Leadership Rounds with Dr. Reena Pande

Reena Pande, MD

Join Dr. Reena Pande, physician executive, entrepreneur, and Partner leading Oxeon’s Clinician Executive search & leadership practice, as she explores what makes exceptional healthcare leadership. Each episode features candid conversations with clinician executives and industry leaders who share their journeys, challenges, and insights on driving innovation in healthcare. Whether you're a clinician looking to expand your leadership impact or an executive seeking to better integrate clinical voices, this podcast delivers the perfect prescription for today's healthcare leadership challenges.

  1. Jun 10

    Zeke Emanuel: Meaning, Friendship, AI, and What Makes a Life Well Lived

    In this special live episode of Leadership Rounds in Nashville, TN, Dr. Reena Pande sat down with renowned physician, bioethicist, and healthcare policy leader Dr. Zeke Emanuel for a wide-ranging conversation on wellness culture, AI in healthcare, chronic disease management, empathy in medicine, and the future of clinician leadership. Drawing on themes from his newest book, Eat Your Ice Cream, Zeke challenged today’s obsession with optimization, arguing that meaningful relationships remain among the strongest predictors of health, longevity, and happiness… not endless self-tracking and data collection. The conversation also explored how artificial intelligence may fundamentally reshape healthcare delivery and what future clinicians must learn in an increasingly digital healthcare ecosystem. Topics & Takeaways The “wellness industrial complex” and optimization cultureLoneliness, friendship, and longevity researchWhy social connection impacts physical healthAI vs. physicians in diagnosis and chronic disease managementThe future of empathy in medicineMedical education reform and clinician EQChronic disease, value-based care, and healthcare innovationWhat future healthcare leadership requiresChapter Markers 00:00 — Meet Dr. Zeke Emanuel 02:20 — Why he wrote Eat Your Ice Cream 07:10 — Wellness culture, optimization, and narcissism 10:04 — The science of friendship and longevity 14:29 — Why talking to strangers matters 19:06 — Exercise, VO2 max, and wellness myths 24:04 — AI’s future role in healthcare 31:11 — How medicine and medical education must evolve 36:07 — Audience Q&A: empathy, AI, and multidisciplinary care 46:14 — What future physicians will need most 50:21 — Zeke’s “wellness trifecta” for a meaningful life

    53 min

  2. May 20

    Jesse M. Ehrenfeld: From the AMA to the Frontlines, Building AI Clinicians Can Trust

    What does it take to move AI in healthcare from promise to real-world impact? In this episode of Leadership Rounds, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, Chief Medical Officer at Aidoc and former President of the American Medical Association, joins Dr. Reena Pande to explore the future of clinical AI.Drawing on experience across clinical practice, national policy, military leadership, and health technology, Jesse shares why he made the transition from influencing healthcare at scale to building it directly, and what it will take to deploy AI that actually improves outcomes. Topics & Takeaways The critical distinction between clinical AI and administrative AIWhy most health systems struggle to implement AI effectivelyThe role of clinician leadership in product design and deploymentHow leading organizations are scaling AI across entire systemsWhy trust, workflow integration, and architecture (not algorithms) determine success🔔 Subscribe to Leadership Rounds for more candid conversations with the leaders redefining healthcare. More on Jesse: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctorjesse/ More from Reena:  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenapande/ - Substack: https://reenapande.substack.com/ 📍 Learn more at Oxeon.com #leadershiprounds #prescribingleadership #conversationswithclinicians #clinicians #leaders #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #healthcare #healthcareexecutive #clinicianexecutive #entrepreneurship #health #innovation #healthcareinnovation #clinicianleadership #digitalhealth

    39 min

  3. May 19

    Leadership Rounds: Year in Review

    In this special season recap, Dr. Reena Pande reflects on the defining lessons and leadership insights from the first year of Leadership Rounds, featuring conversations with some of healthcare’s most influential clinician leaders, operators, and policymakers. From Neel Shah of Maven to Microsoft’s Mary Presti, these candid discussions about the future of care delivery helped lay the foundation for an exciting new season to come that will kick off with a series of episodes focused on the rapidly evolving world of healthcare AI.

