Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Veena Lingam, Associate Chief Medical Information Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center

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Veena Lingam, Associate Chief Medical Information Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  Welcome to the Becker's healthcare podcast. I'm Molly
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  Gamble with Becker's. And today, I'm joined by
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  Vina Lingam, associate chief medical information officer at
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  Moffett Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.
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  Vina, hello and welcome. Thank you so much
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  for joining me as my guest today.
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  Thank you, Molly. Thank you so much for
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  having me, and I'm really excited to be
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  here.
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  Yeah. Well, I I thought we could start,
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  Vina, if you can bring us a little
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  closer to your work at Moffitt Cancer Center.
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  I understand
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  you've been in this role for about a
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  month's time.
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  You're settling in.
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  What have you been spending most of your
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  time and energy on as of late as
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  you're adjusting to your new role?
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  This is my first major career
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  change or move. So I'm really spending a
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  lot of time
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  getting to know the organization,
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  the culture,
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  the layout and the hierarchy.
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  What are the priorities?
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  In my past position,
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  I was at Stony Brook Medicine for 15
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  years and
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  kind of grew along with the organization
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  and its informatics journey.
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  This is a very
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  different,
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  perspective I'm gaining here by being the outsider
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  coming in
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  and learning,
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  a new organization.
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  Mhmm.
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  That's a really important perspective. You know, there's
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  advantages to being part of a program since
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  its beginning like you were at Stony Brook
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  Medicine for 15 years. I mean, that's a
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  big stretch of time and to grow up,
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  like you said, or grow along with the
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  organization
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  in its informatics journey, but also
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  to be an outsider coming in,
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  have you detected or what what can you
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  tell us about some of the priorities that
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  Moffett has in place for its analytics or
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  the chief medical information
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  program.
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  Anything that you've learned that our listeners might
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  find interesting?
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  What I'm really seeing is a
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  a kind of big
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  push and
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  prioritization
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  of investment
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  in informatics.
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  And when I say that, I don't just
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  mean,
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  investing in
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  solutions or vendors and, you know, software.
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  It's also
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  a a big push to invest in informatics
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  personnel,
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  both at leadership level as well as in
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  their,
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  at all levels of their informatics
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  team, as I can see, as I get
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  to know all the layers of the depart
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  of the Department of Clinical Informatics as it
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  exists here at Moffett.
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  Really, that that's a
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  big positive that I see.
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  It takes
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  informatics
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  professionals,
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  that have
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  kind of spent time learning these principles to
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  be able to get the most out of
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  all these solutions that we buy in order
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  to make our health care systems more
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  efficient and effective
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  in delivering care for our patients.
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  So that investment,
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  it is something that I find promising.
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  Mhmm.
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  Yeah. And Another thing I really noticed is
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  everything is about the patient experience. These it's
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  a cancer center, which is
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  very different from my prior experience, again, coming
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  from a general,
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  you know, all specialty
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  academic center to a
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  large organization
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  very much focused on
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  delivering,
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  you know, the best cancer care. And these
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  are patients that are coming in at a
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  very low point in their life or after
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  having received,
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  you know,
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  not the best news. So,
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  I think
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  having all of that sorted out and really
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  centering all the workflows and everything around the
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  patient experience and having giving them the smoothest
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  journey possible seems to be a priority, and
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  I I'm really appreciating that here.
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  Mhmm.
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  Well, that's terrific. I mean, it sounds like
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  when you talk about I so appreciate the
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  distinction. It's not just investing in, like you
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  said, software or vendors,
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  or solutions, but in talent itself at all
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  layers of the organization.
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  That's that's really substantial.
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  Veena, I know it's early days for you
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  at Moffett, but looking ahead to 2025,
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  is there anything you can tell us about
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  some big organizational goals that you're setting out
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  to accomplish with your team?
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  Yes. So my a big part of my
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  role and my recruitment has been to
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  set up and actually recruit and build the
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  clinical informatics fellowship program here at Moffett. It's
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  a,
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  fellowship program for physicians,
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  who have completed their residency training, might be
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  early or late. It's a USF program at
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  Moffett Cancer Center.
