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  • CNS Leadership Institute Podcast Series

  • The CNS Leadership Institute Podcast Series gathers leaders throughout the neurosurgical community to discuss valuable lessons learned on topics relevant to your practice and career.

    Podcasts are available on SoundCloud and Spotify.

  • Lessons Learned on Strategic Planning

    September 2021

    Length: 18:14

    Dr. Ellen Air of the CNS Leadership Institute talks with Dr. Stephen Ondra about lessons he has learned on strategic planning. 

    Since his early career as a military surgeon, Dr. Stephen L. Ondra has been on a mission to improve health care in the United States and around the world.

    Dr. Ondra is the CEO of Cygnus-AI Inc.  A company specializing in artificial intelligence and clinical decision support tools for diagnostic radiology.  He is also the founder of North Star Healthcare Consulting LLC, which advises large corporations, government and an array of mid-size and small companies that span the healthcare space.  Dr. Ondra has served as Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer at Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), the nation's largest non-investor-owned health insurance company, as Senior VP and Chief Medical Officer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and as the Senior Policy Advisor for Health Affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He also served at the White House in the Executive Office of President Barack Obama, where he was the co-Chair of the National Science and Technology Council for Health Information Technology, a member of the Federal Health Information Technology Policy and Standards Committees and a member of the Implementation Deputy Group for the Affordable Care Act.

    Lessons Learned on Negotiations

    September 2021

    Length: 26:08

    Dr. Lola Chambless of the CNS Leadership Institute talks with Dr. Susan Durham about lessons she has learned on negotiation.

    Dr. Susan Durham is the J Gordon McComb Family Endowed Chair and Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA), Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and Co-Director of The Neurological Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.  Prior to returning to CHLA in 2020, she served as the second female head of an academic neurosurgery program when in 2016 she became Chief of Neurosurgery at the University of Vermont Medical Center.  Her academic interests include addressing gender-related issues in the neurosurgical workforce, improving the resident interview and selection process, and the creation of evidence-based practice guidelines. 

    Lessons Learned on Retaining Talent

    September 2021

    Length: 16:42

    Dr. Maryam Rahman of the CNS Leadership Institute talks with Dr. Langston Holly about lessons he has learned on retaining top talent.  

    Dr. Langston Holly is a Professor of Neurosurgery and Orthopaedics at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He has served as the Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs for the Department of Neurosurgery since 2007. He is Chief of the UCLA Neurosurgery Spine Division and Director of the Neurosurgery Spine Surgery Fellowship Program that he established in 2006. He has a number of clinical interests including cervical myelopathy, minimally invasive spine surgery, Chiari Malformation, and spinal cord tumors.  In addition to a busy clinical practice, he is also an NIH funded Principal Investigator with continuous NIH funding from 2009-2023.He currently serves as a Co-Investigator of an NIH/NINDS K12 Award entitled “Transitioning Early Career Neurosurgeons to Scientific Independence".

    Lessons Learned on Crisis Leadership

    November 2021

    Length: 41:04

    Dr. Brian Nahed of the CNS Leadership Institute talks with Dr. Alan Scarrow about lessons he has learned on leading in times of crisis.  

    Dr. Alan Scarrow is a neurosurgeon and former president of the Mercy Health System in Springfield, Missouri. He is also a Past-President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, having served on the CNS Executive Committee from 2005 until 2018. During his tenure on the Executive Committee, Dr. Scarrow was integral in the development of the CNS Leadership Institute and the launch of the pilot course.

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