical Medicine, Leadership/Management, and operational experience both in the US & in Europe. Shahin is specialized in HIV Medicine and Infectious Diseases has practiced clinical medicine for over 20 years in AP-HP Hospitals in Paris France.…

Love, Passion, Accountability – Stephanie Chen

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Love, Passion, Accountability - Stephanie Chen
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“Don’t defer your life.” This is a great word of wisdom to reflect on. We live one life but still manage to live it in a “deferred” way. “Someday we’ll get there, someday we’ll do what we really want…” With this advice, we force ourselves to think if we are living our life as we want, whether we are doing what we love, and working where we want to bring impact. It is easier said than done but worth a moment of reflection. In this episode with Stephanie Chen, we also talked about leadership, how she sees healthcare as a fundamental human right, and what she has done to get closer to serving that purpose with love, passion, and accountability.

“Love people enough to tell them the truth.”

MEET OUR GUEST Stephanie Chen Chief Legal Officer and Culture Officer at ChenMed.

Stephanie Chen serves as ChenMed’s Chief Legal Officer and Culture Officer.  She has been with ChenMed since 2006, and served as General Counsel prior to being named Chief Legal Officer in 2016.  A graduate of New York Law School, which she attended on a Harlan Scholarship, Stephanie was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2008. She graduated cum laude from Boston College with a degree in economics.

Stephanie and her husband, Dr. Chris Chen, the CEO of ChenMed, have four children together and live in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Stephanie Chen

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast, having the pleasure to be joined by Stephanie Chen, ChenMed’s Chief Legal Officer and Culture Officer. Stephanie has been with ChenMed since 2006, and served as General Counsel prior to being named Chief Legal Officer in 2016.  A graduate of New York Law School, which she attended on a Harlan Scholarship, Stephanie was admitted…

Honest, Authentic, Truthful Leadership – Pravin Chaturvedi

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Honest, Authentic, Truthful Leadership - Pravin Chaturvedi
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In this episode, you’ll hear from a serial biotech entrepreneur and incredible leader Pravin Chaturvedi. Many insightful words I kept with me from this episode as a leader in healthcare: Strive to Impact, not Impress. Life is short when you’re happy, long when you’re suffering. Never tolerate oppression of any form. Residual intellect. Powerpoint is useless :). Hear more about those leadership beliefs Pravin shared with us and also his experience in building biotech companies and teams. He left us with a powerful charge as healthcare leaders: “Never forget our huge responsibility: Patients rely on us to make their life better.” If this is not why you wake up every morning and strive for, you’re in the wrong industry.

“Hope is not a strategy to solve problems.”

MEET OUR GUEST Pravin Chaturvedi Co-Founder & CEO at Oceanyx Pharmaceuticals.

Pravin Chaturvedi is a veteran drug developer, serial biotech entrepreneur, and seasoned CEO. CSO and/or Board member of many life science ventures. Over his 30+ years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, he has participated in and led the drug development teams for multiple drugs across the therapeutic areas of central nervous system (CNS), HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), cancer, and gastrointestinal disorders. He has participated in the successful drug approval and commercialization of seven drugs.

Pravin serves as the Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) for Napo Pharmaceuticals and Jaguar Health. He is also the co-founder and CEO of IndUS Pharmaceuticals and Oceanyx Pharmaceuticals. He is also the Executive Chairman of Cellanyx and Chair of the Board for Enlivity. He currently serves on the boards of several organizations including IndUS, Oceanyx, Cellanyx, Enlivity, and Sindu Research Laboratories. He has previously served as the President, CEO, and Board of Director for Pivot Pharmaceuticals and Scion Pharmaceuticals and has also served on the boards of Pivot, Scion, Bach Pharma, PRADAN USA, FuelEd Schools, Sindu Pharmaceuticals, TiE Boston, and ResoluteBio. Over his career, he has also been a part of multiple national and international strategic partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies as well as governments and has served on several advisory boards.

Prior to his current leadership responsibilities as (President/CEO/CSO roles in various companies), he served as the Head of Lead Evaluation at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He held scientific positions at Alkermes and Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert (now Pfizer). He also contributes significant time to teaching and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown Medical School. He holds a doctoral degree from West Virginia University and an undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the University of Bombay.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Pravin Chaturvedi

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast, having the pleasure to be joined by Dr Pravin Chaturvedi a veteran drug developer, serial biotech entrepreneur, and seasoned CEO/CSO, Board member of many life science ventures. Over his 30+ years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry, he has participated and led the drug development teams for multiple drugs across the several therapeutic areas.…

Frame It Right to Solve It – Amre Nouh

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Frame It Right to Solve It - Amre Nouh
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My mantra has always been “Love and Discipline”, and here I am talking to an incredible physician, leader, and healthcare executive who believes in Love and thinks of success as being disciplined with a process in order to create the right habits. For Dr. Amre Nouh, leadership is about creating a common vision for the team and executing it, it is nurtured by influence and maturation of frameworks. One of the biggest mistakes in leadership for Amre (that, unfortunately, happens way more frequently than we realize) is to search for “who” is right instead of “what” is right… So many great bits of wisdom, practical examples, and great advice in this chat with Amre.

“Mental maturity is a shift of frameworks nurtured by experience. Leadership is a maturation of frameworks nurtured by influence.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Amre Nouh Physician leader, healthcare executive, clinical researcher, and innovator.

Dr. Amre Nouh is a physician leader, healthcare executive, clinical researcher, and innovator with a proven track record of developing and executing strategy, leading multidisciplinary teams, and implementing system practices to improve patient outcomes. Dr.Nouh joins Cleveland Clinic Florida as the Regional Chairman of Neurology, leading neurology care for the clinic’s neuroscience institute in the state of Florida and beyond.

Amre is a board-certified neurologist and vascular neurologist. Over the past decade, Nouh has led stroke care in CT in various roles at Hartford HealthCare, most recently as System Director of Stroke and Cerebrovascular disease. During his tenure, he also served as core faculty at the University of Connecticut, Associate professor of neurology, vascular neurology fellowship director, and currently is Chair of the Northeast Cerebrovascular consortium, an AHA-sponsored consortium for stroke care encompassing 8 states. Dr.Nouh has authored and co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, abstracts, and book chapters. Dr.Nouh is a fellow of the American heart and Stroke Association and has led statewide legislative efforts to improve regional stroke care focused on patient advocacy and recognition of stroke center designation for optimal patient care. He has also led the scientific statement committee on in-hospital stroke for the AHA and published best practice recommendations on behalf of the AHA as a subject matter expert.

Amre earned his executive MBA from MIT Sloan school of management and has served as a key opinion leader and consultant in neuroscience and stroke for various innovative projects within the neurologic care space. His special interests include in-hospital stroke, stroke in the young, AI and machine learning for predictive modeling in neuroscience, and cultivating growth opportunities that marry technology with clinical care to improve patient outcomes and sustainable impact.

He is a father, husband, son, and brother. In his spare time, he is a fisherman, musician, and avid reader.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Amre Nouh

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host, having the pleasure to be joined by Dr.Amre Nouh is a physician leader, healthcare executive, clinical researcher and innovator with a proven track record of developing and executing strategy, leading multidisciplinary teams and implementing system practices to improve patient outcomes. Amre joins Cleveland Clinic Florida as the Regional Chairman of Neurology, leading neurology care for the clinic’s…

Move With Passion – Jennifer Kherani

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Move With Passion - Jennifer Kherani
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Leadership starts with passion: passion for your purpose, passion for your people, passion to do things well. Adding to this, two philosophies Dr. Jennifer Kherani believes in: “Be a YES person (then figure it out)”, and “no job is too small for a big enough person”. These are some bits of the incredible chat we had about leading teams from the Emergency Room to biotech and entrepreneurship. Hear Jen’s stories and lessons learned moving through her different experiences while always keeping her passion to help patients at the center.

“Tackle problems with humility.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Jennifer Kherani an Emergency Physician and former Head of Clinical Safety at Loxo Oncology.

Dr. Jennifer Kherani received her BA in Neuroscience in 2000 from Colgate University, completed her pre-medical post-baccalaureate studies at Columbia University in 2004, and her M.D. from Duke University in 2008.  She subsequently completed her residency training in emergency medicine in the combined Cornell/Columbia program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident in her final year.

Until August 2022, she served as Head of Clinical Safety at Loxo Oncology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company.  Jen is also a founder of Summus Global, a subscription-based healthcare advisory company aimed at restoring the human connection between patients and healthcare providers. 

Jen is currently serving on the Rye Country Day School (RCDS) Board of Directors (July 2021-current) and is a member of the Medical Committee, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, the Education Committee, and the Marketing and Communications Committee. She also serves on the DukeNY Board of Directors (2018-present), serving as Co-Chair of the Nominating Committee as well a member of the DEI Committee, the Women’s Impact Network (WIN) Leadership Counsel (2021-present), and as a mentor on the Reimagining Medicine (ReMed; 2019-present) course.

She lives in Rye, NY with her husband, Dr. Aftab Kherani, and their two sons Zayd (grade 5) and Rizq (grade 3).

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Jennifer Kherani

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast, having the pleasure to be joined by Dr Jennifer Kherani. Jen received her M.D. from Duke and subsequently completed her residency training in emergency medicine in the combined Cornell/Columbia program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, where she served as Chief Resident in her final year. Until August 2022, she served as Head of Clinical Safety…

Value, Purpose, Belonging – Dominic Abrams

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Value, Purpose, Belonging - Dominic Abrams
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From leading teams on the front lines to now building organizations with a focus on culture, leadership, clinical innovation, and value maximization, we discussed in this episode with Dr. Dominic Abrams his story and leadership learnings. Dominic defines leadership with 3 words: value, purpose, and belonging. As leaders, we have to create an environment where everyone can be at their best, be part of a community, and feels this deep sense of belonging to constantly deliver on our common purpose for the patients we serve.

“Being kind makes a difference on people’s day, and life.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Dominic Abrams Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School. Cardiovascular genetics and cardiac electrophysiology.

Dr. Dominic Abrams is Associate Professor, at Harvard Medical School, Cardiovascular genetics and cardiac electrophysiology expert. Dominic specializes in cardiovascular genetics and cardiac electrophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and is active in both clinical medicine and scientific research.

With his team, Dominic provides personalized, multidisciplinary care to individuals and families, and drives novel research strategies in varying aspects of cardiovascular genetic disease.

