Purpose Driven Healthcare Leadership with Amber K. Brooks, MD, MS, Founder of Onward and Upward

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Purpose Driven Healthcare Leadership with Amber K. Brooks, MD, MS, Founder of Onward and Upward

Date: February 28, 2026
Host: Scott Becker
Guest: Dr. Amber K. Brooks

---

Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Amber K. Brooks, a board-certified anesthesiologist, pain medicine physician, and executive leader. Dr. Brooks shares her career journey, discusses the crisis and opportunities facing healthcare leadership today, and introduces her new professional development platform, Onward and Upward. The conversation centers around developing purpose-driven, human-centered leaders in healthcare—highlighting the importance of presence, authenticity, and well-being for creating resilient organizations.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

Dr. Brooks’ Background and Career

• Extensive experience spanning over 20 years in healthcare as a clinician, NIH-funded researcher, and executive leader.
• Current positions:
  • Vice Dean for Institutional Learning and Transformation, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
  • Vice Chief Academic Officer, Advocate Health
  • Founder of the leadership development platform, Onward and Upward
• Proud University of Iowa graduate and recent Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.
  • “It was a real privilege to be back to the place that really grew me up, trained me to become the physician leader that I am today.” (02:04)

The Genesis of Onward and Upward

• Motivation: Born out of witnessing the current "extreme headwinds" in healthcare—financial constraints, shifting landscapes, and leadership gaps.
• Inspiration: A pivotal conversation with a colleague:
  • “Amber, what if we could move from simply surviving this moment in healthcare to thriving?” (03:05)
• Purpose: Helps healthcare leaders shift from survival mode to thriving, with an emphasis on tactical human-centered skills—not just technical expertise.

The Void in Leadership Training

• Traditional medical training has emphasized clinical and technical skills over leadership development.
• Identified Need:
  • “When I was a medical school student, leadership development wasn’t a core part of my training. ... There was less emphasis on the leadership aspects.” (04:28)
• Onward and Upward aims to fill this gap, empowering leaders for roles such as Chief Medical Officer or Medical Director.

Executive Presence and the Power of Kindness

• Executive Presence: Defined by Dr. Brooks as being rooted in “purpose and kindness.”
  • “You can show up and be an extraordinarily brilliant leader ... but if you are not able to pull at the heartstrings of your teammates ... it really doesn’t matter.” (05:48)
• Retention & Inspiration: People leave or stay based on how valued and included they feel far more than just salary.
  • “People stay not always because of money, but because they feel like they are included in the mission.” (06:33)

The Critical Role of Workplace Culture

• Financial compensation is essential, but not sufficient.
  • “Money is of course just one part ... But people won’t stick around to a place they don’t like working at, where every day they wake up and they hate it.” (07:07)
• Cost of Turnover: Losing valuable leaders has a significant financial impact, especially during budgetary constraints. (07:16)

The Onward and Upward Platform: Principles and Progress

• Development Stage: Currently in process—updates available via Dr. Brooks’ LinkedIn (Dr. Amber K. Brooks on LinkedIn).
• Core Framework:
  • Orient leaders to their purpose (“Why”)
  • Foster environments of trust and personal well-being
    • “You can’t pour from an empty cup. ... You’ve got to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself behind the scenes.” (08:43)
  • Encourage authentic leadership rooted in kindness, not merely niceness:
    • “It doesn’t cost $1 to smile and to show up and to say hello and to be present with your teammates ... their ROI is priceless.” (09:13)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Leadership Training’s Gaps
  “There’s a real void. I think that’s really the elephant in the room.” — Dr. Brooks (04:50)

• On Charismatic Leadership
  “Executive presence, which for me is rooted in purpose and kindness, is really important ... because people ultimately leave ... because of poor, ineffective leadership.” — Dr. Brooks (05:48)

• On Retention
  “People stay not always because of money, but because they feel like they are included in the mission.” — Dr. Brooks (06:33)

• On Self-Care for Leaders
  “You can’t pour from an empty cup. ... If you’re going to show up as your best self ... make sure you’re taking care of yourself behind the scenes.” — Dr. Brooks (08:43)

• On Authenticity and Kindness in Leadership
  “For me, what authenticity looks like is kindness. Not to be mistaken with niceness, but kindness.” — Dr. Brooks (09:05)

• On Purpose as Leadership Motivation
  “My advice to emerging leaders is to really hone in on your why.” — Dr. Brooks (09:58)

• Patient Story:
  “She looked at me with tears in her eyes and she said, ‘Dr. Brooks, you saved my marriage. People in my life say I’m a different person.’ ... And that’s, Scott, why I keep showing up every single day.” — Dr. Brooks (10:37)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Dr. Brooks’ background and current roles: 00:23–01:32
• University of Iowa roots and alumni award: 02:04–02:28
• Onward and Upward’s origin and purpose: 02:38–04:21
• Leadership training gaps in healthcare: 04:28–05:20
• Executive presence and culture: 05:48–07:16
• Workplace culture, pay, and retention: 07:16–08:10
• Platform framework (purpose, trust, well-being, authenticity): 08:10–09:37
• Advice to emerging leaders and the importance of “why”: 09:58–11:24
• Inspirational patient story: 10:37–11:24

---

Closing

Dr. Brooks advocates for a new kind of healthcare leadership—one that merges technical acumen with deeply rooted humanity and kindness. Her platform, Onward and Upward, seeks to nurture these principles in current and emerging healthcare leaders, promoting resilience, inclusion, and a renewed sense of purpose in tough times. For updates or to learn more, connect with Dr. Brooks on LinkedIn.

