Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Dr. Leonardo Seoane, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Ochsner Health

Transcript

Dr. Leonardo Seoane, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Ochsner Health · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome everyone to the Becker Health care podcast
• 0:02
  team. I am Mariah Mohammed, Ryder and Moderator
• 0:04
  Will Becker Health care. And I've thrilled also
• 0:06
  to have with me today. Doctor. Leo Sa.
• 0:08
  The new founding Dean of Xavier, Os, College
• 0:11
  of Medicine. Doctor it's very nice to have
• 0:13
  you on the podcast today. To get started,
• 0:15
  would you mind, please d introducing yourself and
• 0:17
  telling us a bit about your around?
• 0:21
  Well, it's great to be here.
• 0:23
  I'm... I'm actually a Cuban American who
• 0:26
  as a a young child
• 0:28
  to United States, and I grew up in
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  New Orleans.
• 0:32
  You can hear in the accent.
• 0:35
  And
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  very, very excited, proud to serve as the
• 0:40
  privilege to serve as the founding need of
• 0:42
  the College of medicine.
• 0:44
  I may pulmonary critical care and lung transplant
• 0:47
  physician by trade. I did my medical school
• 0:49
  training at Ls sc in New orleans and
• 0:52
  my residency in internal Medicine and Ua
• 0:55
  followed by my pulmonary credit repair lung transplant
• 0:57
  fellowship and
• 1:00
  my career 25 year career has been in
• 1:02
  medical education and so
• 1:05
  being able to be part of the leadership
• 1:07
  team to develop
• 1:09
  this
• 1:10
  or will be the fifth H
• 1:13
  Medical School or Medical school in the United
• 1:15
  States to train more diverse physicians to meet
• 1:18
  the needs our community
• 1:20
  is truly an honor and the privilege.
• 1:24
  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much for
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  giving us that background.
• 1:27
  So with all you're doing right now, what
• 1:30
  are some of the biggest issues you're following
• 1:32
  in health care for this year?
• 1:36
  Well, I think 1 of the biggest issues
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  that doesn't get all the depressed. Unless you
• 1:41
  are
• 1:42
  part of
• 1:43
  a group this trying to hire physicians or
• 1:46
  your patient who's trying to make an appointment
• 1:49
  and the next available is 3 months down
• 1:52
  the road.
• 1:53
  Is that
• 1:54
  today in the United States, we have a
• 1:57
  physician
• 1:58
  shortage crisis.
• 2:01
  The Aa
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  which is the organization and
• 2:05
  the association of American Medical colleges,
• 2:08
  that oversees medical schools in the United States
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  every other year they put out a report.
• 2:13
  It really estimates that estimates the physician shortage.
• 2:17
  This report just came out a month ago
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  for 20 24
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  and it estimates that by 2036,
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  we will be 86000
• 2:25
  positions.
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  Now of course,
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  for areas like the south or the state
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  of Louisiana where I live,
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  we feel that
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  much more acutely than other areas.
• 2:39
  And so
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  starting a new medical school
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  to address the physician workforce crisis
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  is 1 of the things that's key in
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  top of my mind,
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  but there's another issue there. There's an incredible
• 2:53
  laugh a diversity
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  among physicians. If we look at Hispanics, we
• 2:58
  make up 19 percent of the U. S.
• 3:00
  Population but we only make up 6.9
• 3:03
  percent of U. S. Physicians.
• 3:06
  If you look at
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  those who identify as African American or Black,
• 3:11
  they make up 14 percent of the U.
• 3:13
  S. Population, but they only make up 5.7
• 3:16
  percent
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  of the U. S. Physicians.
• 3:20
  And although the Aa amc
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  has had this as 1 of their
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  initiatives. So the last 30 years, to increase
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  diversity among U. S. Positions,
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  there has been little to no significant movement
• 3:33
  in those percentages.
• 3:36
  So
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  this is important,
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  not just for the social reasons.