He has developed clinical programs in both the UK and US, focusing on organizational culture, leadership, clinical innovation, and maximizing value to multiple stakeholders. Dominic has developed excellent collaborative relationships with individuals and organizations within the healthcare ecosystem.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Dominic Abrams

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host, having the pleasure to be joined by Dr Dominic Abrams Associate Professor, Harvard Medical School, Cardiovascular genetics and cardiac electrophysiology expert. Dominic specializes in cardiovascular genetics and cardiac electrophysiology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and he is active in both clinical medicine and scientific research. With his team, Dominic provides personalized, multidisciplinary care to individuals…

Authentic Imperfect Leadership – Lisa Matar

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Authentic Imperfect Leadership - Lisa Matar
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Many talks about authenticity in leadership, being true to self, and vulnerability, Lisa Matar exemplifies this leadership style and added to those words “imperfect” leadership. From a childhood spent in bomb shelters to being the first woman serving on the Board of Directors of Innovative Medicine Canada, Lisa summarizes her success through hard work to bring some normalcy to life, and resilience. “Succeeding is easy when it is the only option you have, adversity shapes your identity thanks to resilience”. Hear incredible stories, learnings, and how Lisa challenged a system that was not made for her to succeed while challenging her own limits to excel in all she does toward her purpose in healthcare.

“Leaders with grit run a successful business, Leaders paying it forward leave a better legacy.”

MEET OUR GUEST Lisa Matar Global Life Science senior executive.

Lisa Matar is a Global Life Science senior executive with more than 25 years of experience leading organizations and driving significant growth, profitability, and launching excellence across the globe.

Lisa served as President and General Manager of Eli Lilly Canada from 2013 to February of 2020 and was a member of the North American executive committee at Eli Lilly. Lisa served on the Board of Directors of Innovative Medicine Canada from 2013 until early 2020 and chaired the Ethics and Compliance committee from 2018 to 2020.

Lisa currently serves on the boards of Directors of Delphi Diagnostics Inc and Starpax Biopharma Inc. and chairs the compensation and governance Committee of Delphi Diagnostics Inc. a breast cancer diagnostic company with an exclusive license to commercialize SETTM (Sensitivity to Endocrine Therapy) test to guide personalized Breast Cancer Treatment. Starpax Biopharma Inc. is a biopharma/MedTech company that has developed a revolutionary platform for 3D precision delivery of cancer drugs in solid tumors using Magnetodrones TM.

Lisa earned a Doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Saint Joseph in Lebanon.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Lisa Matar

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji, your host for this podcast, having the pleasure to be joined today by Lisa Matar, a global life science senior executive with more than 25 years of experience leading organizations and driving significant impact across the globe. Lisa served as President and General Manager of Eli Lilly Canada for several years and was member of the North American Executive Committee. She…

Immigrant Mindset – Maheen Junaid

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Immigrant Mindset - Maheen Junaid
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A single question Maheen Junaid thinks of daily as she leads her teams in her executive role: “What can we do for patients?” Having this as the true north for a healthcare company and living it is crucial as it ultimately simplifies decision-making. In this episode, Maheen shares her immigrant story, her leadership beliefs, and her learnings building a company from 4 to 1400 employees. Empathy and DEIB are her core leadership elements. And her words of wisdom are so powerful: Become comfortable being uncomfortable.

“Home is an environment of inclusivity, acceptance, love, and opportunity for growth”

MEET OUR GUEST Maheen Junaid, General Counsel, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer for KabaFusion.

Maheen Junaid is General Counsel, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Chief Compliance Officer for KabaFusion, a home infusion pharmacy provider. Maheen holds a JD/LLB from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from MIT. In her executive role at KabaFusion, she is committed to fostering a positive work environment that celebrates diversity and inclusion. She also loves working for an organization that promotes a culture of prioritizing quality and compassionate patient care while being innovative and entrepreneurial.

Maheen has also worked in the non-profit sector, providing training and legal assistance for minority communities within the greater Boston area. She is passionate about empowering and enabling marginalized people through advocacy, and support.

Maheen was born in Pakistan and was raised in England and Canada. She currently resides in Massachusetts with her family.

Take Risks to Impact the World – Marcello Damiani

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Take Risks to Impact the World - Marcello Damiani
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“What really matters is impact”. Marcello Damiani started with this statement, and we all know now the impact he and his teams at Moderna had on humanity over the past years. He has led teams through those times, delivered on an incredible challenge that became a hope, then a reality: Covid vaccines. Hear him share those stories, his learning, the role of leadership, digital, innovation… From the focus on purpose to the culture and mindset to deliver on it, Marcello gives us great words of wisdom as we continue to navigate times of uncertainty and change. Let’s “not be shy to take risks to impact the world”!

“A leader alone doesn’t serve any purpose”

MEET OUR GUEST Marcello Damiani, Chief Digital and Operational Excellence Officer at Moderna.

Marcello Damiani is the Chief Digital and Operational Excellence Officer at Moderna, where he builds the technology, processes, and digitization landscape required to advance a new class of medicines based on mRNA science. Marcello has a wealth of experience from both Tech and Life Science companies, with a true passion for making digital a reality. He has 20years experience working in the IT field, with the last 10years being spent in leadership roles for multinational companies in Europe and the USA. Prior to joining Moderna, he worked at diagnostics firm bioMérieux and before that at Motorola.

Marcello has a Master of Science degree in Information and Communication Systems Architecture from the University of Toulouse in France, and an Executive MBA through TRIUM.

The Art of Possible – Andrew Bunton

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The Art of Possible - Andrew Bunton
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We have read a lot about leading in crisis. Andrew Bunton has definitely done so, leading his teams during the Covid pandemic and reinventing patient experience in one of the largest retail pharmacies in the US. Hear his thoughts and takeaways also on leading transformations including omnichannel and how focusing on purpose, empowering diverse talents, and helping them grow will lead to exploring the art of possible!

“It’s not just the output, it is about your people’s journey”

MEET OUR GUEST Andrew Bunton Vice President of Pharmacy Omnichannel Customer Experience at CVS Health

Andrew Bunton is the Vice President of Omnichannel Customer Experience at CVS Health, where he leads the efforts to create a differentiated frictionless pharmacy experience leveraging CVS’ digital and physical assets. Andrew has worked at CVS Health for 10 years, including leading the retail pharmacy’s development and management of clinical services to improve patient adherence, Enterprise Workforce Management where he led all aspects of resource planning, labor budgeting, and scheduling for CVS Health’s retail business, Omnicare, MinuteClinic, and Coram, and Retail Health Services Strategy and New Product Development, where he led all aspects of strategic planning as well as the discovery, design, incubation, and scaling of new business lines.

Prior to CVS, Andrew was a Case Team Leader and Consultant at Bain & Company in Boston and a Vice President in the Corporate & Investment Banking Group at Bank of America. Andrew holds a BA from Bates College and earned an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Andrew Bunton

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji your host for this podcast, joined today by Andrew Bunton Vice President of Omnichannel customer experience and at CVS Health, Andrew leads the efforts to create a differentiated, frictionless pharmacy experience leveraging cvs, digital and physical assets. He has worked at CVS Health for 10 years, including leading the retail pharmacies, development, and management of clinical services, retail health…

Data Clinician Entrepreneur – Dries Hens

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Data Clinician Entrepreneur - Dries Hens
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This episode is special and the last in a series of three. In partnership with ESCP Business School, I’ll be giving the mic to students, the leaders of tomorrow, to discuss with seasoned healthcare executives about their journeys and leadership beliefs. We welcomed in this third episode, Dries Hens, physician, entrepreneur, and co-founder of LynxCare. For Dries, Purpose should be your way of living and it encompasses being “Healthy, Active, and Happy”. It is that simple yet complex to achieve. Dries believes in tech as a means to achieve great outcomes for patients., and that the real capital and value of his company is his people.

“Technology is a mean to achieve a goal but should never be a goal itself”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Dries Hens Cofounder of LynxCare

Dries Hens is a medical doctor and a successful entrepreneur. Dries knew he did not want to go towards clinical practice but still wanted to remain in the field. He wanted to do more in healthcare, by making the most of all the unexploited data. In parallel to his studies, he began to set up his company: LynxCare Clinical informatics. Dries is currently Co-Founder, Chief Business & Medical officer. Lynxcare transforms medical data into insights for hospitals, physicians, and patients.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Dries Hens

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. This episode is very special! In partnership with ESCP Business School, I’ll be giving the mic to students, our leaders of tomorrow, to discuss with incredible healthcare executives about their journeys and leadership beliefs. Hello, I am a specialized master’s student at ESCP Business School in Paris and I am honored to host Dries Hens in collaboration with Spread Love in Organizations,…

Networks Superpower – Glenna Crooks

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Networks Superpower - Glenna Crooks
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Have you ever thought about your networks? The different people who support you in different ways for you to be who you are and achieve your purpose? Glenna Crooks, innovator, author and healthcare expert has defined eight networks in our lives and showed that managing successfully those helps us succeed in improving our health, personal relationships, family life, income, and careers. Glenna also shares her view on leadership in healthcare. When asked to react on the word Healthcare she said: “We need more of both… Health and Care.”

“Understand the complexity of your people and customers to better serve them”

MEET OUR GUEST Glenna Crooks, Innovator, Entrepreneur, and Author. Healthcare, Policy, and Public Health Expert.

Glenna Crooks, Ph.D., is a strategist, innovator, and trusted counsel to government and business leaders. In her latest venture, a story told in The NetworkSage: Realize Your Network Superpower, she describes a new way to help people lessen the overwhelm of modern life, address work-life balance, performance, productivity, and family caregiving by better understanding and managing the eight networks that support working adults.

 She was the Founder and CEO of Strategic Health Policy International, Inc. solving solved tough health care problems and is known as a “one-woman think tank” with a talent for “organizing chaos” and solving complex problems. She was an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, responsible for a $70 billion portfolio of health programs. As global vice-president of Merck’s Vaccine Business, she expanded US operations to create a global business, tripling vaccine sales to more than $1 billion in under three years.  

A graduate of Indiana University, she is a Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Neuroscience and Society and a Fellow of the Drexel University Center for Population Health and Community Involvement.

Glenna has been a member of corporate and non-profit Boards, including American Biogenetic Sciences, Inc., the David A. Winston Health Policy Fellowship, founding Vice-Chair of the Partnership for Prevention, Chairman of the National Commission on Rare Diseases, and a member of the National Council of the Institute for Child Health and Human Development, the Board of Scientific Counselors of the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative and the Institute of Medicine Committee to advise the Department of Defense on bioterrorism/biowarfare countermeasures.

