Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Jeffrey Gold on Workforce, AI and the Future of Academic Healthcare

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Dr. Jeffrey Gold on Workforce, AI and the Future of Academic Healthcare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
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  - favor,
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  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
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  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
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  - written.
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  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
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  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - a clear sense of where you stand and
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:02
  - doctor Jeffrey Gold, president of the University of
• 1:04
  - Nebraska system. Doctor Gold, it's a pleasure to
• 1:06
  - have you on the podcast today. It is
• 1:08
  - always great to be with you, and it's
• 1:10
  - always great to be connected with Becker's. I
• 1:12
  - I look forward to our discussion.
• 1:14
  - Absolutely. And I'm excited for it as well.
• 1:16
  - I know we've got a lot to talk
• 1:18
  - about the things that you're doing at University
• 1:20
  - of Nebraska as well as how you're looking
• 1:21
  - at the future. But before we dive in,
• 1:23
  - can you tell us just a little bit
• 1:25
  - more about yourself and your background?
• 1:27
  - Sure. So I sort of refer to myself
• 1:29
  - as a recovering, cardiothoracic
• 1:31
  - surgeon. You know, spent twenty five years of
• 1:33
  - my life in the Operating Room, predominantly doing
• 1:36
  - pediatric and adult
• 1:38
  - cardiac surgery. And then over the years, did
• 1:40
  - everything from being a heart center director,
• 1:43
  - hospital CEO,
• 1:44
  - medical school dean, university provost. And now for
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  - the last two years, I have the honor
• 1:49
  - of serving as the president of the University
• 1:51
  - of Nebraska system, which means,
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  - we have about 50,000
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  - learners, 16,000
• 1:57
  - faculty, do about $800,000,000
• 1:59
  - worth of research.
• 2:01
  - And, of course, we do play football and
• 2:03
  - basketball and, so many other things as well.
• 2:06
  - So it's a a very multidimensional
• 2:08
  - job that has a large academic health care
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  - system
• 2:12
  - as part of what we do. And, of
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  - course, you know, you can't remove me from
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  - my physician roots, and taking care of other
• 2:18
  - people.
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  - But at the same time, I now take
• 2:21
  - care of other people,
• 2:22
  - as their students and our faculty and and
• 2:25
  - so many others. Then it's great to be
• 2:27
  - able to share that perspective today.
• 2:30
  - Absolutely. And, you know, we're excited about that.
• 2:32
  - That's such a huge enterprise with so many
• 2:34
  - different facets of,
• 2:36
  - whether it's looking at the health care and
• 2:39
  - research, innovation,
• 2:41
  - students, and more. So excited to to dig
• 2:44
  - deeper in here. And we'll start off with
• 2:46
  - just a quick state of the union.
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  - How have things gone so far in 2026,
• 2:50
  - and what are your priorities for the rest
• 2:52
  - of the year?
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  - Well, we've had a really good year. We've
• 2:55
  - had a really good run, actually,
• 2:57
  - you know, since COVID and even during COVID.
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  - Our academic medical center continues to thrive in
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  - terms of, you know, any statistic you wanna
• 3:06
  - look at, quality and safety, the bottom line,
• 3:10
  - number of, outpatient visits, inpatient
• 3:13
  - stays,
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  - procedures.
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  - Indeed, if you look at our, adjusted lengths
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  - of stay, you look at our quality and
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  - and safety
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  - measurements,
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  - really top tier. And, not to say that
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  - we're not doggedly trying to get better, but
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  - the numbers don't lie and the peer reviewed
• 3:32
  - comparisons
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  - mean a lot. But we're not interested in
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  - being average. We're interested in, as we like
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  - to say, serious medicine and extraordinary care.
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  - Absolutely. I I love that. And, you know,
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  - and looking at,
• 3:46
  - where you're at today,
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  - how are you thinking about some of the
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  - different things happening in the industry? I know
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  - there's some headwinds coming up. And so, you
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  - know, what are the things that you're keeping
• 3:56
  - an eye on and preparing for over the
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  - next year or so?
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  - Yeah. So I have a number of different
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  - lenses that we look through.
