Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leadership, Resilience and the Power of Whole Person Care with Dr. Anthony Hilliard

Transcript

Leadership, Resilience and the Power of Whole Person Care with Dr. Anthony Hilliard · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - Welcome to this episode of Leadership Unscripted, a
• 0:02
  - Becker's healthcare podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your host.
• 0:04
  - And I'm gonna be joined today by doctor
• 0:06
  - Anthony Hilliard. He's president of Loma Linda University
• 0:09
  - Health and CEO of Loma Linda University Health
• 0:12
  - hospitals in California.
• 0:14
  - Doctor Hilliard, thank you for joining us today.
• 0:17
  - My pleasure. Glad to be with you. Awesome.
• 0:19
  - Well, doctor Hilliard, this is a conversation all
• 0:21
  - about your health care journey and what you've
• 0:22
  - learned along the way. But before we get
• 0:24
  - into that, could you please introduce yourself in
• 0:26
  - a little bit more detail for those in
• 0:28
  - our audience who may not be as familiar
• 0:30
  - with your background as we are here at
• 0:31
  - Becker's?
• 0:33
  - Yeah. So,
• 0:34
  - I'm a physician, by background, an interventional cardiologist.
• 0:39
  - I... Born and raised in Southern California.
• 0:41
  - I'm actually born at this hospital and graduated,
• 0:45
  - from the school of medicine here at Loma
• 0:46
  - Linda University as a third generation,
• 0:49
  - physician graduate.
• 0:51
  - Did all of my training after medical school
• 0:53
  - at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota,
• 0:57
  - and returned back to my alma mater back
• 0:59
  - in 2009
• 1:00
  - as a practicing interventional cardiologist.
• 1:04
  - Well, doctor Hilliard, clearly given that background,
• 1:08
  - that area of Southern California is very, very
• 1:10
  - special to you. Could you explain what it
• 1:12
  - was like
• 1:13
  - growing up there and why it has become
• 1:15
  - so through you being the third generation physician
• 1:17
  - there? Yeah. I I always... Thank you for
• 1:20
  - that question. I I I say I'm I'm
• 1:22
  - I'm just blessed to be able to work
• 1:24
  - and now
• 1:25
  - serve and lead an organization
• 1:27
  - that is more than a professional home for
• 1:30
  - me. It is where I've experienced most of
• 1:33
  - life's greatest
• 1:34
  - joys.
• 1:35
  - I graduated
• 1:36
  - from our academy there, I met my wife
• 1:39
  - here, My kids have grown... I've been born
• 1:42
  - and raised here, and it's it's my home.
• 1:44
  - It's my family. It's multiple generations. It's a
• 1:47
  - community
• 1:48
  - that I've grown up in.
• 1:50
  - The people who I get to work with
• 1:52
  - are more than just people I've met at
• 1:55
  - work. I have long standing relationships with them
• 1:57
  - even outside of work. And so for me,
• 2:00
  - it's it's with great
• 2:02
  - honor and and and humility that I've been
• 2:04
  - asked to serve the organization in this capacity,
• 2:07
  - one that I I love so dearly.
• 2:09
  - That's so terrific that you've been able to
• 2:11
  - come home in in most literal sense and
• 2:13
  - invest in a community that means so much
• 2:15
  - to you. Yeah.
• 2:16
  - So doctor Hilliard,
• 2:18
  - as I mentioned, this conversation is all about
• 2:20
  - your health care journey and what you've learned
• 2:22
  - along the way. So my first question for
• 2:24
  - you is simply, what's something that you've learned
• 2:26
  - outside of health care that you've been able
• 2:28
  - to apply to your career?
• 2:31
  - Yeah. I I I... I'm I'm an athlete.
• 2:33
  - Well, I'm less of an athlete athlete now
• 2:35
  - than I once was, but I played
• 2:38
  - competitive sports my entire life. Even in the
• 2:40
  - college, I played college basketball.