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  And
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  my main priority and and top goal here
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  is to,
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  set up and, you know, build and
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  set up this, program successfully.
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  And, again, goes towards the mission of really
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  training that talent.
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  The informatics personnel
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  are the
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  key ingredients, let's say, to building that learning
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  health system that we're all trying to be.
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  I wanted to ask about that because when
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  you said that earlier about investing in talent,
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  I I was thinking to myself, I'm so
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  well versed and aware of the various personnel
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  shortages that health systems face, whether it's from
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  technicians,
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  to
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  nurses and physicians and specialists of all different
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  types.
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  But when it comes to medical or clinical
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  informatics
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  professionals,
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  what what type of talent pipeline are you
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  working with, Feena? Is it constricted, or is
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  it
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  ample? Do do you feel like there's sufficient
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  resources there? Is there scarcity? Can you can
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  you tell us more about
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  what the
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  supply looks like for that type of professional
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  or personnel in your organization?
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  So from what I can see at the
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  organization
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  so far, there's been there's a robust team.
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  They're recruiting really talented people, but I,
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  the recruitment
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  has not been that easy. It is hard
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  to find,
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  experienced or well trained informatics personnel and it
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  goes. It's more of it's
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  both the supply and demand shortage.
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  Informatics,
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  clinical informatics is not a straightforward career.
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  Most residents and, you know, applicants that I've
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  ever spoken to
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  kind of say, well, I just found out
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  because I randomly met the CMIO at our
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  organization
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  and realized this is an actual profession. I
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  could use my medical knowledge and clinical experience
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  in different ways
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  to help the health care system,
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  not just by, you know, going out to
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  see patients or do special, you know, specialty
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  fellowships, etcetera.
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  So it has been
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  challenging
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  to kind of build the clinical informatics workforce.
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  One is really because employers
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  either do not recognize the need to invest
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  in personal, as I mentioned before,
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  as much as they invest in the software.
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  And
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  2, they don't understand what kind of or
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  they're not yet so familiar
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  with
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  what kind of skills and
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  knowledge and expertise clinical informaticians
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  bring to the table and how they could
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  really help them realize the value,
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  of all the products that they have.
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  So because the employers
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  or the job opportunities as are not as
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  clear cut, it kind of serves as a
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  disincentive
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  for potential
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  future informaticians
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  from kind of choosing this, career path that
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  there's a lot of uncertainty. It's not as
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  clear cut if I go and do,
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  a gastroenterology
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  fellowship after
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  internal medicine, I know my lifestyle. I know,
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  you know, what my salary would be. I
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  know what I would be doing. Informatics has
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  so many possible trajectories, and it kind of
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  seems like, you know, the path less traveled
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  and not as not as laid out. So
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  that serves as a disincentive. So in both
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  ways, I think there's not as many job
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  opportunities
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  posted in general,
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  and there's not as many people choosing to
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  go into
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  this career path
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  due to the, you
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  know, lack of
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  a clear kind of trajectory that they could
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  see for themselves.
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  I see. That makes sense. It's it's almost
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  like it's health care's best kept secret in
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  a way. Maybe it's a less established career
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  path or an org chart like you said,
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  but it sounds like just really ample opportunity.
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  Yeah, definitely. I mean, I started off I
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  mean, I call myself a generalist at heart
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  in residency. I kind of liked every aspect
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  of medicine, but nothing enough to really say
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  this is my passion. I want to go,
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  you know, do oncology or whatever for the
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  rest of my life. I wanted to stay
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  that generalist, but,
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  it is
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  if you have that system,
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  vision and high level kind of problem solving
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  kind of mentality,
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  informatics really gave me that opportunity
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  to have a say to play a role
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  in making things better for both patients and
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  our clinicians in the system.
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  So that really gives me
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  even more fulfillment
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  than
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  having just, you know, been the hospitalist and
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  worked really hard.
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  So I am
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  really
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  I do think it's the best kept secret,
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  and I wanted to not be a secret
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  anymore and really attract these,
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  you know,
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  people in the clinical trend as soon see
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  the problems, who understand the problems, and who
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  have the problem solving mentality,
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  and process improvement mentality to
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  come into the field and and make
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  every the system better.