Her many accomplishments earned her recognition as a Disruptive Woman in Health Care and a 2017 Disruptive Woman to Watch. She received the Congressional Exemplary Service Award for Orphan Products Development and is the first civilian to receive the highest award in public health, the Surgeon General’s Medallion from C. Everett Koop.

She lives in Philadelphia, is a mu shin Zen artist, donating her works to support children’s special needs, and is the author of six books.  

Learn and Perform – Olivier Nataf

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Learn and Perform - Olivier Nataf
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This episode is special and the second in a series of three. In partnership with ESCP Business School, I’ll be giving the mic to students, the leaders of tomorrow, to discuss with seasoned healthcare executives about their journeys and leadership beliefs. We welcomed in this second episode, Olivier Nataf, President of AstraZeneca France who shared his story, experience, and words of wisdom. Olivier characterizes leadership by 3 elements: well-rounded leader, learn & perform, and being set up for success. Nevertheless, the key leadership trait for him is vision. Vision has to be aspirational, then break down the problem, turn each and every stone, define a goal even if it sounds impossible at first, fail fast then go back on your horse and move forward. Not much is fundamentally impossible.

“What’s right for the patient is right for the business”

MEET OUR GUEST Olivier Nataf, President of AstraZeneca France.

“Well rounded leader” is surely the best way to define our guest of the day, an inspiring leader: Olivier Nataf. Olivier values curiosity, agility, precision, result-orientation, bold collective ambitions. He believes in the simple power of purpose, clarity in what we are trying to achieve and why, as key drivers of teams’ motivation and success. He encourages people to develop through « learning and performing » (vs. box checking and title chasing).

Olivier first pursued scientific training in cellular and molecular biology and then a master’s degree specializing in pharmacology and oncology. He completed his scientific training at the ESCP Business School: Specialised Master in Biopharmaceutical Management. 

He started his career at AstraZeneca as a trainee in 2001 and then successfully moved up the ranks both in France and in the USA. He has held many different positions: he began as a product manager and then changed his position on average every 2 years. He is now General Manager, Country President of France.

Lead From the Heart – Jean Jacques Bienaime

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Lead From the Heart - Jean Jacques Bienaime
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This episode is special and the first in a series of three. In partnership with ESCP Business School, I’ll be giving the mic to students, the leaders of tomorrow, to discuss with seasoned healthcare executives about their journeys and leadership beliefs. We welcomed in this first episode, Jean Jacques Bienaimé, CEO of BioMarin who shared his story, experience, and words of wisdom. “Love is an infinite resource that will have a tremendous impact on people”, this summarizes beautifully JJ’s leadership beliefs that helped him build high-performing teams delivering successful innovations to patients across the world.

“Employees are the oxygen of any company; its most important component.”

MEET OUR GUEST Jean Jacques Bienaime (JJ), CEO and member of the BOD of BioMarin.

Jean-Jacques Bienaime joined BioMarin in 2005 as Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors, bringing with him over 25 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Under his leadership, the market capitalization of BioMarin went from around $450 million in 2005 to approximately $14 billion in 2021. Before being the CEO of BioMarin, Jean-Jacques held several senior management positions in the biotech industry including CEO and chairman of Sangstat Medical Corporation and Genencor.

Mr. Bienaimé currently serves on the boards of Incyte Corporation, a biotechnology company, PhRMA, and The Biotech Industry Organization. He received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree in economics from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP Business School).

Distributed Leadership – Deborah Ancona

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Distributed Leadership - Deborah Ancona
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Nimble Organizations, Agile, X-Teams, Leadership… You will learn about all those in this incredible chat with Prof. Deborah Ancona! Vision, mission, and objectives are key but constitute only half of the story for a high-performing team. What differentiates high-performing teams is their ability to reach out and understand the larger organization, the wider ecosystem, new trends, new technologies… This is X-Teams. A nimble organization is usually referred to as an organization able to adapt fast, it is also a culture that embraces freedom and people’s ability to be full fledge members of this community. The underlying success factor is respect with a learning mindset: tough on ideas, respect for people. Enjoy learning about years of research and those concepts and tools to make our organizations and teams high-performing to deliver on our companies’ purposes.

“Open up your mind to receive and update your view of the world.”

MEET OUR GUEST Deborah Ancona Professor of Management and founder of the MIT Leadership Center.

Deborah Ancona is the Seley Distinguished Professor of Management, a Professor of Organization Studies, and the Founder of the MIT Leadership Center at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Deborah’s research and work led to the creation of multiple powerful models, tools, practices and concepts, including X-Teams as a vehicle for driving innovation within large organizations, and also the concept of distributed leadership that enable organizations to foster creative leadership at every level.

She has also served as a consultant on leadership and innovation to several companies including healthcare. 

Deborah is the author of the book, X-Teams: How to Build Teams That Lead, Innovate, and Succeed along with several other publications and articles in prestigious reviews. One of my favorites is “Family Ghosts in the Executive Suite”.

Below are some incredible tools and concept resources shared by Prof. Ancona in this episode:

Readings (Don’t hesitate to reach out for more information)
– The 4-CAPS+ model:  In Praise of the Incomplete Leader, HBR.
Sensemaking:  Framing and Acting in the Unknown, chapter. 
– Challenge-Driven Leadership 
The X-Factor:  Six Steps to Building High-Performing X-teams, Organizational Dynamics. 
x-teams: How to Build Teams that Lead, Innovate and Succeed, Harvard Business School Press. 

Nimble Organizations:   
https://hbr.org/2019/07/nimble-leadership
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/five-rules-for-leading-in-a-digital-world
https://hbr.org/ideacast/2019/07/the-3-types-of-leaders-of-innovative-companies
https://hbr.org/2019/07/how-to-give-your-team-the-right-amount-of-autonomy

Tools:
Tools to help move organizations from bureaucracies to more nimble forms.  These can be found at xLEAD.co.  

Tools include: 
x360—a 360-degree leadership development tool based on the 4-CAPS+ model
xCHANGE—is a simulation aimed at helping individuals and teams to learn how to use xTEAMS for effective change and innovation.  
xCARDS—this is an exercise that can be used to assess how well your organization practices nimble leadership. There is also a card exercise to help individuals, teams, and organizations understand their leadership signatures, team identities, or organizational cultures. 

Courses (available in-person and live online)
https://exec.mit.edu/s/

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Deborah Ancona

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this episode joined by a distinguished Professor of Management and founder of the MIT Leadership Center Deborah Ancona. Deborah’s research and work led to the creation of multiple powerful models, tools, practices and concepts, including X-Teams as a vehicle for driving innovation within large organizations, and also the concept of distributed leadership that enable organizations to…

Stop, Listen, and Learn – Myriam Hakim

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Stop, Listen, and Learn - Myriam Hakim
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Success is not how high you climb but how you make a positive difference in the world and even more specifically how you make a positive difference in people’s lives and anyone who came across your path. This says a lot about my discussion with Myriam Hakim, an accomplished leader in the pharma industry. From growing up with incredible women as her role models to now being an example herself to many in the Middle East and beyond, Myriam shares her personal story, her key learnings building teams and affiliates from scratch, while always being passionate about people, patients, and business.

“Every day is an opportunity to learn something new if you listen to others.”

MEET OUR GUEST Myriam Hakim Cluster General Manager at Kyowa Kirin Gulf Countries.

Myriam Hakim is an experienced pharma executive with 20 years of successful career in various key roles in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the Middle East. Her main focus has always been to create and add value to patients and medical communities in various therapeutic areas and particularly in rare diseases and Oncology. With her entrepreneurial spirit and results-orientation, Myriam has built, established, and grown teams to deliver profitable business covering the entire GCC and the middle east region.

Myriam is a fervent supporter to drive diversity and inclusion mainly around women in the workplace and in leadership positions within the pharma industry. She is a strong believer in leading with courage, passion, and love.

Let’s Get Busy! – John Sterman

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Let's Get Busy! - John Sterman
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Leadership for John Sterman means distributed responsibility. Each of us has influence and some ability to change the system. In this timely episode, while we see some places melting because of climate change, and some populations risking their existence, we should take our responsibility as leaders, humans, and global citizens, we should stand up, and take action through visioning, networking, truth-telling, learning, AND loving. John remains hopeful and believes that climate change is tough but solvable. We can solve for many sustainable problems by leading from a basis of love; love is more than empathy, more than care, it is the belief that we have the capacity for good, we have the capacity to sacrifice for the common good, and that we can nurture that! And if people believe this is naive, so be it. In this episode hear about the beer game, climate change, leadership, system dynamics, healthcare, and a call for us as leaders to GET BUSY!

“As a leader, design a system so that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.”

MEET OUR GUEST John Sterman Professor of Management at MIT Sloan in the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society; Director of the MIT System Dynamics Group and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative.

John is a Professor of Management at MIT Sloan in the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society. He is also the Director of the MIT System Dynamics Group and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. John’s research centers on improving decision-making in complex systems, including corporate strategy and operations, energy policy, public health, environmental sustainability, and climate change. His work ranges from the dynamics of organizational change and the implementation of sustainable improvement programs to climate change and the implementation of policies to promote a sustainable world. Sterman pioneered the development of “management flight simulators” for corporate and economic systems which are now used by corporations, universities, and governments around the world.

He is the author of many articles on the challenges and opportunities facing organizations today, including the book, Modeling for Organizational Learning, and the award-winning textbook, Business Dynamics.

John has received multiple awards and recognitions around the globe and has been featured in several media for his innovative use of interactive simulations in management education and policymaking, particularly in climate change and energy policy.

I had the privilege to be John’s student, and I see the world now differently…. Definitely through a system dynamic lens but also through a lens of responsibility we all have as leaders to make the world a more sustainable and healthier place.

Learn more about climate solutions through En-ROADS an online simulator where John Sterman is Senior Advisor and Dr. Elizabeth Sawin is co-founder and Senior Advisor.