• 2:43
  - And, you know, what I really appreciate
• 2:46
  - about sports is is several things. One is
• 2:49
  - you win and lose as a team. Your
• 2:51
  - successes are successes that get to be shared
• 2:54
  - by others.
• 2:55
  - And your failures are also,
• 2:58
  - experienced by others. So it's really this three
• 3:01
  - Musketeers
• 3:01
  - attitude, all for one and one for all.
• 3:03
  - I think that's very, very important. I think
• 3:05
  - the other thing
• 3:07
  - that sports really taught me growing up is
• 3:09
  - that you have to be able to work
• 3:13
  - and live and, dare I say, thrive
• 3:16
  - in a competitive environment
• 3:18
  - where there's pressure.
• 3:19
  - You know, that free throw,
• 3:22
  - with the game tied with five seconds left
• 3:24
  - in the fourth quarter really does matter.
• 3:27
  - It's not, well, you gave a good effort.
• 3:29
  - You know, your form was good. But if
• 3:30
  - the ball didn't go in, you didn't you
• 3:32
  - didn't win the game. Right?
• 3:34
  - That's okay. I mean, it's okay to recognize
• 3:36
  - that this is a competitive environment,
• 3:39
  - but I think sports really
• 3:41
  - taught me,
• 3:42
  - how to prepare
• 3:44
  - to be successful in those competitive environments.
• 3:47
  - You don't
• 3:48
  - show up and hope you make the game
• 3:49
  - winning shot
• 3:51
  - in the fourth quarter when the ball is
• 3:52
  - passed you. You've practiced that shot hundreds of
• 3:55
  - times in advance.
• 3:56
  - And I think there's a lot of lessons
• 3:58
  - to be learned in our health care,
• 4:00
  - environment today,
• 4:02
  - that were taught to many of us in,
• 4:05
  - elementary school and middle school and high school
• 4:07
  - in the world of competitive sports.
• 4:10
  - Doctor Hillier, what would you say are some
• 4:11
  - of your most proud... The proudest moments on
• 4:14
  - the basketball court or just in the basketball
• 4:17
  - environment?
• 4:18
  - Wow. I I don't know if I've ever
• 4:20
  - been asked that question before.
• 4:22
  - I think Glad we were the first. Yeah.
• 4:25
  - You you know, I would say
• 4:27
  - doing more than just, what I would call
• 4:29
  - a routine dunk in a game. I I
• 4:31
  - remember one time driving baseline and did a
• 4:33
  - one handed reverse dunk and kinda took everybody
• 4:36
  - by surprise.
• 4:37
  - You know, that was kind of a moment
• 4:39
  - for me that was, you know, a lot
• 4:41
  - of training and so forth, you know, that
• 4:44
  - was put forth. But I think probably, honestly,
• 4:46
  - in a more impactful way, and I think
• 4:48
  - this is the resilience of humans,
• 4:51
  - is,
• 4:52
  - when I was 20 years old, I've done
• 4:55
  - a lot of really,
• 4:57
  - intense
• 4:58
  - individual
• 4:59
  - sporting activities. And I was doing glacier climbing
• 5:01
  - in the Colorado Rockies, and a boulder crushed
• 5:04
  - my hand. And I lost my middle finger
• 5:06
  - on my left hand and severely damaged my
• 5:08
  - entire left hand. Almost lost my index finger.
• 5:11
  - I'm a point guard. I'm six foot two,
• 5:13
  - and I'm a point guard. And to be
• 5:14
  - able to come back... And I wasn't the
• 5:16
  - same player I once was, but to be
• 5:18
  - able to come back and play competitive basketball,
• 5:22
  - with significantly damaged hand,
• 5:25
  - missing my left finger,
• 5:28
  - which actually has a lot of impact on
• 5:29
  - passing and dribbling and so forth.
• 5:32
  - Really, to me, was probably more impactful than
• 5:34
  - any any basket I made was being able
• 5:37
  - to put the jersey back on and get
• 5:39
  - back out on the court with my teammates
• 5:42
  - after going through such a traumatic injury.
