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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Anjalee Galion, MD, President of the Medical Staff and Chief Physician Wellness Officer at Rady Children’s Health of Orange County
00:17:23
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. I'm Chris Sosa, your host and I'm thrilled today to be joined by Dr. Angeli Gallion. She's president of the medical staff of Rady Children's Health of Orange county and Chief Physician Wellness Officer Angeli. Thank you for joining us today.
- [00:13]
B
Hey Chris, so happy to be here and happy New Year. What a great way to kick off the start of 2026.
- [00:19]
A
You can say that again, Angelie. For those in our audience who may not be familiar with yourself and or your organization, can you please tell a bit about both? Please.
- [00:29]
B
Perfect. So we recently merged with the entire Rady Children's health system, but today I'm going to focus on Rady Children's Health of Orange County. We are greater than 350 bed tertiary quaternary care pediatric freestanding children's hospital in Orange County, California. Part of our system is Children's hospital admission, which is a hospital within a hospital system. Specifically in terms of my role for the medical staff, I'm really proud to be the president of over 1300 physicians and apps. One of the unique things about my role is that a few years ago our hospital really recognized the importance of having clinician led physician wellness initiatives. We love the work of people like the American Medical association who talk about how that can be a real asset to to any organization to not only recruit but also retain high level physicians. So I am the inaugural Chief Physician Wellness Officer. Really looking at system level change, thinking about it infrastructure, physician led programs and how do we make it not only a great place to get care, but a great place for physicians to work.
- [01:42]
A
So Angela, you said you're of course the inaugural Chief Physician Wellness Officer. How did you did this position evolve exactly when it comes to your organization? It seems like a long time coming as probably the case with other organizations as well. But how does that relate to your position?
- [01:59]
B
I love that question, Chris, because it really allows us a chance to highlight multiple things about a healthy healthcare system. So first it really happens with partnership with both the physicians, the employees and your leadership. What's going on in the system? What are evolving trends in healthcare and and what are upcoming challenges that we might face? I think the physician workforce challenge is something that a lot of healthcare systems are definitely keeping an eye on, but like most things, it developed organically. We started with a physician wellness committee, started looking at initiatives and then saw that there was an increased rate of physician burnout. I really want to give huge kudos here to our then CEO Kim Kreipe, who is now our co CEO with Patrick Frias in terms of not only being a great mentor, but an advocate for what's to come. She has been a CEO for three decades in health care, sometimes when there weren't even women in the boardroom. To that end, she is really good at looking forward at what might happen and thinking about how do we prepare for that future. She's been a friend, a mentor, and again, an advocate for this role. So when working with her leadership team, our Chief Transformation Officer, Paul Vandola, they decided that this would be a really good role. And let's be honest, it was a trial. Let's try it, let's see how it goes. Someone who's enthusiastic. But I have to confess to you, Chris, it is still a challenge for me to think about work life integration. I am not the model of physician wellness. This was a great chance to learn, but also to have empathy for what's happening in the workforce.
- [03:39]
A
Yeah. And certainly like anyone in your position, it's not even though the buck, the proverbial buck, will stop with you in terms of the initiatives that are undertaken by your role in your or your office. Let's say there are other people you're leaning on. Right. So there are decisions that are not made lightly, to put it simply. So Angeli, looking back at 2025, so what would you say is the most important initiative that you led? Specifically what it take to launch it and what have been the results so far?