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  - You know, just so let's talk about the
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  - health care enterprise for a minute.
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  - There are numerous changes that are ongoing that
• 4:11
  - threaten things, such as
• 4:13
  - areas of site neutrality,
• 4:15
  - the areas of three forty b, pharmaceutical,
• 4:19
  - pricing,
• 4:20
  - areas specifically around, Medicaid enrollment,
• 4:25
  - and also just the ability
• 4:27
  - to recruit and retain the very best talented
• 4:30
  - faculty and health care professionals,
• 4:32
  - that we need. And, you know, we're very
• 4:35
  - sensitive, and I'm very sensitive
• 4:37
  - in my role as a former medical school
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  - dean and a chancellor of a large academic
• 4:41
  - medical center about what does the future workforce
• 4:44
  - look like, you know, in nursing, in pharmacy,
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  - in medicine, and and so many other areas.
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  - And, you know, I'm a very strong believer
• 4:52
  - that the single most important investments that we
• 4:54
  - can make these days are in the future
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  - workforce.
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  - Because while the brick and mortar facilities help
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  - us recruit and retain workforce,
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  - And, you know, everybody likes really, good quality
• 5:04
  - coffee in the lobby of our hospitals and
• 5:06
  - clinics,
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  - myself included, of course. But at the end
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  - of the day,
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  - it's the quality of the care. It's the
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  - patient experience,
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  - that ultimately feeds the engine that allows us
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  - to produce the services
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  - that we need to,
• 5:21
  - perform for both the urban and rural communities,
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  - in the very large service area that we,
• 5:27
  - that that we live with here today. And
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  - the same thing, by the way, is totally
• 5:31
  - true on the undergraduate side of life, as
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  - well. You know, we we look at it
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  - as a service that we provide
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  - to the communities,
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  - that, you know, make students wanna come here
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  - and stay here and and join the workforce
• 5:46
  - of the state and of the region. And
• 5:48
  - the only way you do that is by
• 5:49
  - making people feel welcome and making sure that
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  - their experiences
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  - in, you know, in the classroom and teaching
• 5:55
  - lab, but also completely surrounding that, are absolutely
• 5:59
  - top flight.
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  - Absolutely. I think that makes a lot of
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  - sense. You know? And it's exciting to have
• 6:04
  - that opportunity,
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  - in so many ways to be at at
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  - this place in health care where, things are
• 6:10
  - transforming, care delivery is,
• 6:12
  - seeing new opportunities, and and certainly,
• 6:15
  - you know, a lot of change that's coming
• 6:17
  - along with that. But to your point, being
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  - able to
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  - find ways to to work around that is
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  - so important. And I I think when you're
• 6:26
  - talking about
• 6:27
  - the workforce too, I'm curious. I know that's
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  - something so many different organizations are dealing with,
• 6:32
  - thinking about how do we, build the right
• 6:35
  - workforce for the future and and strengthen our
• 6:37
  - talent pipeline. And so what does that look
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  - like for you? How are you, really preparing
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  - for whatever the next iteration is, you a
• 6:44
  - little bit further down the road?
• 6:46
  - Sure. So a couple of points there. One
• 6:48
  - is that as
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  - a large comprehensive academic medical center with seven
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  - professional
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  - academic,
• 6:56
  - health professions colleges,
• 6:59
  - we mint, we produce, if you will, a
• 7:02
  - very large percentage. So for instance,
• 7:04
  - anywhere from about 55 of the nursing workforce
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  - for the state up to, I think, we
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  - produce about 92 or 93%
• 7:12
  - of the dentists for the state, for instance.
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  - And so we literally,
• 7:16
  - have an opportunity to create the future workforce.
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  - We have about 800 residents and fellows,
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  - scattered across, I think, 82 or 83 different
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  - ACGME accredited
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  - residency and fellowship programs.
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  - And so, you know, that that does give
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  - us an advantage to try to choose the
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  - best and the brightest, but also, frankly, the
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  - most patient centered, which means a huge amount
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  - to us. Mhmm. But I'll tell you, after
• 7:43
  - recruitment, the the goal becomes retention.