    3 min

  4. Apr 14

    Mary Presti: From the Bedside to Big Tech - Scaling AI That Enables Better Care

    Mary Presti (Microsoft) joins Dr. Reena Pande to explore how AI is moving from pilot to enterprise-scale in healthcare and why workflow, trust, and clinician adoption will determine what succeeds. As a senior healthcare technology executive at Microsoft and former bedside nurse, Mary brings unique experience spanning clinical care, consulting, pharma, and health tech, and offers a grounded perspective on how AI is evolving from early experimentation to enterprise-scale deployment. Together, Mary and Reena explore where AI is delivering real value today and why the biggest opportunities are not in diagnostics or drug discovery, but in reducing friction across everyday clinical workflows, leading Mary to share why she believes the future of AI in healthcare depends less on technology itself and more on trust, governance, and change management. Topics & Takeaways Why 2026 will mark the shift from AI pilots to enterprise-scale deploymentThe concept of “surround care” and where AI is delivering immediate ROIHow ambient AI and copilots are reducing documentation burdenWhy clinicians must play a central role in AI design and deploymentThe emergence of new roles like clinician, prompt engineers, and AI governance leadersWhy trust, adoption, and workflow design (not technology) are the true bottlenecksHow AI can restore human connection in care delivery🔔 Subscribe to Leadership Rounds for more candid conversations with the leaders redefining healthcare. More on Mary: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryvarghese More from Reena:  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenapande/⁠⁠⁠⁠   - Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reenapande.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠     📍 Learn more at Oxeon.com #leadershiprounds #prescribingleadership #conversationswithclinicians #clinicians #leaders #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #healthcare #healthcareexecutive #clinicianexecutive #entrepreneurship #health #innovation #healthcareinnovation #clinicianleadership #digitalhealth

    41 min

  5. Mar 11

    Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH: Leading at Scale Through Complexity and Crisis

    Mandy Cohen and Oxeon’s Dr. Reena Pande unpack crisis leadership, trust-building, and why change management (not technology) will determine healthcare’s future. In this episode of Leadership Rounds, Dr. Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH—physician, operator, and former CDC Director—dives into exploring what it takes to lead through complexity and build systems that improve health at scale. Mandy traces her path from early exposure to healthcare’s “broken parts” through her mother’s work in emergency rooms to shaping policy and execution across major institutions. She shares a pivotal patient story that reshaped how she thinks about whole-person health and why leaders must build infrastructure that prevents critical needs from being invisible inside even the most advanced systems. Together, Reena and Mandy unpack: Why trust isn’t a vibe, it’s an operational discipline you can measure How to navigate bureaucracy and still execute at speed What crisis teaches leaders about teams, decision-making, and accountability Why AI won’t be healthcare’s limiter, but change management and trust might be How clinician leaders can help set guardrails so innovation earns (and keeps) public confidence If you’re building, leading, or investing in healthcare transformation, this conversation offers a clear-eyed playbook for mission, margin, and measurable public trust. 🔔 Subscribe to Leadership Rounds for more candid conversations with the leaders redefining healthcare. More on Mandy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandy-cohen-03aa343/ More from Reena:  - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenapande/⁠⁠⁠⁠   - Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reenapande.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠     📍 Learn more at Oxeon.com #leadershiprounds #prescribingleadership #conversationswithclinicians #clinicians #leaders #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #healthcare #healthcareexecutive #clinicianexecutive #entrepreneurship #health #innovation #healthcareinnovation #clinicianleadership #digitalhealth

    51 min

  6. Feb 11

    Laura Medford-Davis, MD: Closing the Leadership Gap from Clinician to CEO

    In this episode of Leadership Rounds, Oxeon’s Dr. Reena Pande sits down with Laura Medford-Davis, MD, MS, a practicing emergency physician and Partner at McKinsey & Company, to unpack one of healthcare’s most urgent leadership challenges: the disconnect between physician leadership ambition and CEO representation. Laura shares her path from clinical training to health services research, federal policy work, and ultimately McKinsey, where she leads clinician-focused work and co-leads clinical operations. Together, Reena and Laura explore why clinicians are often perceived as “not ready” for top leadership, how that perception becomes self-reinforcing, and what both individuals and institutions can do to build a stronger clinician-to-CEO pipeline. More on Laura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-medford-davis/ More from Reena: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenapande/⁠⁠⁠⁠    #leadershiprounds #prescribingleadership #conversationswithclinicians #clinicians #leaders #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #healthcare #healthcareexecutive #clinicianexecutive #entrepreneurship #health #innovation #healthcareinnovation #clinicianleadership #digitalhealth