• 5:45
  - I don't hear you. That's one heck of
• 5:47
  - a comeback and testament to resilience. I dare
• 5:50
  - say you kinda buried the lead there a
• 5:52
  - little bit. But I understand if you don't,
• 5:54
  - you know, it's not something
• 5:55
  - wanna talk about at at every point. Right?
• 5:58
  - But I am curious. So glacier climbing, what
• 6:00
  - drew you to that? I mean, do you
• 6:01
  - still do activities like that? You know,
• 6:05
  - I've done all sorts of things, Chris. You
• 6:07
  - know, that there... You know, the idea that
• 6:09
  - a cat has nine lives, I've cheated that.
• 6:11
  - I'm well past that.
• 6:13
  - I've had a whole host of things. I
• 6:15
  - I loved
• 6:16
  - the thrill of of being in nature and
• 6:19
  - and and, you know, doing things whether it's
• 6:21
  - free climbing or,
• 6:23
  - whether it's out in nature with everything on
• 6:26
  - your back doing, you know, off this sort
• 6:28
  - of climbs
• 6:30
  - to
• 6:31
  - climbing
• 6:32
  - the hills of Cinque Terre in the middle
• 6:34
  - of night and falling off a trail
• 6:37
  - and literally falling
• 6:38
  - 50 feet being caught by great vineyards with
• 6:42
  - 500 feet below me being ocean and and
• 6:45
  - and and and rocks.
• 6:47
  - If you know Cinque Terre, Italy, those five
• 6:49
  - cities there, those hills,
• 6:51
  - I I was
• 6:53
  - caught by,
• 6:54
  - by grapevines
• 6:56
  - about 01:30 in the morning as I was
• 6:58
  - doing a night hike. Two, just three years
• 7:00
  - ago, going a 100 kilometers an hour on
• 7:03
  - skis,
• 7:05
  - doing,
• 7:05
  - some pretty
• 7:07
  - pretty fast skiing
• 7:09
  - and literally snapped my leg in half,
• 7:12
  - requiring emergency surgery, hyperbaric
• 7:14
  - oxygen therapy,
• 7:16
  - still to this day, hundreds of hours of
• 7:19
  - therapy a year.
• 7:20
  - Those are activities that I don't know. It's
• 7:23
  - just been something that I've been called in
• 7:26
  - my in my heart John Muir. The trails
• 7:28
  - are called... The mountains are calling. I must
• 7:30
  - go.
• 7:31
  - I love the nature. I love I love
• 7:33
  - the outdoors.
• 7:34
  - And so, yeah, Chris, that's a long winded
• 7:37
  - answer to say I... I've, I'm I'm fortunate.
• 7:40
  - I've had femur fractures,
• 7:42
  - you know, several meniscus tears and knee surgeries
• 7:44
  - and the like from,
• 7:46
  - activities I always say are completely self inflicted.
• 7:50
  - Well, Doctor. Hilliard,
• 7:52
  - the injuries notwithstanding, it certainly seems like you're
• 7:54
  - getting most out of life, and hopefully that
• 7:55
  - is something in addition to what you learned
• 7:58
  - from the competitive environment that translates not only
• 8:01
  - to yourself, but but your your staff that
• 8:03
  - you work with every day and even your
• 8:05
  - patients to some extent.
• 8:06
  - Work hard, play hard is the old adage.
• 8:08
  - Right?
• 8:09
  - Certainly. Well, that's really... That's actually a pretty
• 8:11
  - good segue to the next topic of some
• 8:14
  - conversation I wanted to enter into. That's just
• 8:16
  - how you keep yourself healthy.
• 8:19
  - Clearly, all sorts of activities, whether it be
• 8:21
  - skiing,
• 8:22
  - hiking,
• 8:23
  - glacier climbing, all all that factors into that.
• 8:26
  - So beyond the physical, though, what's important
• 8:29
  - for you to do to keep yourself
• 8:31
  - healthy mentally and emotionally?