Fighting Inertia – Doug Bruce

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Fighting Inertia - Doug Bruce
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Leading through pandemics, crises, innovation breakthroughs, and transformations is Dr. Doug Bruce’s specialty. From HIV pandemic management in most hit countries to leading large transformations in the US healthcare system, Doug will share his key learning from overcoming silos to reaching the “truth” in moments of crisis and change. His leadership lessons are insightful for all of us whether in public health, private sector, or NGO: be creative, be a listener, and be humble. Doug spreads love by treating people with dignity, ensuring they know and perceive their value, and this spreads to patients…

“We build trust through transparency, humility, and honesty.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr. Doug Bruce associate Chief of Clinical Affairs at Boston University School of Medicine.

Dr. Robert Doug Bruce is Associate Chief of Clinical Affairs at Boston University School of Medicine and Director of Primary Care at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Prior to those roles, Doug transformed healthcare in the New Haven community focusing on the largest health center in new haven on quality and value-based care which resulted in significant savings for CT Medicaid and the community. Doug was also Chief of Medicine at Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Yale University.

Doug is a global expert in substance use disorders in people with HIV and hepatitis C. He has published widely on the topic of substance use disorders and HIV. He has provided technical assistance to CDC, NIH, and the United Nations.

In September 2020, Doug moved to Boston to join BU and BMC to continue practice transformation, innovation, and quality improvement within a safety net organization’s large academic medical practice.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Doug Bruce

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this podcast, joined today by Dr Robert Bruce Associate Chief of Clinical Affairs at Boston University School of Medicine, and Director of Primary Care at Boston Medical Center (BMC). Prior to those roles, Robert transformed healthcare in the New Haven community focusing in the largest health center in new haven on quality and value based care…

Voice of Change – Rosemarie Day

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Voice of Change - Rosemarie Day
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There are too many issues in the world that we need to solve! This is what drives Rosemarie Day and connects her to her purpose. Her strongest belief is that healthcare is a human right. Through her sense of purpose, collaboration, a healthy dose of patience balanced with impatience and a sense of urgency, Rosemarie led large healthcare reforms that made life better for millions of people. Listen to her story, her journey, her insights, and why she believes that women can lead the fight for universal healthcare and be the voice of change.

“Take the longer view and stick with it.”

MEET OUR GUEST Rosemarie Day, Founder & CEO of Day Health Strategies; Author & Speaker.

Rosemarie Day served as the founding Deputy Director & Chief Operating Officer of the Health Connector in Massachusetts. At the Health Connector in 2006, she helped lead the launch of health reform in Massachusetts, which became the model for the Affordable Care Act. Prior to this role, she was the Chief Operating Officer of the Massachusetts Medicaid program, among other state leadership positions. She has been working on health reform ever since, and is passionate about universal healthcare and women’s health issues. She is the founder and CEO of Day Health Strategies, a successful mission-driven, woman-owned consulting firm that celebrated its 12th anniversary in July. 

As a healthcare reform expert and CEO, Rosemarie Day, who is also a breast cancer survivor, has written a book to galvanize women to take action to make health care a right in the US. Its title is “Marching Toward Coverage: How Women Can Lead the Fight for Universal Healthcare” (Beacon Press, 2020). With 28 million Americans uninsured, and millions more who can’t afford their coverage, Rosemarie asks the fundamental question: Can we, as a nation, do better? Rosemarie believes we can and will—once women begin to engage collectively around this topic.

Rosemarie brings a feminist lens to the universal health care debate and seeks to empower more women to engage in that debate. She simplifies complex policy ideas about making change in the health care coverage system into an approachable and engaging framework. She combines a personal perspective on health policy with a professional perspective – she’s at once a health policy expert, strategist, and implementer, as well as a mother, daughter and friend who has faced some challenging health issues. She offers no easy panacea, but instead delivers a pragmatic path forward, one that recognizes health care as a fundamental human right, factors in the role of social determinants, and ensures coverage for all.

More about Rosemarie’s work here: https://rosemarieday.com/

Links to her book: Barnes and NobleIndieboundAmazon, BeaconPenguin Random House, and Porter Square Books.

Know What You Don’t Know – Susan Silbermann

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Know What You Don't Know - Susan Silbermann
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When we think of inspiring leaders, we remember those we learned from by watching how they did what they do. It is those we want to follow and be like. It is those who made us feel valued and heard, those who made us grow after each interaction even when it is an unpleasant conversation. Because people remember how they felt when you left the room, lead from a place of genuine care and love. Hear more from Susan Silbermann, her journey, and more of those incredible insights and learning she’s sharing with us.

“Ask the questions because you want to move the ball forward.”

MEET OUR GUEST Susan Silbermann, an accomplished, global senior business executive, with broad experience in healthcare across multiple geographies.

Curious by nature, Susan is an authentic and communicative leader who is adept at leading remote, diverse teams and who excels at working cross-functionally. This reputation extends to interactions in the policy, government affairs, and public health arenas.

She is a Board Director at HilleVax Inc (Comp Chair) and LianBio (NomGov Chair) and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of IAVI, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. She is also a member of the board of Meet the Writers, a non-profit organization bringing together authors and students in low-income NYC public schools. Previously Susan served on numerous not-for-profit and NGO boards, including Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance (member of Governance Committee); Catalyst Inc; and the Council of the Americas. In March 2021, she stepped down as Vice-Chair of the President’s Council for Doing Business in Africa.

Before retiring from Pfizer last year, Susan led a then $8B revenue, 10,000 colleagues Emerging Markets division, and Pfizer’s internal Global COVID-19 Task Force, ensuring the safety and well-being of 75,000 employees, facilities, and medicine and vaccine supply chain. In her prior role, Susan was the Global President of Pfizer Vaccines, leading operations, commercial, and business development.

Susan is looking forward to whatever lies ahead — and looking backward doesn’t really lead you anywhere new, does it?

Co-Creator of Impact – Alon Shklarek

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Co-Creator of Impact - Alon Shklarek
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“What makes you tick?” Alon Shklarek took this question to a deep reflection that led him to be free. Free to create impact through businesses, live his purpose to improve the world, and fix meaningful problems. His deep belief is that every company should have a social impact focus, and deeply think about how with their capabilities they can make the world a better place. Hear his thoughts on leadership being a team sport, his views on entrepreneurship, him not being George Clooney, and his words of wisdom on impact.

“When I see a problem I care about, I start a business.”

MEET OUR GUEST Alon Shklarek, serial impact entrepreneur, investor, and enabler.

Alon has founded, co-founded, and invested in over 25 businesses across 16 countries to date. Whether it is his ventures in the digital health space that are improving health outcomes for thousands of patients every day or his sustainability-focused ventures such as his leading plastics recycling company that gives over 100.000 tons of plastic waste a second life every year, all his companies are focused around leading with purpose and impact.

As an active Impact Investor Alon directly supports and mentors selected social entrepreneurs and is an ASN member of Ashoka, the world’s leading social entrepreneurship organization.

Besides, Alon teaches Leadership and Entrepreneurship as Guest Lecturer at MIT.

More from Alon:
Blog: https://www.alonshklarek.com/blog/category/blogpost/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alonshklarek

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Alon Shklarek

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership and love. I’m Naji your host for this episode, joined today by Alon Shklarek serial entrepreneur investor, and a serial entrepreneur. Alon has founded co-founded and invested in over 25 businesses across 16 countries. Whether it is duct plexus, the largest Indian doctors platform that solves thousands of patient cases every day, or sky plastics, a leading European recycling company that recycles over 100,000 tons…

Know When to Go – Jonathan Fleming

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Know When to Go - Jonathan Fleming
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It starts with the right people to solve the 75 steps! Jonathan Fleming is clear on what it takes to build successful biotech companies. He has built, cofounded, and funded several companies serving and changing the lives of millions of patients worldwide. Great leaders are humble and mindful enough to understand the blessing they were given for them to give back. They lead with care and love, especially in healthcare. Leadership is also about knowing when to go. In this provocative episode, you will hear incredible insights and straightforward words of wisdom. A great summary for us leading healthcare organizations: we should never forget our moral, ethical, and legal responsibility for patients, employees, and shareholders.

“Leading with love and care is something you should do to the core of your being in healthcare.”

MEET OUR GUEST Jonathan Fleming Executive Chairman of QurAlis and Enclear Therapies. Former President and CEO of Q-State Biosciences, and former Managing Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners, an international venture capital firm specialized in life science investments.

Jonathan has been founding, financing, and operating breakthrough life science companies for over 30 years in the USA, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. During his career, he has raised more than $1 billion for early-stage investment funds that made more than 200 investments resulting in over 20 IPOs and 40 M&A events.

Jonathan has been the CEO of a neuroscience company, been the chairman of the board of numerous organizations, and been a director of many public and private companies. He has participated in the creation of numerous startups and has worked with seven different Nobel laureates to create and build companies based upon their work.

Jonathan has been a senior lecturer at the Sloan School since 2002 where I met him in an incredible class on strategic decisions in Life Science. 

Committed to Serve – Umbereen Nehal

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Committed to Serve - Umbereen Nehal
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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and don’t forget Belonging. Belonging is one of the most crucial aspects we talk less about but greatly impacts us. We also talked about Health Equity, what it means, and what we can do as healthcare leaders – it starts by raising the problem for us to start solving it! Hear why quality is about love and other incredible insights in this conversation with a Top Voice in healthcare, Dr. Umbereen Nehal.

“You have to raise a problem for it to be problem-solved.”

MEET OUR GUEST Umbereen S. Nehal, MD, MPH is a Dean’s Fellow and Sloan Fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her work is at the intersection of technology, policy, and healthcare delivery to diverse populations.

Umbereen is a recognized thought leader on human-centered health information technology (HIT) design, ethical artificial intelligence (AI), payment reform, quality, and reducing disparities. Educated at Aga Khan University Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Nehal trained at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine followed by the Harvard Pediatric Health Services Research Fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. Four times Dr. Nehal has been named “LinkedIn Top Voice” for “Healthcare” and as a “Top Female Voice” on International Women’s Day. As Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs of Community Healthcare Network, Dr. Nehal led a 14-site multi-specialty certified Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) serving 85,000 New Yorkers including behavioral health integration and telehealth. She had oversight of over 700 staff and a $100 million operating budget.