- [04:11]
B
Chris, if it's okay, I'm going to choose a couple things, but I also want to share something that was really amazing to be a part of in terms of leading a couple initiatives. One of the things that we did was think about how are you actually helping physicians and leaders think about becoming leaders for wellness centered leadership? How do you think about leading by example? It's not something we're typically taught in healthcare is to take care of yourself. Really, this idea of putting on your own oxygen mask before you're able to care for others. Our medical group decided to actually think about funding a research study in which we brought in nationally renowned leaders to do wellness centered leadership for our physicians. The results were so great in terms of decreasing burnout and improving resiliency and feeling valued that we actually last year launched the first cohort with physicians and our executive management team members. Having an opportunity where your physicians are working side by side with your executive leadership to think about not only self reflection, how do you become a wellness centered leader, but then how do you translate that to your community? Was Transformational for us. We saw double digit reduction in burnout for our physicians and our executive leaders. The other thing that was great was that we practice alignment all the time at Children's Hospital. We're very mission driven. But what was great about this was we were using the same language to think about our own burnout, resilience and have that insight together. There's a lot of data. Those connections you make at work are some of the most protective in terms of resilience burnout. When we're facing tough decisions, both financially, life or death, having those relationships cemented those conversations outside the classroom or was absolutely critical and so meaningful. We are now going to do another cohort. We just kicked off. So super exciting. The other thing I'm really proud of is that last year we launched the Women Physicians Impact Network Group. There's a large body of data that show that a lot of women physicians increasingly now in the workforce are feeling undervalued, higher rates of burnout and are leaving the profession. We see them as a key asset. One of the things we did was found a way to bring women physicians together. How do you improve their leadership, build their connection, build that community for them both inside the hospital and out? We've seen great results. And every year we not only participate in physician engagement, but also the AMA organizational biopsy where you get to choose the questions. One of the things that's exciting is, yes, you get the national benchmarks, but also we get to see, hey, if we did an initiative, are we able to follow that over time? Both those two things, Wellness Centered Leadership and the Women Physicians Impact Network Group have now showed us sustained change year over year and we are really excited about it. But Chris, what I really wanted to share with you today was that this year, as I mentioned, as of January 1, 2025, we did have the formal merger of equals for Rady Children's Health of San Diego and Rady Children's Health of Orange County. It is really unique to be in a health care system that is doing that model. A true merger of equals. Our co CEOs Kimberly Chavalas Creipe and Patrick Frias have done an absolutely tremendous job. Many of us learn in business school that culture will dictate how mergers and acquisitions go to be a part of their tremendous body of work to make sure the culture, the atmosphere and, and really this idea that we are better together was not just a concept, but something they are practicing every day. It has been really amazing.
- [08:01]
A
That's so special, Angeli, that this culture has been able to be integrated. So at least so far, so seamlessly. I know it's only been a short time, but it sounds like things are heading the right direction there. I do have a somewhat personal question for you though, Anjali. So you mentioned burnout and how it's been decreased from your own perspective when you're feeling like and I've asked this question of other CEOs and other executives. So I'm curious as how it relates to you when you're having just a tough day or feeling burned out yourself. How do you get out of it?
- [08:31]
B
I love that question. I also really appreciate how personal it is because it's not something that we typically talk about. I think it's different for every person. I like to joke that I'm Indian, but I don't do yoga. I do love exercise, but as a busy mom, physician and leader, it's not always something that I can slip in for 30 minutes at lunch and then, you know, go read my next issue of Becker's. And so one of the things I think about is what fills your bucket and making sure that we are understanding that the things that fill your bucket can be different at different times. So for me, a lot of it is the connection. This idea of having the work best friend, the people that you count on at work, having someone to share that with is really critical. One of the things that we did was to make sure that we have places for physicians to connect. Physician dining rooms, physician lounges. And really when you have a difficult situation, a difficult interaction, or you just feel like you're not able to do enough for a family, being able to connect with other physicians, people who are your friends and your colleagues, really powerful. But there's definitely times watching Netflix, seeing what's on Disney plus, it's all great. The other thing I think is a more long term arc about thinking about how you make time for yourself and prioritizing it. In medical school and for many of us we were taught keep going, work harder, work longer hours. And what we're seeing is a real generational shift in that people are prioritizing themselves, their wellness, their health in fact, so they can be better at delivering care. One of my other roles is as a board certified sleep medicine doctor. And so I really prioritize my sleep. And one of the things that you find is even from top performing athletes to leaders to what we do every day, sleep makes a huge difference. So making sure to prioritize sleep time with my family, but really also time with my friends and colleagues who are My work, family for me is everything.
- [10:38]
A
That's very interesting that you mentioned sleep. I think you're the first executive who I've asked that question or some version of it. I mean, certainly related to your expertise. It makes sense. And I wouldn't say that other executives do not prioritize sleep, but I think it's good for your peers to hear. Certainly that's like, you know what, sometimes just taking a nap or getting more sleep in is a huge deal. Ansley, thank you so much for sharing that. So now we're going to look ahead a little bit. So answer this question in whatever way you find fitting for Radi Children's. What do you think are the biggest priorities and headwinds you're focused on for 2026?
