#125 – Transformational Leadership with Adrian Moran, MD, MBA

Adrian Moran, MD, MBA currently serves as the Chief Medical and Transformation Officer of MaineHealth, a not-for-profit, integrated health system with over 2000 providers and 23,000 care team members serving patients across Maine and New Hampshire.

Dr Moran joined me to talk about his views on transformational leadership and his professional journey from a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital to executive organizational leadership roles.

I’m excited to share his story with you because we don’t talk enough about how to transition from being specialized clinicians to working in healthcare leadership.

I asked Dr Moran to join me for this interview given his unique vantage point and journey to executive leadership. MaineHealth’s flagship level 1 trauma center, Maine Medical Center, is where I serve as the Director supporting the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine. Over the last decade, I’ve watched Dr Moran move from his clinical role as a pediatric cardiologist to MaineHealth board member to Associate Chief Medical Officer. I then saw him leave MaineHealth to take on a system level CMO role for a large health system in Wisconsin and then back to MaineHealth as the Chief Medical and Transformation Officer.

Over the years, I’ve seen his leadership style in action and recently heard him describe how the principles of high reliability organizing and servant leadership inform his work, which are ideas we’ve talked about here on the podcast over the last year or so.

In this conversation, we talk about:

• the challenges facing healthcare organizations today and what leaders can do to be effective in supporting their teams
• what transformational leadership looks like
• the value of gaining practical experience and credibility as a healthcare leader
• when and why additional education, like an MBA, might make sense for leaders
• what motivates Dr Moran and what he sees as his core purpose

In full transparency, this interview was imbedded in a qualitative research course I’m taking as part of the PhD in Leadership & Organizational Develop at the University of Southern Maine. My goal was to explore the narrative arc of Dr Moran’s professional story and hear more about his leadership philosophy and work with MaineHealth.

I think yall are really going to enjoy this episode. Dr Moran is a remarkable leader, a pretty good story teller and incredibly generous for taking time out of his busy schedule to meet with me and share a bit of his story.

With that… let’s get to the show!

MaineHealth Announces Adrian Moran, MD, MBA as Chief Medical and Transformation Officer