Dr. Nehal served as Associate Medical Director of MassHealth — a Medicaid program serving 1.6 million members and accounting for 40% of the state budget — providing leadership on program development and evaluation, cost effectiveness evaluation, population health initiatives, and state-wide information “HIway” for intraoperability. Dr. Nehal served as clinical lead for the 5-year restructuring to create new Accountable Care Organization (ACO) models, co-leading a successful bid for $1.8b in new investment from Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS). Dr. Nehal has expertise in leading multi-disciplinary teams for change management. She designed novel HIT for Medicare Advantage plans to track and rank new forms of data used for payment by CMS and contributed to a Series C fund raise for a client that offers an integrated cloud-based medial data and extraction platform enhanced by AI and natural language processing (NLP). As an MIT Sloan Fellow Dr. Nehal led an AI-focused hackathon, drawing hundreds of innovators from around the world, for human-centered
design solution in the age of COVID-19 and was an invited senior author on a chapter on business models, payment metrics, and business ethics for medical AI.

Dr. Nehal served as co-chair of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Healthcare Delivery and Disparities Research advisory panel, she informed national funding priorities for a portfolio of over $300 million clinical effectiveness evaluations. She co-authored national curriculum on the Patient-Centered Medical Home, now disseminated to over 8,000 residents. She is published on use of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to promote transition planning for children with disabilities. She provided expert review to the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s medical home curriculum. Elected by her peers, she served as district representative and on the board for the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A frequent invited stakeholder to the White House,
CMS, HHS, and NIH, she was asked to moderate a panel for U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Regina
Benjamin. Dr. Nehal served as the Principal Investigator of a community health grant to partner with community-based organizations and faith groups in low-resourced communities to promote improved heart health aligned with the Culture of Health. Dr. Nehal’s national leadership on community engagement won recognition from President Obama.

Mind Medication – Aden Eyob

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Mind Medication - Aden Eyob
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In this episode, I had a great conversation with a leader in Mindset: Aden Eyob. Aden is a clinical neuroscientist and author of the Book on Mind Training: The Secret for Positive Living. She is the founder and CEO of Mind Medication, a fusion of neuroscience-psychology and spirituality-based mindset consulting and speaker service that helps uncover people’s “why”, unlock potential, and free limiting beliefs to achieve the impossible. Aden’s mission is a world free from limiting beliefs. Her formula is straightforward: Change your thought for it to be positive, it brings positive emotions and leads to the correct behavior. Hear about her great CALM framework: Clarity of the why, Accountability of goals, Love and self-care, and Motivators.

“Thought + Emotion = Behavior”

MEET OUR GUEST Aden Eyob, Founder & CEO at Mind Medication, Author, Speaker, and Clinical Neuroscientist.

Aden has over ten years of business experience working with Fortune 500 companies, including Gilead Sciences, Kite Pharma, Medpace, Kantar Health, Ogilvy Healthworld, and academic institutions such as UCLA and Charles R. Drew University. Currently, Aden is the founder and CEO of Mind Medication, a fusion of neuroscience-psychology and spirituality-based mindset consulting, coaching, and speaker service that helps organizations uncover their why, unlock potential; and free limiting beliefs to achieve the impossible.

Before beginning her business, Aden spent most of her career in Biotechnology, most notable, three years at Gilead Sciences / Kite Pharma. She worked as a Clinical Trial Management professional within the oncology therapy unit. She also led Gilead’s Leadership Organization of Black Employees (GLOBE) Community Outreach Pillar, which engages in philanthropic endeavors and investments that provide opportunities to give back to the UK communities in which Gilead operates.

Aden’s innovative thinking and mindfulness approach towards her career, health, and personal commitments were recognized by her peers and awarded the Women at Gilead Life Balance Award for 2018. Moreover, Aden is the recipient of Brainz CREA Global Awards 2021 in recognition of her innovative ideas, adaptability in business, and contribution to mental health projects.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Aden Eyob

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership and love. I’m Naji your host for this episode and I have the pleasure to be with Aden Eyob, a leader in mindset. Aden is a clinical neuroscientist and author of the book on mind training, the secret of positive living. She is the founder and CEO of mind medication. A fusion of neuroscience, psychology and SP spirituality based mindset consulting and speaker service…

The Key is People – Zen Chu

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The Key is People - Zen Chu
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Zen Chu built and invested in several successful medical and healthcare companies, his key to success: People first. When reflecting on the investor side, this doesn’t change either, it starts with people. For Zen, the best leaders and investors are those focused on impact, and when love is in their life, it allows them to be laser-focused on the impact they bring. In this episode, hear Zen’s incredible personal story and journey, his insightful advice, and lessons learned from leading turnarounds to building extremely successful ventures!

“Love in your life allows you to focus purely on impact.”

MEET OUR GUEST Zen Chu, Health Tech Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor.

Faculty Director for the Healthcare Ventures graduate courses and Hacking Medicine student teams at MIT, Harvard Medical School and UCLA.

As founder of four medical companies and Hacking Medicine Venture Capital fund, Zen has 25 years of experience building early-stage medical technology and healthcare service companies, usually serving among the first investors in companies like PillPack.com, Abridge.com, FeelMore Labs, Nurx.com, Aptible, Luminopia, Molecule.to, MycoMedica, DirectDerm and a few others still in stealth mode.

Zen cofounded and served as CEO for 3D-Matrix Medical Inc. a venture-backed MIT regenerative medicine company with a successful IPO in 2011. 3D-Matrix has wound-healing and drug-delivery products on the market outside of the US and multiple human clinical trials in process.

I met Zen through the MIT Healthcare Ventures, a course that teaches entrepreneurship, business models, and venture creation around technology that can transform healthcare. Zen actively consults companies in pharma, health tech, and healthcare systems struggling to adapt to global digital healthcare transformation and emerging markets.

Referent Leadership – Jim Dougherty

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SpreadLove In Organizations
Referent Leadership - Jim Dougherty
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You rarely chat with a leader with such extensive successful experience, from building companies to being on boards of large institutions, whose purpose is to make people happy. Through his humility and focus on mutual respect, transparency, and honesty, Jim Dougherty believes that one of the most important keys to success is the culture you create in a company. For him, culture should be created strategically in every company including startups, and not only be words on a wall or a slide. You’ll hear incredible advice on how to lead turnarounds while engaging teams to thrive and be at their best. In the end, people will remember how they felt with you, and this is the legacy that will remain…

“People want to work with you because they want to learn how to behave like you.”

MEET OUR GUEST Jim Dougherty Executive Chairman and Co-Founder at Madaket Health.

Jim is an entrepreneur, senior executive, and also Senior Lecturer in Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management at MIT. He has extensive experience working directly with investors to execute highly successful turnarounds of troubled companies. He has stabilized and recapitalized such companies as Gartner, IntraLinks, Prodigy, and Small Business ISP. At Lotus Development Corporation, Jim was the founder of eApps (Internet Division), and he created the NOTES: NEWSSTAND business publishing service which was later sold successfully. He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow for Business and Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He sits on the board of different institutions too.

Jim is on the Board of Trustees for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he Chairs the Research Oversight Committee, Bright Spirit Children’s Foundation, and the Foreign Policy Association in New York City.

Jim holds a BA in government from Framingham State University, an MA in international economics from Columbia University, and a Graduate Certificate of Special Studies in finance and administration from Harvard University.

Here are the great articles from Jim Dougherty we mentioned in the episode published in Harvard Business Review – HBR.

Change Needs Courage & Data – Dimitris Bertsimas

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Change Needs Courage & Data - Dimitris Bertsimas
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AI is simply the future, more explicitly Dimitris Bertsimas likes to talk about analytics which is for him the science of using data to build models that lead to decisions that impact the world positively. Personalized medicine is the aspiring future that we will get to soon. As leaders, we will have to drive those changes. This needs courage and openness to what data tells us. Hear from a leader who changed medical practices through data, models and decisions and impacted positively thousands of lives. “The beauty of computers is they don’t get tired”, but they can’t replace humans, hear more about it in this episode.

“Love is the most significant aspect of human happiness”

MEET OUR GUEST Dimitris Bartsimas Associate Dean of Business Analytics, Boeing Professor of Operations Research, and faculty director of the Master of Business Analytics at MIT.

Dimitris is Global Operations Professor of Management, a Professor of Operations Research, and the Associate Dean for the Master of Business Analytics at MIT.

A faculty member since 1988, his research interests include optimization, stochastic systems, machine learning, and their application. In recent years, he has worked in robust optimization, statistics, healthcare, transportation, and finance. Dimitris is also a serial entrepreneur and was a co-founder of Dynamic Ideas, sold to American Express. He is also the founder of Dynamic Ideas Press, a publisher of scientific books, the cofounder of Benefits Science, a company that designs health care plans for companies, Dynamic Ideas Financial, a company that provides financial advice to customers, of Alpha Dynamics, an asset management company, P2 Analytics, an analytics consulting company, and of MyA health, a personalized health care advice company. 

Dimitris has coauthored more than 200 scientific papers and several books. He is the former department editor of Optimization for Management Science and of Operations Research in Financial Engineering. A member of the National Academy of Engineering and an INFORMS fellow, he has received numerous research awards, including the Harold Larnder Prize (2016), the Philip Morse Lectureship prize (2013), the William Pierskalla best paper award in health care (2013), best paper award in Trapsoration (2013), the Farkas Prize (2008), the Erlang Prize (1996), the SIAM Prize in Optimization (1996), the Bodossaki Prize (1998), and the Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991–1996). He has also received recognition for his educational contributions: The Jamieson prize (2013) and the Samuel M. Seegal prize (1999). 

Dimitris holds a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, as well as an MS in operations research and a PhD in applied mathematics and operations research from MIT.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Dimitris Bertsimas

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this episode joined today by Dimitris Bertsimas Professor of Management, Operations Research, and Associate Dean for the Master of Business Analytics at MIT. A faculty member since 1988, Dimitris’ research include optimization, stochastic systems, machine learning, and their application in different sectors including healthcare. Dimitris is also a serial entrepreneur, he cofounded several companies like Dynamic…

Compassionate Leader – Marissa Afton

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Compassionate Leader - Marissa Afton
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We’ve been hearing a lot lately about empathy and its importance in leadership (finally!), have you heard about compassionate leadership? Marissa Afton will take us through her work and research on what compassionate leaders do to build and engage high-performing teams and deliver success. You’ll also hear about self-care and the importance of “kindness to self” with great practical tips for us to fit in our daily schedules, like performance breaks and self space.

“Do Hard Things in a Human Way”

MEET OUR GUEST Marissa Afton International Partner & Head of Global Accounts at Potential Project

Marissa is a Partner and Head of Global Accounts at Potential Project. She is a driving force behind leadership development and change initiatives at multinational companies, helping leaders and organizations unlock their potential to create cultural excellence and superior performance, resilience, and innovation. 