• 8:34
  - Yeah. I know. That's so important, Chris. Thank
• 8:36
  - you for that question. At Wiloma Linda University
• 8:38
  - Health, if you chat GPT or some AI
• 8:41
  - tool and you ask the concept of who
• 8:43
  - really was an academic health system that thought
• 8:46
  - of whole person care, this concept,
• 8:49
  - It's in our DNA. It's who we are.
• 8:52
  - We are we are a whole person care
• 8:54
  - faith based organization
• 8:56
  - recognizing that
• 8:58
  - not just patient care, but I... But whole
• 9:00
  - person care for our 21,000
• 9:02
  - employees. We know that
• 9:04
  - physical health is not just
• 9:06
  - the only thing that matters. Your mental health,
• 9:09
  - your spiritual health, your social health are also
• 9:12
  - very, very important to the vibrant...
• 9:14
  - The the vibrant fabric of a of a
• 9:17
  - human. And so how we best do that
• 9:20
  - is something that's really important to us. We're
• 9:22
  - a blue zone. Loma Linda sits in one
• 9:24
  - of the blue zones for a longevity, a
• 9:26
  - longer lifespan than than it's expected.
• 9:28
  - And it probably has a sense for us
• 9:30
  - in our community, that sense of belonging. Right?
• 9:33
  - And so I think it's very important that
• 9:35
  - as we think about our own sense of
• 9:38
  - self,
• 9:39
  - we need to belong to something that's bigger
• 9:42
  - than ourselves.
• 9:43
  - And I'll let people in their own walk
• 9:45
  - decide what that is. I'm a man of
• 9:47
  - faith, and so belonging to a faith community
• 9:51
  - creates a sense of something that's bigger than
• 9:53
  - one's own self. And I think that's very,
• 9:55
  - very important.
• 9:56
  - I think,
• 9:57
  - to that end, finding a space for you
• 10:00
  - just to sit with your own thoughts in
• 10:02
  - a world that's helter skelter and on the
• 10:04
  - go and technologies at our fingertips, and I
• 10:07
  - use it as much as anybody else.
• 10:09
  - But to find a period of time in
• 10:11
  - a space in which you can be alone
• 10:14
  - with your thoughts
• 10:16
  - is so important.
• 10:17
  - You know, the last thing you wanna do...
• 10:19
  - I was just having a conversation earlier today.
• 10:21
  - I'm 51 years old. When I was 42,
• 10:25
  - I was checking off all the boxes.
• 10:28
  - All the things Anthony felt felt like he
• 10:30
  - needed to do to be successful, he was
• 10:32
  - accomplishing.
• 10:33
  - And I remember one morning waking up and
• 10:36
  - being on that proverbial mountain top and saying,
• 10:38
  - you know, just a lot of haze out
• 10:41
  - there.
• 10:41
  - There wasn't the meaning and the satisfaction
• 10:44
  - I thought I would find
• 10:46
  - by those
• 10:48
  - checking the box successes.
• 10:50
  - I was doing it for the wrong reasons.
• 10:52
  - And so I always encourage people, part of
• 10:55
  - whole person
• 10:56
  - care or whole person self or taking care
• 10:58
  - of all of you is to reflect and
• 11:01
  - check yourself.
• 11:02
  - Am I doing what I'm doing because I'm
• 11:04
  - doing it for the right reason?
• 11:06
  - Is the why in the place that resonates
• 11:09
  - deep within your soul? The whats, yeah, we
• 11:11
  - can all be whats,
• 11:13
  - but are you doing it for the right
• 11:15
  - reason? And I think that's really, really important.
• 11:17
  - And I think that time alone with your
• 11:19
  - own thoughts and your own self
• 11:21
  - allows you to level set in your own
• 11:24
  - mind
• 11:25
  - where you are in your walk of what
• 11:26
  - you're trying to be.
• 11:28
  - And I think without having that pause for
• 11:30
  - reflection, you're not going to take... You're not
• 11:32
  - gonna have the opportunity to really wrestle with
• 11:35
  - those, what I would call,
• 11:37
  - existential questions.
