Becker's Hospital Review

44 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP POPULATION HEALTH Nemours uniquely positioned to tackle population health, says newly appointed executive By Kelly Gooch K ara Odom Walker, MD, will become senior vice president and chief pop- ulation health officer of Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Children's Health Sys- tem in September, and she brings senior-level governmental experience to the roles. Dr. Walker is cabinet secretary of the Dela- ware Department of Health and Social Ser- vices, an agency with 11 divisions and more than 4,000 employees. At Nemours — a health system with two hospitals in Delaware and Florida — Dr. Walker will be based at the health system's national office in Washington, D.C., over- seeing Nemours' advocacy and public poli- cy. She will also be responsible for the health system's population health efforts including strategy, research and innovation. R. Lawrence Moss, MD, Nemours president and CEO, said the chief population health of- ficer is a newly created role for the organiza- tion, and Dr. Walker will play an active part in the health system's population health efforts in the Delaware Valley and Florida. "Nemours' agenda is to transform the way people think of and pay for medical care in this country, and Dr. Walker is ready to help with that agenda. is was a natural fit. It's a wonderful fit for us," Dr. Moss said in an in- terview with Becker's Hospital Review. Dr. Walker told Becker's she is excited about applying her skills and experience in public health, administration and health services re- search at Nemours. She said she is also excited that her roles combine public policy approach- es and applied health system innovations along with evidence generation through research. "I look forward to learning and leveraging work that has already been done at Nemours, and the health system has a broad and im- portant vision I'm looking forward to execut- ing on," she said. Additionally, during the COVID-19 pandem- ic, Dr. Walker sees opportunity to think more about what it means to serve populations, as well as the transition in healthcare to paying physicians, hospitals and other healthcare pro- viders based on care quality and outcomes. "Dr. Moss has been clear he's focused on how to make sure we're supporting a new way of paying for care and delivering care for chil- dren," she said. "I think Nemours is uniquely positioned to execute on this vision and … move forward around population health and value-based service delivery," Dr. Walker added. e health system "has the potential to be a role model not only for the states in which they deliver care but also nationwide transforma- tion in terms of how we think about health and other social factors and how they pro- mote better health outcomes." n Applications open for New York women's corporate leadership academy By Katie Adams S aratoga Springs, N.Y.-based SUNY Empire State Col- lege is launching a corporate leadership academy for women this fall to prepare them for executive and board positions, according to a June 26 news release from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. The academy, which was first proposed by Mr. Cuomo in his 2020 state of the state agenda, is currently accepting appli- cations for its inaugural class. It will consist of the following: • A weekend residency connecting SUNY Empire State's leadership experts with academy enrollees for round- table discussions, workshops, lectures and networking. • A virtual lecture series featuring female corporate ex- ecutives and board members. • Online credential and non-credential courses on leadership, communication, networking, self-promo- tion skills and identification of institutional sexism. • A residency for corporate leaders focused on imple- menting gender equity in their organizations. n Work-life balance harder for female surgeons, survey suggests By Mackenzie Bean F emale surgeons perform far more household duties than their male colleagues, which may hinder career sat- isfaction, suggests research published in JAMA Surgery. To assess career satisfaction and work-life balance, re- searchers surveyed 3,807 practicing surgeons nationwide via an online poll between June 4 and Aug. 1, 2018. Four survey results: 1. Seventy-seven percent of female surgeons reported ca- reer satisfaction compared to 82 percent of male surgeons. 2. Half of women said work interrupted their personal lives, while only 45 percent of men said the same. 3. Female surgeons were more likely to be responsible for meal preparation (46 percent) and housekeeping duties (24 percent) compared to men (12 percent and 5 percent, respectively). 4. A significant link existed between sole responsibility for household chores and lower career satisfaction among women. n

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