A mindfulness practitioner for over 25 years, Marissa is recognized for her breadth of knowledge and deep experience in transforming organizations by transforming the mind.

She is a sought-after speaker at leadership conferences about the impact of mind training on high-performing cultures, as well as the mental qualities of excellent leaders. She works with many Fortune 500 companies including Bloomberg, Cisco, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and White & Case, among others.

Here’s the link to her latest book on compassionate leadership https://www.potentialproject.com/resources#01-books

The Two Should Coexist – Richard Kivel

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SpreadLove In Organizations
The Two Should Coexist - Richard Kivel
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VC and Love? Can those two words coexist? For Richard Kivel, a renowned VC in healthcare, the most valuable VCs in the end, are those who are empathetic and direct at the same time. They are with you when there are problems, and point them out recognizing that things don’t usually go as planned. For him, it is the love versus fear concept. When investing in companies, he looks for devoted CEO, truthful and focused, with a vision and passion for the company, a CEO who is loved rather than feared! “If people feel valued, they feel loved, if they feel loved they are going to be committed, If they are committed, the organization will have a higher probability of success.” So, it really comes down to LOVE.

“Look for a CEO who is loved, not feared.”

MEET OUR GUEST Richard Kivel Investor & Board Director in Technology and Healthcare.

Richard serves as the Managing Director of GrayBella Capital LLC, a Pan-European venture capital firm based in London, investing in growth-stage technology and healthcare companies.

Since 2021 he has served as a Board member of Lottery.com, a publicly-traded (Nasdaq: LTRY) leading technology company that is transforming how, where and when lottery is played. Since 2018, Richard has served as Chairman of the Board of BC Platforms, a Zurich, Switzerland-based bio-computing leader.

Before this, Richard was Executive Chairman of the Board of ViS Research Inc., leading to a successful acquisition by IMS Health. In addition, he was a Board Director and Chairman of the nominating committee of Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: RNN) from 2010 until 2013.

Richard’s executive management experience also includes a Senior Management position at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, and two Chief Executive Officer positions: TheraGenetics, Ltd. from 2006 until 2009, and MolecularWare, Inc. from 2001 until 2004. Both companies were successfully acquired.

He has served various roles at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including as the Chairman and President of the MIT Enterprise Forum, a Board member of the MIT Alumni Association, and is a regular Lecturer at MIT and other schools. He is also a Trustee of Bankinter Innovation Foundation, a technology think-tank based in Madrid.

Genuine Love – Bob Jones

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Genuine Love - Bob Jones
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When Bob heard the word love, he was really not sure… Hear his thoughts on the true meaning of spreading love in organizations from helping others realize their dreams to giving space for your people to thrive. Leadership is courage, entrepreneurship is loneliness, and if you go that route make sure the need is unmet, customers really think what you are providing is better, and ensure the sustainability of your venture.

“Help them connect the dots to the purpose, inspire them, and get out of the way!”

MEET OUR GUEST Bob Jones Entrepreneur, CEO, Speaker, Author of “The Start-Up Starter Kit”.

Bob is CEO of Scientific Nutrition Products, Inc. The company addresses medical conditions by creating and selling nutrition-based products. Bob was previously a Principal at Scientia Advisors, a strategy consulting firm, where Bob led the Nutrition and Wellness practice. Prior to Scientia, Bob was President and CEO of Vitasoy USA, Inc., the nation’s largest marketer and manufacturer of tofu and the pioneer of soymilk in America. This was a management turn-around.

Before joining Vitasoy, Bob launched three start-ups in the medical nutrition field. Each company addressed chronic medical disorders such as diabetes via specifically targeted nutrition products (rather than drugs). All three start-ups were with staff and faculty at Harvard Medical School. Each company turned leading-edge science into consumer products that were sold through retail pharmacies.

Bob has held executive positions at several other companies, including Abbott Laboratories and Baxter International. He has two awarded patents in the field of nutrition. He is an active mentor with MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service and has served as a judge in MIT’s 100K Business Plan Competition. He has an A.B. in biology from Princeton University and an MSM from MIT Sloan.

After hours, Bob plays in a blues band in the Boston area and is a springboard diver, and an enthusiastic motorcyclist.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Bob Jones

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji, your host for this episode joined today by Bob Jones, serial healthcare industry, entrepreneur. Bob is founder and currently CEO of scientific nutrition products, a company addressing medical conditions by creating and selling nutrition based products. Bob was previously a principal at CIA advisors, a strategy consulting firm, where Bob led the nutrition and wellness practice. Prior to that, Bob was…

Effective Leadership – Ben Shields

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Effective Leadership - Ben Shields
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We hear a lot about transferable managerial skills from sports to corporate and entrepreneurial world, Ben Shields summarized those to two key components: common goal for teams and measurable performance. Along those comes a crucial leadership skill of creating and maintaining a winning culture, which is a collective set of actions and behaviors that defines it, and best teams are obsessive about ensuring the culture is sustainable daily. This starts by building a learning culture based on mutual understanding. On a more individual level, success for Ben is driven by passion, hard work and luck. What about data and decision making? “Data can help you be less wrong in your decisions.”

“Great leaders make those around them better.”

MEET OUR GUEST Ben Shields Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management.

Ben Shields is a Senior Lecturer in Managerial Communication at the MIT. He studies the multibillion-dollar sports industry to identify broadly transferable management lessons in areas such as leadership communication, data-driven decision making, and innovation. 

Ben authored three books, Social Media Management: Persuasion in Networked Culture (Oxford University Press, 2016), The Sports Strategist: Developing Leaders for a High Performance Industry (Oxford University Press, 2015), and The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace (McGraw-Hill, 2006), teaches and directs a number of courses and programs.  

Prior to MIT, Ben served as the Director of Social Media and Marketing at ESPN. He oversaw social media strategy for the ESPN brand and collaborated across the enterprise to develop and implement company-wide social strategy. He also worked on marketing strategy for several ESPN brands and sub-brands, including the SportsCenter “DaDaDa” campaign and the Emmy Award-winning “It’s Not Crazy, It’s Sports” brand campaign. 

Ben holds a BS and MA in communication studies and a PhD in media, technology, and society, all from Northwestern University. 

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Ben Shields

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji your host for this episode, joined today by Ben Shields, senior lecturer in managerial communication at the MIT. Ben studies the multibillion dollar sports industry to identify broadly transferable management lessons in areas such as leadership, communication, data driven, decision making and innovation. Ben teaches a number of courses. And I had the privilege to be in one of those where…

The Scientist Leader – Angelique Adams

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The Scientist Leader - Angelique Adams
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What if we start as leaders by sharing our own challenges, our vulnerabilities, our stories with our people? This might be the first step to bringing back humanity into leadership and building empathy with our teams. From engineering and technical expertise to leadership, executive coaching and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion role model, Angelique Adams shared her story, experiences, and learning with us. Focus on people, on their entire well-being and results at the same time, and most importantly care for the whole person they are. Finally, don’t forget to celebrate more your team, even the small wins!

“Help people have a seat at the table.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr Angelique Adams, Author, speaker, and executive coach.

Angelique Adams is an author, speaker, and executive coach focusing on leadership development for scientists and engineers. Angelique is an engineer with 25 years of experience in operations, strategy, and innovation. She was Director of R&D at aluminum giant Alcoa, and Chief Innovation Officer at multibillion dollar steelmaker, Aperam. After leading hundreds of scientists and engineers around the world, she discovered her true passion is developing people, not products. 

Following the successful publication of her first book for women in STEM in 2021, she launched Angelique Adams Media Solutions, a distribution platform for her books, online courses, and coaching programs. Her second book, for women executives in college athletics will be out this summer.

Angelique lives in Knoxville with her husband and 2 children. She serves on the board of several local nonprofits and volunteers her time to mentor entrepreneurs. She has a Ph.D. from Penn State and an MBA from MIT.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Angelique Adams

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji your host for this episode joined today by Dr. Angelique Adams, an author speaker, and executive coach focusing on leadership development for scientists and engineers. Angelique is an engineer with 25 years of experience in operations strategy and innovation. She was director of R and D. At aluminum, giant OAA and chief innovation officer at multibillion dollar steel maker, ARA after…

Multisolver Leader – Elizabeth Sawin

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SpreadLove In Organizations
Multisolver Leader - Elizabeth Sawin
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Sustainability is all about: how are we on this planet and how are we with each other? We can’t continue living on this planet looking at the world as a “pyramid”, a lens of supremacy and extraction of natural resources and labor. Every year of delay means losses and communities we can not recover… Thinking of the world as an interconnected web is the most important action we can take as leaders in each of the decisions we make. Think of it in a staff meeting ensuring all voices are being heard, while building your next manufacturing site ensuring it includes all lives and flows, think of circular economies…. The most impactful projects are the small ones who started to fix a problem that resolved another and entered in a positive loop of change improving the broader environment and community. The key for leaders is to keep a role of learners as we tackle these issues and make disruption of inequities part of our priorities.

“Lead by thinking of the world as an interconnected web.”

MEET OUR GUEST Elizabeth Sawin Founder and Director of the Multisolving Institute.

Elizabeth Sawin is the Founder and Director of the Multisolving Institute. Beth is an expert on solutions that address climate change while also improving health, well-being, equity, and economic vitality. She developed the idea of ‘multisolving’ to help people see and create the conditions for such win-win-win solutions. 

Beth writes and speaks about multisolving, climate change, and leadership in complex systems for both national and international audiences. Her work has been published widely, including in Non-Profit Quarterly, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, U. S. News, The Daily Climate, and System Dynamics Review.

She has trained and mentored global sustainability leaders in the Donella Meadows Fellows Program and provided systems thinking training to both Ashoka and Dalai Lama Fellows. Since 2014, Beth has participated in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, a continuing dialogue on issues of climate change and sustainability among a select group of humanities scholars, writers, artists, and climate scientists. 

Beth is also a member of the advisory board to the Kresge Foundation’s Climate Change Health and Equity Program. A biologist with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Beth co-founded Climate Interactive in 2010 and served as Climate Interactive’s Co-Director from 2010 until 2021. While at Climate Interactive, she led the scientific team that offered the first assessment of the sufficiency of country pledges to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2008. Beth also led Climate Interactive’s efforts to integrate measures of equity, health and well-being into decision support tools and computer simulations. 

