Relational Rounds

H. Clifton “Clif” Knight, M.D., is Senior Vice President of AAFP. He oversees all AAFP activities related to medical education. These areas include education and training of medical students and residents; student interest in the specialty of family medicine, including federal policies that affect it; and CME curriculum development, production, accreditation, and regulations

Carol Bernstein, M.D. is a Board Certified psychiatrist who is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair for Education in Psychiatry and Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. She is also a Past-President of the American Psychiatric Association and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Board of Regents of the American College of Psychiatrists

Jeremy Topin, M.D. dared to change a work model that was not only affecting his physical and mental health but influencing his family bonds. Jeremy started a blog after a bold decision that was to cut back, moving to part-time work, regaining health and renewing his love for his profession. Burnout takes different shapes, it is not universal, is definitely an accumulation and it's simply OK until is not!

Monica Bharel, M.D., MPH, is the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, appointed in February of 2015. She is responsible for spearheading the state’s response to the opioid crisis, implementation of health care cost containment legislation, reducing health disparities, finding public health solutions for health care reform, finding innovative solutions using data and evidence-based practices, and other health care quality improvement initiatives

Cheryl Fattibene, NNCC Chief Nurse Practitioner Officer, is an experienced Nurse Practitioner who has worked in both the for-profit and non-profit health care sectors as a provider and a clinical leader. Cheryl brings a nurse’s perspective on how to approach a new era of healthcare. Her experiences overseas as well as with migrant people in the U.S. have contributed to her innovative and integrative perspective over the healthcare system where a team-based care is the necessary direction

Neil Baker M.D. is an organizational and leadership consultant and coach and serves as faculty for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He works with healthcare organizations and individual executives to enhance leadership and team impact through In-the-Moment Leadership Strategies

Karen Gordon is the President/CEO of 5 Dynamics. As a high-energy problem solver and tireless worker, Karen thrives on helping companies revolutionize work culture and collaboration. Karen developed a methodology as a groundwork to help people collaborate more efficiently in teamwork. Healthcare dramatically benefits from this approach, helping in forming better teams while finding the strengths of each member, and at the same time, greatly easing teamwork, reducing stress and burnout

David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P., is president of The Commonwealth Fund, a national philanthropy engaged in independent research on health and social policy issues. From 2009 to 2011, he served as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, with the charge to build an interoperable, private, and secure nationwide health information system and to support the widespread, meaningful use of health IT

Dr. Nic Nguyen is actively working in bringing physicians together, to create a safe space for them to bring their worries and needs, to break the isolation, and to create communities of practitioners who are overloaded, tired and also suffering the consequences of sexism and discrimination against minorities

For over 25 years, Larry Dressler has designed and facilitated high-stakes conversations and advised leaders who seek to weave authentic engagement and collaboration into the fabric of their organizations. He is the author of two outstanding books in the matter of leadership: Consensus Through Conversation and Standing in the Fire

Dr. Dave Chokshi has been dedicating his time to improving primary care health. His work, providing care to middle-to-lower-class communities of New York City, has given Dr. Chokshi the chance to encounter face-to-face difficult realities such as racism and undiagnosed chronic illnesses, among others

Jeff Thompson, M.D., is the executive advisor and chief executive officer emeritus at Gundersen Health System and a pediatrician, author, and speaker on values-based leadership. He shares his experience in leading communities by caring about what matters to patients and physicians and always having core principles as priorities in any decision-making situation from hiring personnel to financing

Dr. Tyree Winters is a pediatrician in Sewell, New Jersey but he found out that being a doctor could not be equal to his identity. Finding himself belonging to a minority and being the first black doctor in his place of work, gave him a different perspective of how burnout feels like. As a leader, Dr. Tyree conducts himself as a servant and with the same humbleness,  has no inhibitions in sharing his personal experiences to bring some authenticity to the topic of burnout in healthcare

Al Kurose, M.D. is President and CEO of Coastal Medical, a primary-care-driven Accountable Care Organization (ACO). Coastal Medical provides care to 120,000 patients in more than 20 medical offices across Rhode Island. Dr. Al’s current experience in the administrative area, as well as many years with direct attention to patients, have given him an amazing perspective on how health service can be improved

Facts: One in four medical students are depressed and 11% have contemplated suicide; at the beginning of the internship 4% have reported feeling depressed and by the end,  40% meet the criteria for depression. Dr. Elisabeth Poorman has gone through the suffering herself and is now dedicating her efforts to bringing awareness about this critical situation as well as the proper attention that medical students, interns, and physicians are needing.