- [11:21]
B
That's a big question. And I think that we're all thinking about it on both the micro and macro level. Children's hospitals have historically been really thoughtful about their financial outlook because we have such a high number of government payers, we are all thinking about how people are going to be able to afford health care and how we're going to make sure that we continue to provide high level health care with just an evolving financial landscape. I think we're in a really lucky position to have had the broader Rady children's merger in terms of not only our ability to think about clinical care, but also how we think about making sure we're able to provide care to an even larger number of kids and families during these evolving times. When I think on a more micro level, we of course want to maintain excellence in clinical care all the time. One of the greatest things I love about being part of the Rady children's health system is this sense of energy. When you walk onto our campus. I don't want to say it feels just like Disneyland, but it really feels like things are possible. We have had such great leaders who have really been thoughtful about not only our financial future, but our clinical excellence and made that a priority. The doctors, the nurses, we're all excited. We're excited about how to grow, how to do things better, what new fields of medicine we can think about with our Medical Innovation Institute. We also have an MI4 internship where every year highly competitive candidates come and we bring about 150 young students, high schools, college, about to go to med school. Whole bunch of kids come. We learn innovation, how it applies to clinical care and they're embedded right with us in the exam rooms, in the OR that perpetuates this sense of energy. People are excited. We're excited to see what we can do next. And I really want to again give credit to Kim Kreipe, Patrick Frias for helping us keep that energy. For a lot of hospitals, mergers can be a time of a lot of uncertainty, like trepidation. Our leaders have done such a good job of identifying that our greatest strength is really our people, the patients we care for, and how we think about the culture of the entire community. So I will say again, on the macro level, it's about making sure we can continue to provide excellent care to our entire community. But on the micro level, it's about how do we keep that energy, keep people excited, because it is something that is really unparalleled. When you visit different healthcare systems, that
- [13:59]
A
is wonderful to hear and hopefully there are other health systems that hear this and are able to learn from that as well. Angeli, next question I have for you. It's a bit of a bummer, let's say, but maybe not. It doesn't have to be. I'll just put this out there. So what do you think is the hardest thing you're going to have to do this year?
- [14:18]
B
Interestingly, I think that 2025 highlighted that we have to be prepared for uncertainty. The uncertainty can come at the state level, the uncertainty can come at the federal level. But as we all learned in 2020, uncertainty can also come from things that are geographically going to be really significant. We are in a culture in which our generations are really used to instant access. You can have immediate change, and that is a wonderful thing. But healthcare doesn't necessarily evolve at the same pace. So when we're thinking about what's challenging for 2026, how do you maintain that excellence in clinical care? Again, keep up that energy when you have to be prepared for uncertainty, and the system may not necessarily be able to evolve as quickly as we're used to with advances in the EHR or even different regulatory avenues.
- [15:16]
A
Thank you for not showing that for us, Angeli. I know there's a lot that can be contained in that answer. I appreciate you being able to be succinct, but certainly clear with our audience. Lastly, let's take this in a different direction then. Where do you see the best opportunities for organizational growth when it comes to rady children's health?
- [15:38]
B
Really excited about is our clinical innovation. One of the things in terms of having a culture that allows you to feel like anything is possible is that it helps you attract and retain some really great talent. It is a really different feeling when you come onto the rady children's campuses. And when you think about that, innovation is not typically just one person having an idea. It's when you're sitting together having those ideas. Hey, my patient needs this. There's this change that's coming down the pike. How are we solving for it together? That idea of collaboration and innovation, when you have a culture that's rapidly changing is a real opportunity. When we now have our colleagues from San Diego, Mission Orange all coming together, all of those opportunities for connection, innovation, that spark are really amplified exponentially. This year our co CEOs hosted the Stronger Together Summit where they bought 1000 leaders from all over the organization together. We sat in tables and we thought about new ideas and things that were going to happen. But the energy, the connections, all of that, that's where our greatest strength is. I am convinced that some of the greatest clinical innovations of the next generation are going to come from right here in Southern California.
- [17:00]
A
Angeli, thank you so much for being so generous with your time, your insights, and everything else you've been able to share with us today, both professionally and personally. We're going to see you soon at our conference in April, so we can't wait for that. Beyond that, I always look forward to the next time our paths are going to cross.
- [17:16]
B
Thanks so much, Chris. It was a real great way to start 2026. Have a great day.