• 11:39
  - Well, doctor Hilliard, thank you for mentioning how
• 11:41
  - important it is to attend to all those
• 11:44
  - other
• 11:45
  - needs that a human has, you know, beyond
• 11:47
  - just the physical.
• 11:49
  - While you're speaking about the mental,
• 11:52
  - requirements that that you attend to,
• 11:55
  - How often do you find yourself sitting with
• 11:57
  - your own thoughts? Is is it daily, weekly,
• 11:59
  - monthly? How often do you find this necessary
• 12:01
  - for you? I try to begin and end
• 12:03
  - each day with my own thoughts, and I
• 12:05
  - have some practice around that. Because of my
• 12:07
  - injuries,
• 12:09
  - I have a red light therapy device that
• 12:11
  - I put over my leg as it continues
• 12:13
  - to heal. I'm an early morning riser. I
• 12:15
  - find that to be the time where the
• 12:17
  - rest of the world is sleeping, that I'm
• 12:19
  - awake and I can be with my own
• 12:21
  - thoughts. So I'm I'm often up around four,
• 12:24
  - 04:15,
• 12:25
  - and I spend a good hour just in
• 12:27
  - reflection. I do a fair bit of writing
• 12:29
  - in my job.
• 12:31
  - Some, you know, what I... I do two
• 12:33
  - two dedicated monthly features in our organization, but
• 12:36
  - I do a lot of, I would say,
• 12:38
  - extracurricular writing as well. I do a one
• 12:40
  - article called Mission Emotion, and then I do
• 12:42
  - one article at the end of the month
• 12:44
  - called Moments That Inspire.
• 12:45
  - It's about our organization. And so that's a...
• 12:48
  - That that morning time allows me to reflect
• 12:51
  - on the bigger issues facing
• 12:54
  - this organization and and myself personally.
• 12:57
  - Then at the last...
• 12:58
  - I think this is important for all of
• 13:00
  - us. I I give my wife the credit.
• 13:02
  - She's a mental health therapist. And
• 13:05
  - she said, you know, even on your worst
• 13:06
  - of days, Anthony, I think it's important that
• 13:09
  - you end your day with three things of
• 13:12
  - gratitude.
• 13:13
  - Keep a book
• 13:14
  - next to your bed... Night nightstand and say,
• 13:17
  - yeah. I screwed up here. I failed that
• 13:20
  - conversation. I didn't do very good here,
• 13:22
  - but there are three things
• 13:24
  - that I did
• 13:25
  - that have filled my cup with gratitude.
• 13:28
  - And sometimes it may just be showing up.
• 13:31
  - Another time it may be doing the dishes
• 13:33
  - before you go to bed. Whatever that is,
• 13:35
  - end your day with three
• 13:37
  - moments of gratitude for what this day brought
• 13:40
  - you, the gift of this day. And And
• 13:43
  - I think ending that is really important. It
• 13:45
  - get... There's something about that mindset for deep
• 13:49
  - sleep and
• 13:50
  - restorative sleep
• 13:51
  - to really put that mind at ease to
• 13:53
  - say, Anthony,
• 13:54
  - there was some things where you had opportunities
• 13:56
  - for improvement, those OFIs. Right? But these are
• 13:59
  - three things that because you had this day,
• 14:02
  - your life was better for.
• 14:04
  - Makes a lot of sense, doctor Yuri. Thank
• 14:06
  - you for giving us insight on how you're
• 14:08
  - you're operating every day and and keeping yourself
• 14:11
  - mindful of what you have to be thankful
• 14:13
  - for. I think it's very important.
• 14:15
  - On that note,
• 14:16
  - so
• 14:17
  - just given the nature of your job and
• 14:21
  - certainly given the nature of your activities and
• 14:23
  - the injuries you suffered, things like that, you...
• 14:25
  - You've had tough days. You're gonna have tough
• 14:28
  - days. You know, if you never injure yourself
• 14:29
  - ever again, and hopefully, that is the case.