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  - And and it it does wait somewhat into
• 7:48
  - recruitment because if the learners don't have an
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  - experience
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  - that they value and don't believe that it's
• 7:55
  - not just whether they're paid a fair market
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  - rate, but that they're part of something bigger
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  - than themselves,
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  - and that they're really contributing to the future
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  - and serving the community well. It's hard to
• 8:06
  - keep people because otherwise, they feel almost commoditized
• 8:09
  - is a word I the way I think
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  - about it.
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  - And so we're very interested
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  - in making sure that we have a working
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  - environment
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  - both on the academic side of the house
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  - and on the clinical side of the house.
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  - And, you know, we are the largest employer
• 8:23
  - in the state. We directly and indirectly employ
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  - about 56,000
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  - people, you know, as a multi, multibillion dollar,
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  - enterprise.
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  - The the key to that is to have
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  - programs,
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  - large and small, but to have a culture
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  - that really values
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  - what to make people feel valued for what
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  - they do and make them feel that they're
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  - really contributing to something, as I like to
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  - say, bigger than themselves.
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  - So we have just giving a couple of
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  - examples of that. I mean, there are any
• 8:53
  - number of employees that we have that are
• 8:56
  - actually third or fourth generation employees.
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  - Now that's really says a lot because,
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  - these are individuals who could probably do anything
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  - and go anywhere, but they choose to be
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  - part of our organization.
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  - You know, we also have a lot of
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  - employee recognition events. I'll tell you, I had
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  - a very interesting experience
• 9:15
  - several years ago. I've now been in Nebraska
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  - almost thirteen full years having spent most of
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  - my life on the East Coast. And, and
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  - I was at an event with, some of
• 9:24
  - our workforce where we honored the people that
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  - were twenty five, thirty, thirty five, forty, forty
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  - five, fifty,
• 9:30
  - fifty five years of employment,
• 9:32
  - with us. So I'm sitting at the table
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  - with the fifty and fifty five year employee
• 9:37
  - people, and, and one of them is a
• 9:40
  - gentleman that works for environmental services.
• 9:42
  - We'll put differently, he cuts the grass and
• 9:44
  - shovels the snow, for us.
• 9:47
  - And I said to him,
• 9:49
  - you know, what's your job? You know, I
• 9:51
  - did I was just being introduced to him
• 9:53
  - for the very first time.
• 9:54
  - And he said, well, doctor Gold, with all
• 9:57
  - due respect, I don't have a job. I
• 9:59
  - have a career.
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  - And,
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  - I said to him, well, sir, what's the
• 10:03
  - difference between a job and a career? I
• 10:05
  - mean, I have my own thoughts, and I'm
• 10:06
  - sure you do too.
• 10:08
  - But he was very succinct, and I'll never
• 10:10
  - forget that night. He said the difference is,
• 10:13
  - sir, is that a career involves passion for
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  - what you do. And and if you were
• 10:18
  - to get to him and ask him specifically,
• 10:21
  - which I did, well, what does that passion
• 10:23
  - mean? He said, I wanna be sure that
• 10:25
  - the environment that our patients and our students
• 10:27
  - and our faculty and staff work in is
• 10:30
  - as safe and as clean,
• 10:32
  - and as welcoming as possible.
• 10:35
  - As opposed to say, I cut the grass
• 10:37
  - and shovel the snow. You know, that's a
• 10:40
  - very different mindset.
• 10:42
  - And that kind of culture, I think, is
• 10:44
  - what gets you fifty five year employees and
• 10:47
  - what gets you fourth and fifth generation people
• 10:50
  - no matter what their role is, who feel
• 10:52
  - valued and,
• 10:54
  - and are part of something bigger than themselves.
• 10:57
  - Oh, that's incredible. And and what a great
• 10:59
  - story to illustrate what that culture means to
• 11:01
  - you and the organization.
• 11:03
  - And, certainly, looking at, you know, what it
• 11:05
  - it means to build a career with passion
• 11:07
  - and excitement no matter what the actual responsibilities
• 11:10
  - are underneath it. Absolutely. That that's amazing.