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  It's also important for the health and wellness
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  or our communities because there's a growing data
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  that demonstrates that
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  when physicians represent the community they serve
• 3:52
  those communities get better health care.
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  And so it really does help address some
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  of the health and inequities equities that we
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  see in space.
• 4:03
  Yeah. Thank you so much for giving us
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  that information in those stats.
• 4:07
  Is there anything that's making you excited or
• 4:10
  nervous in health care?
• 4:13
  Well,
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  I'm a critical care physician, so we don't
• 4:16
  get very nervous, right? Time of crisis not
• 4:19
  time to to to be nervous. So not
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  a lot makes me nervous. But there's a
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  lot that that that has me excited.
• 4:26
  You know, 1 is obviously starting this new
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  medical school. Know, Xavier University
• 4:32
  is the only Catholic
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  H
• 4:35
  in the United States and and then
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  next year they'll be celebrating their hundredth
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  anniversary. And Za University of Louisiana
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  is a long history and excellence
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  in science
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  education. And in fact, they carry the distinction
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  of
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  putting more African Americans
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  and blacks
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  who complete medical school and then any other
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  university
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  in the United States.
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  And this this is not a large medical
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  not a large
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  college. So when you think about Xavier University
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  of Louisiana with this total student enrollment are
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  around 4000 students. And the fact that they
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  put more African American and Black
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  into medical school that completed then university universities
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  of Michigan with 50000 or any of these
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  Southeast conference schools that run 35000 to 40000.
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  It's client an achievement, and they consistently do
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  that. And so
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  After health, the largest academic health system in
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  the Gulf South,
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  largest
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  private poor and health care deliver in State
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  Louisiana,
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  our ability to partner with Natural institution like
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  Xavier.
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  To start the fifth H,
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  I mean, what can get you more excited
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  about that
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  and to train more doctors that will serve
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  our country.
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  In our region.
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  So
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  very, very excited about that. Also very excited
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  that
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  we will we will add
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  a different viewpoint to science and to medical
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  education, a diverse viewpoint that will help address
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  and put a focus on
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  certain diseases,
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  let's take for instance sickle cell that maybe
• 6:18
  didn't get the focus of either because we
• 6:20
  didn't have representative scientists and physicians
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  that we're asking the right questions about what's
• 6:26
  the right care for our community. So
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  I'm very, very excited about that.
• 6:33
  Yeah. Yeah. That completely makes sense. And doctor
• 6:35
  before I let you go, The last thing
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  I really wanted to ask you is
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  in your opinion, what was the most effective
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  health leaders need in order to be successful
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  in the next 2 to 3 years.
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  I think
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  the ability
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  for healthcare leaders 1 to be agile
• 6:57
  it's an ever changing landscape,
• 6:59
  and it's very dynamic. And I've then and
• 7:03
  it's a 25 year Career practicing medicine
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  in a 20 year career and leadership
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  is ever changing.
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  But I think the other key part of
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  being
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  an effective and good leader is the ability
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  to unleash the power diversity.
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  And that's diversity in every sense.
• 7:23
  Diversity among the generations as we see more
• 7:26
  generation wise entering the workforce.
• 7:29
  That's diversity and thought
• 7:32
  diversity people from different cultures and different backgrounds
• 7:35
  who have a unique perspective and a different
• 7:38
  perspective.
• 7:39
  And leaders need to be able to take
• 7:42
  that diverse viewpoints and really use that
• 7:45
  to come up with new ideas
• 7:48
  to tackle the challenges we face.
• 7:51
  I think the leaders who can do that
• 7:53
  will be the effective 1.
• 7:57
  Yeah. Yeah. I completely agree. Thank you so
• 8:00
  much for those final thoughts. This has definitely
• 8:02
  been in a an a informative discussion.
• 8:04
  Again, I wanna thank you so much for
• 8:06
  coming on back Health care karen, and Look
• 8:07
  forward to connecting with you again soon.
• 8:10
  Thank you for having me. No. It's it's
• 8:13
  my pleasure.
• 8:14
  Request.