• 14:31
  - Amen. But... So when you have those tough
• 14:33
  - days, doctor Hilliard, besides speaking to your wife
• 14:36
  - or in addition to that,
• 14:38
  - how do you move forward when you have
• 14:40
  - a particularly rough patch?
• 14:43
  - Yeah.
• 14:44
  - I try to keep things in perspective.
• 14:46
  - We often can think
• 14:48
  - in... As leaders that the world really begins
• 14:51
  - and ends with how you do, and this
• 14:53
  - world will continue long after Anthony came through
• 14:55
  - and Loma Linda will as well. So I
• 14:57
  - think one thing is to really put things
• 14:59
  - in perspective.
• 15:00
  - And I I think
• 15:02
  - taking a bit of humble pie is is
• 15:04
  - is useful.
• 15:06
  - I I will say, though, that being being
• 15:08
  - vulnerable,
• 15:09
  - being willing to acknowledge that,
• 15:12
  - you're not perfect and to own it. I
• 15:14
  - think it's very important. I find I find
• 15:17
  - that, you know, Chris, if I have a
• 15:19
  - bad conversation
• 15:20
  - or I, you know, I expected a performative
• 15:24
  - behave differently,
• 15:25
  - There is something
• 15:27
  - in the soul
• 15:29
  - for soulful healing, if you will, to say,
• 15:31
  - you know what? Yeah. I missed that. That's
• 15:34
  - on me. And just acknowledging that really, you
• 15:36
  - know, whether it's to a wall or to
• 15:38
  - a group or to a boardroom,
• 15:40
  - there is something to to be said about
• 15:42
  - owning it and and and having re... Having
• 15:45
  - resolution there and just moving on.
• 15:48
  - Tomorrow, the sun will still continue to rise
• 15:50
  - in the East and set in the West,
• 15:52
  - and I need to be
• 15:54
  - in a position, in a mindset to be
• 15:56
  - functional today. So I want it, you know...
• 15:59
  - Or that day, the next day. I can't
• 16:01
  - live in the past. I can't let the
• 16:03
  - past mistakes impact my decisions for tomorrow.
• 16:06
  - And so I really try to take that
• 16:08
  - mentality. I'm not perfect. No one's asking me
• 16:11
  - to be perfect. People want me to be
• 16:12
  - truthful, and people want me to be genuine
• 16:15
  - as a leader. And and if I can
• 16:17
  - empower that in my team members as well,
• 16:18
  - I think we'll all be better off for
• 16:20
  - it. I also have a a coach,
• 16:24
  - that I I bounce ideas off with.
• 16:26
  - And I think they're...
• 16:28
  - One of the things that doesn't ever prepare
• 16:30
  - you for a position that I find myself
• 16:33
  - in today
• 16:34
  - and, others that... And as as you move
• 16:37
  - up through the leadership ranks, if you will,
• 16:40
  - there is there is some isolationism
• 16:42
  - in those roles
• 16:43
  - for what I would call real talk.
• 16:46
  - And and I think to be able to
• 16:47
  - surround yourself with folks that will give you
• 16:50
  - that real talk is really important. So what
• 16:52
  - do I mean by that? I have a
• 16:54
  - group of friends that don't work at Loma
• 16:56
  - Linda.
• 16:57
  - I play golf with,
• 16:59
  - I have dinner with, And I'll tell you,
• 17:02
  - to be able to have an outlet like
• 17:03
  - that where I'm just Anthony or Doc in
• 17:06
  - a in a in a sort of colloquial
• 17:08
  - way is really helpful.
• 17:11
  - It it keeps things in perspective
• 17:13
  - and the like. So I would say that
• 17:15
  - those are those are things that are are
• 17:17
  - are ways that I work through tough days.
• 17:20
  - And then again, I'm a man of deep
• 17:21
  - faith.
• 17:22
  - And,
• 17:23
  - and so I I I am a firm
• 17:25
  - believer in God, and I have conversations
• 17:28
  - with God. I I write. I I reflect.
• 17:32
  - And and I would say that that spiritual
• 17:34
  - connection,
• 17:35
  - and again, I I I believe that the
• 17:38
  - the spiritual connection is is real, and I
• 17:40
  - think it's impactful.