• 11:14
  - What a great great way to to talk
• 11:16
  - about that and and truly is really amazing.
• 11:19
  - And and to that point, I think, you
• 11:20
  - know, when you look into the future as
• 11:22
  - well, I can imagine there's a lot of
• 11:23
  - opportunities for growth. And so where do you
• 11:26
  - see some of the best spaces where you're
• 11:28
  - thinking about,
• 11:29
  - continued
• 11:30
  - development?
• 11:32
  - Well, we're always trying to do better around
• 11:34
  - quality and safety. You know, we've we've been
• 11:36
  - top tier ranked by Vizient,
• 11:39
  - magnet status. I mean, I could give you
• 11:41
  - a long list of those.
• 11:42
  - But, you know, there there are areas that
• 11:45
  - we can continue to do better in.
• 11:48
  - You know, we would like to drive, for
• 11:50
  - instance, hospital acquired infections,
• 11:53
  - slip and fall, and things of that nature,
• 11:56
  - down to zero. I mean, we we don't
• 11:58
  - set aspirational
• 11:59
  - goals around industry averages. We literally
• 12:02
  - set those things at zero, and the reason
• 12:04
  - would be,
• 12:06
  - that if this was your loved one or
• 12:07
  - mine, that, you don't wanna be have an
• 12:10
  - average result. You wanna have a
• 12:13
  - zero,
• 12:15
  - incidence of of those sort of things. And,
• 12:17
  - you know, we've been very successful
• 12:19
  - in driving down those numbers to, you know,
• 12:21
  - well below industry averages and continue,
• 12:25
  - on that journey.
• 12:27
  - And, you know, that excites the large group
• 12:29
  - of employees that we have to be focused
• 12:32
  - on just trying to continually break records.
• 12:35
  - You know, we try to break records on
• 12:36
  - the gridiron and the hardwood also, you know,
• 12:39
  - when,
• 12:40
  - you know, championship teams for many, many, many
• 12:43
  - different years. You know, the banners,
• 12:45
  - are hung, in our volleyball arenas and basketball
• 12:49
  - and football,
• 12:50
  - and so many others.
• 12:52
  - And that same kind of spirit,
• 12:54
  - tends to permeate the whole organization,
• 12:57
  - including,
• 12:58
  - in health care. But as far as growth
• 13:00
  - is concerned,
• 13:02
  - you know, we're we spend a lot of
• 13:03
  - time and frankly have invested a lot of
• 13:05
  - resources
• 13:06
  - in what I call, advanced artificial intelligence.
• 13:10
  - And,
• 13:11
  - and, you know, we all have our different,
• 13:14
  - interpretations of what that might mean, but
• 13:16
  - how do we become a safer organization?
• 13:19
  - How do we make more precise diagnosis?
• 13:23
  - How do we keep people out of hospitals
• 13:25
  - by providing precision care? You know, we talk
• 13:28
  - a lot about,
• 13:29
  - you know, as a land grant organization, precision
• 13:32
  - agriculture, and that means that
• 13:34
  - how do you grow corn and soybeans and
• 13:37
  - alfalfa,
• 13:38
  - not by the acre or or by the
• 13:40
  - square mile, but by the square meter
• 13:43
  - or square yard, and
• 13:46
  - taper how much irrigation, how much fertilizer,
• 13:50
  - how do you handle those plants. Well, we
• 13:52
  - need to do the same thing,
• 13:53
  - for health care, and we have been on
• 13:55
  - that journey for a very long time with
• 13:58
  - precision medicine.
• 13:59
  - And I'm very proud of the work that
• 14:02
  - we've done, in those areas, but we need
• 14:04
  - to do more of it. And, you know,
• 14:07
  - we used to have, you know, and I
• 14:08
  - you know, I've practiced for twenty five years,
• 14:10
  - so I'm not a stranger
• 14:12
  - to standards of care and the rules and
• 14:15
  - regs, if you will,
• 14:17
  - about approaching that. But the more we can
• 14:19
  - individualize it and customize it
• 14:22
  - and make that customized approach accessible and egalitarian,
• 14:27
  - the better we
• 14:28
  - will be, in the long term. And, and
• 14:31
  - that will make it more affordable. You know,
• 14:34
  - if it's with if the same shoe has
• 14:36
  - to fit everybody,
• 14:37
  - it's not gonna be affordable, and it's not
• 14:40
  - gonna be as high quality,
• 14:42
  - and accessible
• 14:44
  - as if we can, you know, treat people
• 14:46
  - differently. And, you know, I'm very well aware
• 14:48
  - of that because we have huge rural populations.