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  Absolutely. I mean, I I can't imagine a
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  time,
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  more than now, especially with some of the
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  question marks around AI and generative AI,
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  where this role is so important. You know,
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  it's not like it's some pocket of the
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  organization that's
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  an ancillary or nice to have. I mean,
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  for health systems, this is a a really
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  important role,
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  that needs experienced talent, strong leaders,
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  good critical thinkers, like you said. And also,
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  I I respect and appreciate your comment about
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  the generalist, you know, going
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  a mile wide and inch deep,
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  versus vice versa,
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  can be so helpful
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  in the informatics program given how many professionals
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  it touches. Right?
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  So so, Zavina, I you're about a month
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  in at Moffett. You mentioned you were with
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  Stony Brook Medicine for 14 years,
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  a really impressive stretch of time with that
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  organization.
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  Let's talk about you a little bit and
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  and your leadership.
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  How have you been evolving or sharpening
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  or trying to kind of level yourself up
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  with this new chapter of your career?
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  And how have you been
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  making yourself at home now at Moffett? Any
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  advice that you would share with other leaders
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  who are looking to make a similar change
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  like you after spending such a significant portion
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  of time of their career with 1 organization?
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  Yeah. I think one,
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  thing is I'm learning. I'm glad,
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  that I
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  took the leap. It was definitely a leap
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  getting out of the comfort zone.
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  We're coming from a system like we you
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  know how everything works to an entirely new
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  system and and way of doing things.
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  I am
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  trying to think
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  bigger,
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  or a high level picture, trying to understand
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  what
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  is driving a majority of the decisions at
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  this organization
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  and taking things slow, really trying to learn
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  in the 1st few months
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  rather than just, you know, come in and
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  do.
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  Also, another big career change,
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  I guess, advice or lesson learned
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  is
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  it's definitely
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  an opportunity
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  to,
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  as you said, level up and kind of
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  reinvent
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  myself.
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  The 15 years at Stony Brook, I started
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  off as an intern.
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  So pretty, you know, low on the totem
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  pole, very narrow thinking of just my patient,
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  you know, my medical knowledge.
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  And along the way, with you know, great
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  mentorship and opportunities, I was able to
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  develop
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  the leadership
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  mentality. So what I'm really trying to do
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  is own that and start off at that
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  level and then build upon it.
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  There I have great leaders here,
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  that I consider mentors at Moffett,
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  who played a big role in me choosing
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  to come here,
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  the CMIO, doctor Perkins. I'm really trying to
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  learn again, use this opportunity to
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  level up, grow, learn and build upon
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  my skills.
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  So things like process improvement,
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  learning the technology
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  or learning, you know, large language models or
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  at least how they work.
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  That's,
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  you know, kind of more granular.
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  But at a high level, I'm trying to
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  also fill up the gaps where I may
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  not have learned so much all along, like
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  the finances of health care
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  or other, you know, kind of leadership strategies
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  at a larger level.
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  Mhmm. Well, it sounds like you're off to
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  a terrific start. I I think, as as
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  you described it, to take things slow and
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  to to really learn and have things stick
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  versus to come in and and do right
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  away as you put it. Sounds sometimes
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  easy in theory. I know that's a lot
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  of work itself, though, to be observant,
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  to make connections, to, like you said, try
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  to better understand what's driving the majority of
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  the decisions made at Moffett.
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  So, Vina, it sounds like you have,
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  made yourself at home, but still have been
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  taking a really strategic approach
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  to your transition.
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  Wanna just wish you continued success in that,
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  and, hopefully, we can catch up again
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  soon when you're a few months to a
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  year end and see how things have been
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  going for you.
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  Yeah. I'd love to. And hopefully, by that
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  time, I'll be,
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  you know, after the races with our fellowship
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  as well. Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes. We'll check-in
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  on that as well.
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  Well, Vina Lingam, I I just wanna thank
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  you again for being my guest today. Listeners,
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  Vina is the associate chief medical information officer
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  with Moffett Cancer Center in Tampa. Vina, thank
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  you so much again for being my guest.
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  Thank you, mom,
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  for having