• 17:41
  - And it helps us in our best days
• 17:43
  - and in our worst of days.
• 17:45
  - So doctor Hilliard, you're no stranger to risk
• 17:48
  - if I've learned anything.
• 17:50
  - I've learned many things through this conversation that
• 17:53
  - we've had. Can you name one or two
• 17:55
  - that you've taken where you look back and
• 17:56
  - you know what? You know what? I'm so
• 17:58
  - glad that I took that risk.
• 18:00
  - Well, yeah.
• 18:02
  - And let me take one step back, Chris.
• 18:04
  - And, you know, I think
• 18:06
  - there are two approaches to uncertainty in life.
• 18:09
  - There are only two physiologic
• 18:11
  - responses that the body has to uncertainty.
• 18:15
  - One is fear,
• 18:16
  - and one is wonder.
• 18:18
  - Fear often causes us to... You know, that
• 18:21
  - that stage fright to be deer in the
• 18:23
  - headlights. Right? That is that...
• 18:25
  - You get paralyzed and cannot make a decision.
• 18:29
  - Then there's wonder, and wonder is that two
• 18:31
  - year old self of why, dad? Why can't
• 18:33
  - I jump across from one roof to the
• 18:36
  - next? Right? That doesn't look very far, but
• 18:38
  - it's that wonder. It's that sense of amazement.
• 18:41
  - And I've really tried to approach
• 18:43
  - each of
• 18:44
  - these phases of my life
• 18:46
  - from that enthusiasm of a two year old,
• 18:49
  - that sense of wonder. Like, what's over there?
• 18:51
  - That seems really exciting and opportunistic.
• 18:54
  - I'll tell you where I'm going with this
• 18:56
  - is the biggest leap of faith for me
• 18:59
  - of uncertainty, of taking a risk,
• 19:02
  - was taking...
• 19:03
  - Leaving my job as chief of cardiology
• 19:06
  - and director of our interventional cardiology cath lab,
• 19:10
  - which is a very stable world.
• 19:12
  - Right? It's a it's a world that I
• 19:14
  - could have a forty year career as chief
• 19:16
  - of cardiology
• 19:18
  - and move into
• 19:19
  - the CEO of our six hospital system two
• 19:23
  - years ago. I mean,
• 19:25
  - that ten years often less.
• 19:27
  - And God willing and team willing, my tenure
• 19:30
  - will be long in that position.
• 19:32
  - But it's certainly a different
• 19:34
  - expectation,
• 19:36
  - right, and performance and
• 19:38
  - different different sort of lifespans
• 19:40
  - in general.
• 19:41
  - And I'm doing this in the institution that
• 19:43
  - I love so dearly.
• 19:45
  - So
• 19:46
  - I could have stayed chief of cardiology
• 19:48
  - for my entire career at the organization
• 19:50
  - that I call home
• 19:52
  - or put myself out there on... In a
• 19:54
  - more, what I would call, vulnerable position
• 19:57
  - where the tenure isn't quite as certain
• 20:01
  - and risk
• 20:02
  - two things, my tenure at the organization
• 20:06
  - and
• 20:07
  - the organization in and of itself. Right? That's
• 20:09
  - a significant,
• 20:11
  - responsibility
• 20:12
  - to have for that organization.
• 20:14
  - And then more recently,
• 20:16
  - you know, this last summer and spring to
• 20:18
  - summer, moving into the president role of the
• 20:20
  - institution,
• 20:21
  - where I, you know, oversee the university and
• 20:24
  - our shared services and all, you know, all
• 20:26
  - the various corporations on campus. So those are
• 20:30
  - things that are calculated risk for me.
• 20:33
  - One that I felt
• 20:35
  - called to do.