• 14:51
  - You know? We have communities,
• 14:53
  - in the state of Nebraska
• 14:55
  - that have a thousand,
• 14:58
  - people that live in the community
• 15:00
  - with a million head of cattle. You know,
• 15:03
  - that's,
• 15:04
  - you know, a very different proportion to my
• 15:06
  - life when I lived and worked in New
• 15:08
  - York City or in Boston.
• 15:10
  - And their health care needs, frankly, are significantly
• 15:13
  - different. I mean, they all want access. They
• 15:15
  - all want,
• 15:16
  - affordability, and they certainly all want and deserve
• 15:19
  - quality. But what that looks like in those
• 15:22
  - communities is very different. So I'll just give
• 15:24
  - you an example of that is, you know,
• 15:26
  - we
• 15:27
  - have, there are 93 counties in the state
• 15:29
  - of Nebraska, and we serve all 93 through
• 15:31
  - our extension services as a function of the
• 15:34
  - land grant university system, which typically means four
• 15:37
  - h and future farmers of America as well
• 15:40
  - as, you know, research that supports
• 15:42
  - the farming and ranching communities.
• 15:45
  - But we've actually started pushing out cancer services,
• 15:48
  - to those, 93 counties, you know, particularly around
• 15:51
  - screening.
• 15:52
  - And, you know, just in the last six
• 15:54
  - months, I think we screened 1,600
• 15:57
  - individuals in those 93 counties in various types
• 16:00
  - of screening that they otherwise would not have
• 16:02
  - had access to. And there are,
• 16:04
  - unfortunately
• 16:05
  - or fortunately, depending on how you might wanna
• 16:07
  - look at it, any number of individuals who
• 16:10
  - have,
• 16:11
  - had something detected
• 16:13
  - that is potentially life saving. And, you know,
• 16:15
  - it just means just takes one of those
• 16:18
  - instances
• 16:19
  - to tell me that it's worthwhile making that
• 16:21
  - kind of investment.
• 16:22
  - So, you know, there's a lot on the
• 16:24
  - horizon, and that's where
• 16:26
  - precision medicine and the use of, you know,
• 16:29
  - agentic artificial intelligence
• 16:31
  - is is really going to,
• 16:33
  - pay off. You know, I just as a
• 16:35
  - as a meeting I had just, in the
• 16:38
  - in the last day or so,
• 16:40
  - I learned that we've now implemented,
• 16:43
  - 63
• 16:44
  - homegrown,
• 16:46
  - AI platforms,
• 16:48
  - across the health system.
• 16:50
  - Anything from women's health to cancer to,
• 16:54
  - congestive heart failure,
• 16:56
  - we just put one actually out into the
• 16:58
  - area of,
• 17:00
  - of maternal health, in in the specific area
• 17:03
  - of predicting preeclampsia
• 17:05
  - and things of that nature and early treatment.
• 17:08
  - I mean, these are all things that are,
• 17:10
  - you know, areas where I think the future
• 17:12
  - of health care is going to be vested
• 17:15
  - and that I'm hoping that because of our
• 17:18
  - large
• 17:19
  - university approach to this, which means engineers, computer
• 17:22
  - scientists,
• 17:24
  - as well as health care professionals,
• 17:26
  - that we can actually continue to lead be
• 17:29
  - at the forefront.
• 17:30
  - I love that. How incredible to think through
• 17:33
  - all of the different things that you're doing,
• 17:34
  - the ways that you're really meeting the needs
• 17:36
  - of the community,
• 17:38
  - and truly, truly understanding and investing in the
• 17:41
  - most updated and innovative,
• 17:43
  - treatments and accessibility pathways,
• 17:46
  - to to make this all work.