Beth trained in system dynamics and sustainability with Donella Meadows and worked at Sustainability Institute, the research institute founded by Meadows, for 13 years. She has two adult daughters and lives in rural Vermont where she and her husband grow as much of their own food as they can manage.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Elizabeth Sawin

Naji: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I’m Naji your host for this episode joined by Elizabeth Sawin founder and director of the Multisolving Institute. Beth is an expert on solutions that address climate change while also improving health, wellbeing, equity, and economic fire fatality. She developed the idea of multisolving to help people see and create the conditions for such win-win solutions. Her work has been published widely. She…

Benevolent Leadership – Yacine Hadjiat

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Benevolent Leadership - Yacine Hadjiat
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Driven by curiosity, trying, failing, trying again while exploring the world, is what shaped Yacine Hadjiat’s incredible leadership journey. This curiosity led him to reinvent himself constantly, putting himself in vulnerable positions that taught him lessons we all should learn from: listen, ask, observe, understand, be open, stay humble and most importantly be benevolent as a leader. Start with the “who”, the people, the team to deliver exceptional innovations. Hear Yacine’s thoughts on digital health and innovation crystallized beautifully with his words “what excites me is what I don’t know yet, new vectors, new possibilities… digital will bring to health what internet brought to tech”.

“Define your why, bring the who, and work on the what.”

MEET OUR GUEST Dr Yacine Hadjiat Global Head of Biogen Digital Health Solutions

Dr Yacine Hadjiat holds medical degree with a specialization in Pain Management and supportive care (from both Paris Medical University and McGill University), as well as a MBA in Health Management. He has also completed several training courses and specializations in addiction, pediatric pain management, clinical research, health economics and Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare.

Throughout his career, he has covered several senior leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as clinical practice and academic medical research in Europe, US and Asia.

He started his journey in the pharmaceutical industry in France with Sanofi-Aventis in the Strategy and Public Affairs department before joining Grünenthal in Medical Affairs. He joined Mundipharma in 2011 in Paris where he served as Head of Medical Affairs for France, and then as Head of Medical Affairs for Europe based in Cambridge, UK, before moving to Singapore as Chief Medical Officer for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Latin America and Global Head of Medical for Consumer Healthcare. Currently, Yacine is the Global Head of Biogen Digital Health Solutions & Chief medical Officer. Based in paris, France.

Along with his career in the industry, Yacine had several years of clinical practice in pain and cancer care management including NGO work with Pain Without Borders especially in Africa and Asia and also fundamental and clinical research experience in the US at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington DC. He is also currently part of the French Health Institute (INSERM) in Public health research program.

Yacine also holds non-executive positions as advisor for governmental agencies in Singapore like the National Health Innovation Center (NHIC) and Entreprise Singapore, as well as MedTEch/healthTech incubators. He’s an author of several scientific publications from fundamental research science to clinical research projects, digital heath and health economics.

Yacine was recognised in 2018 as Top 50 Healthcare leaders at the SmartHealth conference in Dubai as a recognition for his work on equity in health and education. In 2019, he has also been awarded by the Association of Pharmaceutical Medicine Singapore (APMS) with the “Excellence in Medical Affairs Award” APMS is a chapter the International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians and Pharmaceutical Medicine (IFAPP).

Ethical Imagination – The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi

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Ethical Imagination - The Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi
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We don’t get to sit every day with someone like Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. His journey was inspired by incredible leaders he was fortunate to meet along the way. Noble prize laureates, or powerful figures in their community, who triggered questions around how to live a meaningful life. For Venerable Tenzin, in the history of humanity, the challenge of leadership is today more crucial than ever. Despite so many leadership programs thought in the best schools around the world, we suffer from a lack of ethical leadership… When we look around us, we are living in a society increasingly marked by a sense of polarization. More fear and hate than love and compassion. The world has quite often chosen to operate from a place of despair rather than from a place of hopefulness. “Hope is a game-changer”. 

No matter how small we think we are, individuals must recognize that they do have a voice, and need to exercise it; quoting Dalai Lama “if you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” In a world where nothing is constant, maintain a healthy sense of curiosity and hopefulness, talk more with people who don’t believe in what you do …This is a powerful tool to value perspective in the complex society we live in.

This episode couldn’t have been timelier and resonate with the tense environment we are living in today.

“Aspiration + Reality = Hope.”

MEET OUR GUEST Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi president and CEO of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Venerable Tenzin is an innovative thinker, a philosopher, an educator, and a polymath monk. He is Founding Director of The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a center dedicated to inquiry, dialogue, and education on the ethical and human dimensions of life. The Center at MIT has 6 Nobel Peace Laureates as its founding members and its programs run in 8 countries and expanding.

Venerable Tenzin’s unusual background encompasses entering a Buddhist monastery at the age of 10 to receiving graduate education at Harvard with degrees ranging from Philosophy to Physics to International Relations.

Venerable Tenzin serves on the Board of several academic, humanitarian, and religious organizations.  He is a recipient of several recognitions and awards, including a 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award from Harvard for his visionary contributions to humanity. 

Humbitious Leader – Amer Kaissi

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Humbitious Leader - Amer Kaissi
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Have you heard the latest word defining great Leadership? Humbitous. For Amer Kaissi, award winning Professor, exceptional leadership is all about humility and ambition combined.

While ambition might sound familiar, humility comes in 3 layers. First, relationship with ourselves: it’s about self-awareness, being aware of our strengths and areas of improvements, and looking at our capabilities as accurately as can. Second, relationship with others: it’s about generosity and giving time and effort to grow others. Finding appreciation to the intelligence of the group and having a growth mindset to go into every conversation with curiosity and assumption to learn something new. Lastly, relationship with the world: Taking the time to ponder in the grand scheme of things and acknowledge how small and insignificant we are. This layer comes as an “ego dissolver”.

When thinking of ambition in leadership, it is not narcissism. Unfortunately, narcissists tend to be chosen more for leadership position, however in the long run, they are ineffective leaders because they are self-centered, and not good team players: short term turn around but no long-lasting impact.

I will leave us as healthcare leaders with this last statement from Amer ”In Healthcare, humility is amplified by 100 because we are in the business of compassion and empathy.”

“Humility is looking at your capabilities as accurately as can.”

MEET OUR GUEST Amer Kaissi an award-winning professor of health-care administration at Trinity University, a Top-15 program.

Dr. Amer Kaissi is a professional speaker and a certified executive coach. His most recent book is “Humbitious: the power of low-ego, high-drive leadership.” He is an award-winning professor of health-care administration at Trinity University, a Top-15 program. His previous book, Intangibles: The Unexpected Traits of High-Performing Healthcare Leaders, won the 2019 ACHE Book of the Year Award.

He is a national speaker and a faculty member with ACHE, the University of Colorado Denver, and Boston College. Amer is the director of the Executive Program at Trinity University, where he teaches courses in leadership, professional development, and public speaking. Amer works with MEDI — a division of Navvis — and with the Leadership Development Group as an executive coach, and consults with hospitals and other organizations in their strategic planning efforts. Amer is also a certified executive and physician coach. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and their two teenagers.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Amer Kaissi

Naji: Hello leaders of the word. Welcome to spread love in organizations, a podcast for purpose driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world, by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership and love. I’m Naji, your host, having the pleasure to chat today with Professor Amer Kaissi and discuss his most recent book Humbitious: The Power of Low-Ego, High-Drive Leadership. Amer is an award winning professor of healthcare administration at Trinity university, the top 15 program. His previous book Intangibles: The Unexpected Traits of High-performing Healthcare Leaders won the 2019 ACHE book of…

Lead Without Labels – Christi Shaw

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Lead Without Labels - Christi Shaw
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Looking back into your past, do you regret not taking the time to pause and cherish precious moments with your loved ones? Or not being there when they needed you the most? It is unlikely to listen to Christi Shaw and not pause and reflect on your personal story.

What strikes us is the strong sense of care, love, family and the desire to make an impact she conveys when sharing genuinely her story with us with all its highs and lows. Christi shares her lifelong learning and leadership philosophy “Never let success go to your head; never let failure go to your heart”. Because when you are at your best, you help people be at their best. For her, leadership is all about enabling others to move forward by leveraging what everybody brings to the table. It is about leading without labels, without hierarchy, and barriers to collaboration.

Listening to Christi, beyond respect, you can’t but admire her strength from miles away and the genuine soul behind the incredible leader she is… As she says, life is too short, and “we spend too many hours at work just to be respected and not loved”.

My biggest learning:  being compassionate and spreading love and caring at work is a good thing.

MEET OUR GUEST Christi Shaw Chief Executive Officer of Kite.

Christi Shaw serves as Chief Executive Officer of Kite, a Gilead Company. Kite is the only company with global scale dedicated exclusively to the research, commercialization and manufacturing of cell therapy to treat cancer.

Christi is driven by values, integrity and a deep connection to people living with cancer and their loved ones after losing both her mother and sister to cancer. Under Christi’s leadership, Kite has received four FDA approvals for its CAR T-cell therapies in just four years for certain types of blood cancer and is working to bring CAR T to more patients. Kite recently released 5-year patient survival data, a significant milestone showing durable long-term survival and suggestive of a potential cure for these patients.

Christi currently serves on the board of directors of Avantor and the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) and is on the executive committee and the board of directors of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

Christi holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Iowa State University and an MBA from the University of Wisconsin. She resides with her husband and son in Santa Monica, California.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Christi Shaw

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host, having the pleasure and honor to have with me today Christi Shaw, Chief Executive Officer of Kyte. Christi serves as CEO of Kite, Gilead’s cell therapy company. Based in Santa Monica, California, Kite is pursuing the ambitious goal of a cure for cancer with industry-leading pipeline and manufacturing capabilities. In her role, Christi is responsible for all…

Open Mind, Open Heart, Open Will – Otto Scharmer

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Open Mind, Open Heart, Open Will - Otto Scharmer
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A transformational episode with a social transformer and thinker, Otto Scharmer. Hear in this episode from the creator of Theory U and the Presencing institute. The pandemic was a mirror of what is broken in our society. We all have a responsibility as leaders and change-makers to fix that, to improve the world, the planetary wellbeing. We can achieve that by sensing, feeling the emerging future possibilities, and embodying them now. Learning from the past is not good enough, we should learn from the emerging future… All we need to do is ask ourselves: What is mine to do? Find that one piece we are polishing as a leader and put it into the path of the future.

“Lead by activating the intelligence of the heart.”

MEET OUR GUEST Otto Scharmer, a social transformer, an MIT professor and incredible leader.