• 20:36
  - I've often been said... I've often told others,
• 20:39
  - and I had to take some of that
• 20:40
  - own
• 20:41
  - Anthony advice, if you will. Sometimes people see
• 20:44
  - things in you that you don't see within
• 20:46
  - your own self. I had no vision of
• 20:48
  - doing something other than being the best darn
• 20:50
  - interventional cardiologist I could be,
• 20:53
  - and a leader in the cardiovascular
• 20:55
  - field. So that would be probably what I
• 20:57
  - would say in my most recent walk, the
• 20:59
  - biggest calculated risk I've taken.
• 21:02
  - Doctor Hilliard, lastly, what
• 21:04
  - caused your vision to change as far as
• 21:07
  - going from
• 21:08
  - being the best interventional cardiologist
• 21:10
  - you can be to someone who wanted to
• 21:13
  - have a much larger leadership role at Loma
• 21:15
  - Linda University Health?
• 21:17
  - Yeah. I thank you for that. I think,
• 21:19
  - you know, in the spirit of full disclosure,
• 21:20
  - I had been serving as the chief operating
• 21:22
  - officer of our faculty medical group for about
• 21:25
  - six years, which oversees our 250
• 21:28
  - clinic locations and 1,400
• 21:30
  - physicians. But I also had the chief of
• 21:32
  - cardiology role. So I had that to fall
• 21:34
  - back on, if you will. This is what
• 21:36
  - it came down to.
• 21:37
  - You know, did Anthony Hilliard sell out to
• 21:39
  - the administrative world. Right? Did, you know, to
• 21:41
  - that c suite or whatever. That's kinda, you
• 21:43
  - know, that's the vernacular you'll sometimes hear. And
• 21:46
  - I thought to myself,
• 21:47
  - look.
• 21:48
  - There's no greater
• 21:50
  - sacrosanct
• 21:51
  - thing in health care than a patient
• 21:53
  - and a provider relationship.
• 21:56
  - That is a bond. That is why we're
• 21:59
  - all here to do what we do. There's
• 22:01
  - not there... This thing doesn't exist. This thing
• 22:02
  - called health care and leadership doesn't exist
• 22:06
  - except for this idea that there's a very
• 22:08
  - special relationship between a patient and their caregiver.
• 22:12
  - I had the opportunity to practice that for
• 22:15
  - well over a decade,
• 22:16
  - that wonderful relationship between one patient
• 22:19
  - and myself. And if I was busy,
• 22:22
  - I may have 35 of those encounters.
• 22:25
  - As I thought to myself, I said, you
• 22:27
  - know, this
• 22:28
  - career path
• 22:31
  - transition, if you will,
• 22:33
  - allows me now
• 22:34
  - to sit in a chair where I appreciate
• 22:37
  - that there's no greater
• 22:39
  - importance
• 22:40
  - for a system than to design
• 22:43
  - structures where that
• 22:45
  - bond between a caregiver and a patient
• 22:48
  - is as tight as it's ever been.
• 22:50
  - And I would love nothing more than to
• 22:52
  - try to figure out the best way we
• 22:54
  - can do it in 2026
• 22:55
  - and beyond
• 22:57
  - for over a million unique visits a year.
• 22:59
  - The impact would be much greater.
• 23:02
  - And that was really the deciding factor for
• 23:04
  - me to transition to this role is to
• 23:06
  - say, I can only do so much as
• 23:07
  - one person
• 23:09
  - taking care of one patient, and I loved
• 23:11
  - it. That oath, that physician's oath in my...
• 23:13
  - That is in my viscera.
• 23:15
  - But to be able to have an opportunity
• 23:17
  - to try to impact
• 23:19
  - the way I think a caregiver delivery's,
• 23:22
  - relationship should go
• 23:24
  - to entire organization is one that I couldn't
• 23:26
  - pass up.
• 23:28
  - Doctor Hilliard, I think that's a terrific place
• 23:30
  - to land. Thank you for giving our audience
• 23:32
  - so much to think about and unpack with
• 23:34
  - respect to your health care journey. It's been
• 23:36
  - a fascinating conversation. I hope we get to
• 23:38
  - have many more like it down the line.
• 23:41
  - Thank you so much, Chris. I appreciate your
• 23:42
  - time today.