• 17:48
  - That's really cool to hear about it and
• 17:50
  - definitely so important, especially
• 17:52
  - thinking through the testing that you mentioned and
• 17:55
  - and then being able to identify,
• 17:57
  - you know, those issues early and get patients
• 18:00
  - treated and people back to their daily lives.
• 18:02
  - So,
• 18:03
  - that's really, really You know, if I can
• 18:05
  - stay on that subject just for a second,
• 18:07
  - if if I may.
• 18:08
  - You know, I I I've thought a lot
• 18:10
  - about what the future of health care really
• 18:12
  - needs to be. And the future of health
• 18:14
  - care really needs to be the ability
• 18:18
  - to identify
• 18:19
  - both chronic disease states and acute disease challenges
• 18:23
  - that patients may have
• 18:25
  - before they have their first symptom.
• 18:28
  - So that you can it's just like we
• 18:30
  - all know that treating early stage cancer is
• 18:32
  - a lot more successful than treating late stage
• 18:35
  - cancer.
• 18:36
  - Well, what does that mean to treat early
• 18:37
  - stage cancer? It means if you can make
• 18:39
  - a molecular
• 18:41
  - diagnosis
• 18:42
  - before a patient ever has a symptom or
• 18:44
  - a lump or a sign or an abnormal
• 18:47
  - x-ray,
• 18:48
  - and you could use an innovative therapy such
• 18:50
  - as advanced cellular therapy. Just to give you
• 18:52
  - an example, you know, we just celebrated
• 18:55
  - our tenth anniversary
• 18:57
  - of the institution of CAR T therapy for
• 19:00
  - various
• 19:01
  - cancers.
• 19:02
  - But we've also celebrated the use of CAR
• 19:04
  - T therapy for, rheumatoid arthritis,
• 19:07
  - the use of CAR T therapy,
• 19:09
  - for, multiple sclerosis and other areas. Mhmm. And
• 19:13
  - the earlier we identify those states,
• 19:15
  - you know, through
• 19:17
  - either genetic testing or a combination of genetic
• 19:19
  - testing and molecular testing
• 19:22
  - and the ability to use these innovative therapies
• 19:25
  - before anybody ever has a symptom, meaning you
• 19:29
  - can
• 19:29
  - essentially treat and hopefully prevent progression.
• 19:33
  - And, you know, we're talking Alzheimer's, we're talking
• 19:36
  - Parkinson's,
• 19:37
  - we're talking various states of heart failure as
• 19:40
  - well.
• 19:41
  - That that is where the future needs to
• 19:43
  - be.
• 19:44
  - It's not in the treating of end stage
• 19:46
  - disease.
• 19:47
  - Got it. I I think that is really
• 19:49
  - meaningful and definitely a shift, but but one
• 19:51
  - that, makes a big difference into your point
• 19:54
  - really is the future of health care where
• 19:56
  - now with the capabilities that we have with
• 19:58
  - technology and more,
• 20:00
  - where health care is headed, which is very,
• 20:02
  - very exciting.
• 20:03
  - Now before we wrap up, I'm curious. From
• 20:06
  - your perspective, who is a leader that you
• 20:08
  - really admire from any industry and why?
• 20:11
  - So I'll give you, two names if I
• 20:12
  - may. I thought a bit about this question
• 20:14
  - in advance.
• 20:17
  - From the any industry across the the board,
• 20:20
  - it would probably be Warren Buffett.
• 20:22
  - I've gotten to know mister Buffett, you know,
• 20:24
  - now being a Nebraskan and,
• 20:26
  - a unique human being.
• 20:29
  - Always sees the bright side of life, is
• 20:32
  - a very loyal and proud American,
• 20:35
  - and
• 20:36
  - understands business,
• 20:37
  - as well as anybody I've ever seen,
• 20:40
  - understands how to buy and sell corporations,
• 20:43
  - frankly,
• 20:44
  - how to
• 20:45
  - turn investments of anybody and everybody that chooses
• 20:49
  - to invest in his companies,
• 20:51
  - into success.