Otto is a Senior Lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He chairs the MIT IDEAS program for cross-sector innovation and introduced the concept of “presencing”—learning from the emerging future—in his bestselling books Theory U and Presence. He is co-author of Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points for transforming capitalism. His most recent book, The Essentials of Theory U summarizes the core principles and applications of awareness-based systems change.

In 2015 Otto co-founded the MITx u.lab and in 2020 the GAIA journey, which have activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 200,000 users from 185 countries. Otto is a member of the UN Learning Advisory Council for the 2030 Agenda, the World Future Council, and the Club of Rome’s High-Level 21st Century Transformational Economics Commission.

Otto has won several prizes and received in 2021 the Elevating Humanity Award from the Organizational Development Network.

Be Useful To People – Theodore Leondaridis

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A “global citizen” as he defines himself, a leader and multicultural manager, we had the pleasure to host Theodore Leondaridis in this inspiring episode! He shared about how he built a culture of feedback, a culture of trust, where people feel safe to say what they think and thrive towards the shared purpose of the company. Theodore defines leadership as being useful for people; what a great example of loving leadership!

“Get on the boat and change!”

MEET OUR GUEST Theodore Leondaridis General Manager at Pierre Fabre Spain.

Theodore Leondaridis is General Manager at Pierre Fabre in Spain. He always wanted to be a veterinarian but then decided otherwise! Moving to Basic Science then ESCP business school in 2013, he then joined Pierre Fabre as a trainee in Corporate Business Development. Theodore then had different experiences as Financial Analyst, Global Oncology Launch Manager, Oncology Business Unit Director in Portugal, along with different leadership responsibilities. Theodore is now heading Pierre Fabre Medical Care in Spain as the General Manager where he is leading a team of more than 250 people.

Theodore is a global healthcare leader, a husband, and a father of 2 amazing young kids.

From Data To Impact – Georgia Perakis

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From the island of Crete in Greece to the US, Georgia Perakis fulfilled her father’s dream. We wouldn’t have imagined that analytics could actually change the world and make a real difference. Georgia took it even further and talks about an analogy with data to understand the power of diversity and inclusion. Her pragmatic vision of using data is invaluable and makes us see things through a different lens. Start by filtering out the noise around big data and asking the big question: what is the problem I am trying to solve? Before big data, let’s start talking about “little data” and missing data to put things in order and see the big picture. Georgia definitely won her students’ hearts but also the analogy of the year by comparing MIT to a great candy store to choose from! Thank you for being who you are and for your exceptional leadership!

“The Love Large Numbers: Look at the long term goal, focus on the end outcome rather than looking at the present failure, persist… it will work out eventually.”

MEET OUR GUEST Georgia Perakis, Professor of Management, Operations Research, Statistics, and Operations Management.

Prof Georgia Perakis teaches at MIT Sloan courses and performs research in analytics, optimization, machine learning with applications in pricing, revenue management, supply chains, transportation, energy, and healthcare among others.

In her research, Georgia investigates the theory and practice of analytics and its role in operations problems. She has received numerous awards and has several prestigious publications.

Currently, Georgia serves as the co-director of the Operations Research Center, on the council for the College of Computing, and faculty director of the Executive MBA (EMBA) program at MIT Sloan. She is also the editor-in-chief of the M&SOM journal. Prior to that role, she had also served as America’s editor in chief of the Journal of Pricing and Revenue Management, as a department editor for the journal Service Science in the area of Analytics and as an associate editor for the flagship journals: Management Science, Operations Research, M&SOM, INFORMS Journal on Optimization, and as a senior editor for POM. She has served as the chair of the RMP Section of INFORMS and as the VP of Meetings of the MSOM Society of INFORMS.  

Georgia holds a BS in mathematics from the University of Athens as well as an MS in applied mathematics and a PhD in applied mathematics from Brown University.    

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Georgia Perakis

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this episode from our new series focused on us as leaders. I’m thrilled to be joined by an exceptional MIT professor of Management, Operations Research, Statistics and Operations Management: Georgia Perakis. Georgia teaches courses and performs research in analytics, optimization, machine learning with applications in pricing, revenue management, supply chains, transportation, energy, and healthcare among others.…

Strategic Apathy – Monty Sharma

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If you are looking for inspiration, straightforward and pragmatic advice, this episode is for you! Whether you are an entrepreneur looking to start and scale a business or a healthcare leader looking to have an impact, Monty’s authentic perspective will help you see things clearer. His favorite sentence “What the heck do I know” shows his powerful humility as he mentors hundreds of startups. Monty shares insights and guidance on how to build teams as an entrepreneur and build the crucial capabilities of a leader. Hope you will enjoy this open and candid discussion.

Leadership has a moral obligation to help the team grow.”

MEET OUR GUEST Monty Sharma, serial entrepreneur, Managing Director of MassDiGI.

Monty Sharma is a serial entrepreneur, a mentor in several start-up programs, and currently Managing Director of MassDiGI. 

Prior to joining MassDiGI, Monty, a respected game industry and technology professional, was co-founder and general manager of Vivox, a voice chat service provider in the games industry with key relationships to EA, Sony, Ubisoft, Nexon, Bigpoint, and many others. Monty advises a number of game companies and is a veteran MassChallenge and MIT Sandbox mentor.

Be The Nice Kid – Rodrigo Verdi

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From Brazil to MIT Professor of Accounting awarded multiple times by his students with teaching awards, Rodrigo is more than an accounting expert and teacher, he is an incredible human leader who cares for his people and students. Listen to the best lessons of life learned in kindergarten, and many other inspiring reflections in this episode!

“Legacy in life has to be the people… Those you touched.”

MEET OUR GUEST Rodrigo Verdi Professor of Accounting at MIT Sloan.

Prof Rodrigo Verdi joined MIT in 2006 after receiving a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. He has taught financial accounting to undergraduate, MBA, EMBA, and PhD students over the last 15 years, and has received five teaching awards at MIT and Sloan.

Rodrigo is Senior Editor at the Journal of Accounting Research, and has previously been Editor at The Accounting Review and Associate Editor at Management Science. His research has been published in the premier accounting and finance journals and has also received the Distinguished Contributions and Best Paper Award recognitions by the American Accounting Association.

Outside MIT, Rodrigo has served as head of the Governance Committee on the board of the Cambridge Ellis School over the last three years and as Advisor to the Provost at Unisinos University, a Jesuit university in southern Brazil with more than 30 thousand students.

Unapologetic Unconventional Love – Loredana Padurean

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Unapologetic Unconventional Love - Loredana Padurean
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In 1972, an army doctor created the terminology “soft and hard” skills as he saw success resided not only in having people with strong machine operation skills but also in having individuals who could manage and supervise teams, along with other skills. Half a century later the world transformed enough for us as leaders to change the terms! In this episode, Prof Loredana Padurean shares her philosophy on the skills of the 21st century: SMART and SHARP! From “treating people like people”, to “love with massive humility”, Loredana, the Unapologetically Unconventional Professor, shares her incredible journey, great research stories, and her leadership beliefs, all with a very fresh perspective on the world of today.

“The job is easy, the people are not.”

MEET OUR GUEST Pr. Loredana Padurean Associate Dean at the all-new Asia School of Business.

Prof Loredana Padurean Associate Dean at the all-new Asia School of Business, a collaboration between the Central Bank of Malaysia, MIT Sloan, and an International Faculty Fellow at MIT Sloan.

Loredana is the Faculty Director for Action Learning and Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ASB. She has been an energizing force behind the establishment of the school. Under her leadership, the Action Learning program at ASB was recognized repeatedly as one of the most innovative programs in the world.  She is an international keynote and TedX speaker. She has taught in various MIT Sloan executive programs, at IMD, as well as in major companies. Prof. Loredana has an MA in Communication and Economics and a PhD in Management from USI Switzerland.

Find more about Smart x Sharp and the white paper here.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Loredana Padurean

Naji: Hello, leaders of the word. Welcome to spread love in organizations, the podcast for purpose driven healthcare leaders, striving to make lives better around the words by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership and love. I’m Naji, your host for this episode, we’re joined by Professor Loredana Padurean, associate dean at the all new Asia School of Business, the collaboration between the central bank of Malaysia, MIT Sloan, and the international faculty fellow at MIT, Sloan. Loredana is the faculty director for action learning and innovation and entrepreneurship at ASB. She has been an energizing force…

Sharing Vulnerability – Naji Gehchan

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36 episodes later, we are closing the year and our first season with a unique episode.
Going from the principle that everyone has a story worth telling, Jill Donahue hijacked the mic and turned the table… and the host became the guest.

“Everyone has a story to tell.”

Naji Gehchan

MEET OUR GUEST Naji Gehchan or your host for the past 35 episodes.

Confidence with Competence – Elsbeth Johnson

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High capability with low ego is the crucial combination for leaders of the future. It enables putting customers, businesses, purpose, and most importantly the people and the next generation of leaders before oneself. Hear from Prof Elsbeth Johnson on leadership, transformation, and more about the powerful framework she has developed after years of research on how to lead strategic change, and published recently in her great book: Step up and Step Back: How to Really Deliver Strategic Change in Your Organization.

“Great good ahead of benefit.”

MEET OUR GUEST Elsbeth Johnson Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan and expert in leadership, strategy, and change.

Dr. Elsbeth Johnson is Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and an expert on leadership, strategy, and change. The main focus of her research is on what leaders need to do to help their organizations execute strategy, or deliver long-term, strategic change, without the need for the leader’s ongoing, personal involvement. Prior to joining MIT, Elsbeth was taught leadership at London Business School and London School of Economics.

Prior to academia, Dr. Johnson worked as an investment banker, a sell-side equity analyst, and a corporate strategist. She also spent three years as a special adviser to the first Blair Government in the UK.

As a consultant and executive educator, Elsbeth has worked with a range of companies, helping them develop their strategy and the capabilities and culture that will deliver it.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Elsbeth Johnson

Naji Gehchan: Hello, leaders of the world. Welcome to “Spread Love in Organizations”, a podcast for purpose-driven healthcare leaders, striving to make life better around the world by leading their teams with genuine care, servant leadership, and love. I am Naji, your host for this exciting episode from our new series focused on us as leaders. I’m joined by Professor Elsbeth Johnson, Senior Lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management and an expert on leadership, strategy and change. The main focus for her research is on what leaders need to do to help their organizations execute strategy, or deliver long-term,…