    42 min

  7. Jan 14

    Sheila Gujrathi, MD: On The Mirror Effect and the Inner Work of Leadership

    Leadership isn’t always about becoming more confident. It’s about becoming more self-aware. In this episode of Leadership Rounds, physician executive Dr. Reena Pande sits down with Sheila Gujrathi, MD (multi-time biotech CEO, board leader, and best-selling author) for a candid conversation about leadership beyond credentials. Drawing from her book The Mirror Effect, Sheila shares her journey from academic medicine to McKinsey, Genentech, and the C-suite, unpacking why fear, insecurity, perfectionism, and shame often intensify (not disappear) as leaders rise. Together, they explore how to recognize toxic work environments, negotiate with integrity, and show up fully and authentically, especially when the stakes are high. A must-listen for clinician executives, founders, biotech leaders, and anyone rethinking what real power looks like. You’ll learn: Why technical excellence stops being enough in leadership roles How to recognize toxic work environments (and leave or work to improve them them sooner) What executive presence really means (without losing authenticity) How to negotiate compensation, authority, and influence without apology Why self-awareness is the foundation of real power 🔔 Subscribe to Leadership Rounds for more candid conversations with the leaders redefining healthcare.

    47 min

  8. 12/10/2025

    Rebecca Mitchell, MD: An Innovative Product Builder & Venture Investor

    Leadership Rounds with Dr. Reena Pande closes out the year with a powerful conversation featuring Rebecca Mitchell, MD, a product leader, global health practitioner, and now co-founder of Scrub Capital, an early-stage venture firm built around the expertise of clinician-operators. Rebecca shares her path from growing up in a rural healthcare desert to working in global health and training at UCSF, where she witnessed firsthand the power of diverse, cross-functional teams through the LifeWrap project, an innovation that has saved mothers’ lives around the world. These experiences inspired her transition from traditional clinical paths into clinical product leadership, where she helped scale high-growth digital health companies serving millions of patients. In this episode, Dr. Pande and Rebecca explore: How clinical training strengthens product, strategy, and operational decisions The implicit and explicit biases clinicians face entering tech and executive roles Why high-performing teams require both clinician “insiders” and operator/technologist “outsiders” The founding thesis behind Scrub Capital and its clinician-builder LP community Why embracing technology, product thinking, and business rigor is the future of practicing “at the top of your license” This conversation is a must-listen for everyone shaping the future of healthcare and care delivery. More on Rebecca: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccalynnmitchell/ More from me:      - LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/reenapande/⁠⁠⁠⁠     - Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://reenapande.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠     - Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/reena_pande/⁠⁠⁠⁠     - Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/reena.pande⁠⁠⁠⁠       🔔 Subscribe to Leadership Rounds for more candid conversations with the leaders redefining healthcare. 📍 Learn more at Oxeon.com #leadershiprounds #prescribingleadership #conversationswithclinicians #clinicians #leaders #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #healthcare #healthcareexecutive #clinicianexecutive #entrepreneurship #health #innovation #healthcareinnovation #clinicianleadership #digitalhealth

    49 min
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5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Join Dr. Reena Pande, physician executive, entrepreneur, and Partner leading Oxeon’s Clinician Executive search & leadership practice, as she explores what makes exceptional healthcare leadership. Each episode features candid conversations with clinician executives and industry leaders who share their journeys, challenges, and insights on driving innovation in healthcare. Whether you're a clinician looking to expand your leadership impact or an executive seeking to better integrate clinical voices, this podcast delivers the perfect prescription for today's healthcare leadership challenges.

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