• 20:52
  - And,
• 20:53
  - you know, his approach to ethics of the
• 20:56
  - business and, and businesses,
• 20:58
  - you know, he's very fond of saying things
• 21:00
  - like he always bets on the people, and
• 21:03
  - surrounds himself
• 21:04
  - with people that he trusts in various leadership
• 21:06
  - roles and,
• 21:08
  - he's done a phenomenal job. And I would
• 21:10
  - tell you it's been the honor of my
• 21:11
  - life to get to know him. But on
• 21:13
  - the health care side, it actually goes back
• 21:15
  - to the nineteen nineties when I first met,
• 21:17
  - doctor David Skinner.
• 21:19
  - And,
• 21:20
  - doctor Skinner is, you know, long gone,
• 21:22
  - but,
• 21:23
  - he was a very prominent
• 21:26
  - general thoracic surgeon. His, his fame actually was
• 21:30
  - in the area of esophageal reconstruction for reflux.
• 21:33
  - He and Mark Belsey did a lot of
• 21:35
  - work on anti reflux surgery back in those
• 21:38
  - days. But I met him when he became
• 21:40
  - the president and chief executive officer of the
• 21:42
  - New York Presbyterian Health System
• 21:44
  - at a time that,
• 21:46
  - there was a lot of need for shoring
• 21:49
  - up the bottom line, following days cash on
• 21:51
  - hand,
• 21:53
  - major changes
• 21:54
  - ongoing in the delivery of health care with
• 21:57
  - aggregation
• 21:57
  - of systems
• 21:59
  - across the country.
• 22:01
  - He actually is,
• 22:02
  - attributed with creating the New York Presbyterian
• 22:05
  - system or at least being part of that,
• 22:08
  - creation,
• 22:09
  - raising
• 22:10
  - significant amount of money for the expansion,
• 22:13
  - of the system,
• 22:14
  - creating a network of a multi borrower and
• 22:17
  - multi state,
• 22:19
  - network,
• 22:20
  - really remedying the finances.
• 22:23
  - And by the way, at the same time,
• 22:25
  - at least once a week, going to the
• 22:26
  - Operating Room and still taking care of his
• 22:29
  - patients. So he never lost touch
• 22:31
  - with the,
• 22:32
  - the the on the ground and in the
• 22:34
  - trenches,
• 22:35
  - leadership, which is one of the reasons I'm
• 22:38
  - such a strong fan of physician
• 22:41
  - involvement and leadership
• 22:42
  - of health systems, particularly academic health systems.
• 22:46
  - Because until you've,
• 22:47
  - talked to patients and how to share bad
• 22:49
  - news, you know, until you've participated in what
• 22:52
  - I like to call first breaths and last
• 22:54
  - breaths, you really don't understand what this is
• 22:57
  - all about,
• 22:58
  - as fully as as somebody that has lived
• 23:00
  - that for as many years as doctor Skinner
• 23:03
  - had, and I've had the
• 23:05
  - benefits of doing.
• 23:07
  - So, he remains, you know, one of my
• 23:10
  - heroes.
• 23:11
  - Well, that's really so cool and to have,
• 23:13
  - you know, such, luminaries,
• 23:16
  - that are a part of, you know, your
• 23:17
  - own leadership journey and taking that into what
• 23:20
  - you do each and every day at in
• 23:21
  - Nebraska. So
• 23:23
  - thank you so much for joining us on
• 23:24
  - the podcast today. This has been such a
• 23:26
  - fun conversation, really inspiring to hear, you know,
• 23:30
  - everything that you're up to, and then I
• 23:32
  - look forward to seeing you as well at
• 23:33
  - our CEO CFO roundtable. I know we'll,
• 23:36
  - be speaking on a panel and and digging
• 23:38
  - into deeper some of these themes, and so
• 23:40
  - look forward to seeing you there.
• 23:42
  - Be there. Look forward to it. And thanks
• 23:44
  - for the privilege of doing this.
• 23:46
  - Absolutely. Thank you so much, doctor Gold.