---

For the full conversation and more leadership insights, find this episode on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast feed.

Transcript

[A]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Health Care Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant doctor. We're joined today by Dr. Amber Brooks and Dr. Brooks is going to tell us about her career, about how she developed her career and a lot more. Dr. Brooks, can you take a moment and introduce yourself and at some point tell us about Wake Forest and a lot more.

[B]

Thank you so much, Scott for having me on the podcast today. It's a real honor. So I am a board certified anesthesia anesthesiologist and pain medicine physician. I've been in healthcare for over 20 years and as you've mentioned, I'm at Wake Forest University School of Medicine that serves currently as the academic core of Advocate Health. And I've had the opportunity in my career to serve as an NIH funded clinical researcher. I still practice pain medicine and have recently been involved in executive leadership. And in my role over these last few years, especially last year with the change of administration, I've had the opportunity to use the insights that I've developed from executive leadership to launch a professional development platform called Onward and Upward.

[A]

Well, fantastic. And you currently serve? I have this right, is the Vice Dean and the Vice Chair Academic Officer at Wake Forest, is that correct?

[B]

Yes, I serve as the Vice Dean for the School of Medicine in an office of Institutional Learning and Transformation. And then I also serve as the Vice Chief Academic Officer for Advocate Health. But I'm here today on behalf of my leadership platform onward and upward 100%.

[A]

Take a moment. You've had this magnificent career. I'm going to make one other comment. You're also a proud University of Iowa graduate, I believe, which is one of my favorite places. Is that fair? Is that correct?

[B]

That is correct. Go Hawkeyes. I had the opportunity to return to Iowa city, Iowa after 19 years. Two years ago I was honored to receive a distinguished Alumni award. So it was a real privilege to be back to the place that really grew me up, trained me to become the physician leader that I am today.

[A]

Simply remarkable. Okay, so now let's get to the heart of the discussion. Tell us about your platform Onward and Upward. And tell us about that, Dr. Brooks.

[B]

So Scott, as you know and as your listeners know, we are facing extreme headwinds in health care right now, whether that's financial cuts, especially with regards to federal and state funding. We are in an unprecedented time in health care. And as I was sharing earlier, I've had the tremendous privileged to be involved in executive leadership recently within my organization. And a colleague asked me this Question. Last year, Scott, in the middle of the headwinds, she said, amber, what if we could move from simply surviving this moment in healthcare to thriving? And Scott, that really stuck with me. And so that's what led me to develop the onward and upward platform, which essentially equips healthcare leaders to move from surviving to thriving. I think the elephant in the room is that for me as a physician leader and for my colleagues who are also leading during these extraordinary times, we focus a lot on the technical aspects of leadership. How do we equip leaders and transform their skills in terms of things like artificial intelligence and tech capabilities. But I think what we're not as focused on and what I believe is equally important is the tactical skills. So those human centered leadership skills that really keep people showing up, keeping morale high so that we can navigate these headwinds. Thank you.

[A]

And how did you get this started and how is it going? And talk about sort of how excited you are about it.

[B]

I'm extremely, extremely excited because I think it's a void in health care systems and other organizations that needs to be nurtured again as a leader who has been in health care for over 20 years. When I was a medical school student, Scott, leadership development wasn't a core part of my training. We were trained to diagnose patients. We were trained to show up with good bedside manner, to at the time write our clinical notes to. But there was less emphasis on the leadership aspects. How do we develop leaders who can be chief medical officers, chief physician executives, medical directors of clinics? And so there's a real void. I think that's really the elephant in

[A]

the room for me and Dr. Brooks. The rest of the world can't see you because we're on audio, but you're both brilliant and have great presence. How important is that to leadership? That sort of combination of brilliant and personal skills and presence within. Or can people be great leaders without that level of charismatic presentation in how you handle yourself? I think people can both, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

[B]

Yeah, so I think that that executive presence, which for me is rooted in purpose and kindness, is really important, Scott. I think that you can show up and be an extraordinarily brilliant leader who has wonderful ideas. But if you are not able to pull at the heartstrings of your teammates to really feel like they are seen, they matter and that you care about their well being and their professional development, it really doesn't matter how extraordinarily brilliant and visionary you are, because people ultimately leave not just Health care leadership positions, but positions in general because of poor, ineffective leadership. People stay not always because of money, but because they feel like they are included in the mission.

[A]

I mean, money is of course just one part of the situation, right? I mean, at the end of the day, people either love or hate working for. They work with. They love or hate the culture. They love the culture. If you're building with great people, you have to pay fairly.

[B]

But.

[A]

But money, you could pay the most in the world. But people won't stick around to a place they don't like working at, where every day they wake up and they hate it. Correct?

[B]

Absolutely, Scott, couldn't agree with you more. And the price tag in health care of losing your most valuable leaders is extraordinary. And when we are already faced with significant financial constraints, it is imperative that we create environments in which our leaders and our teammates can thrive 100%.

[A]

And the flip side of this, if you pay people too little, they come in the door every single morning wanting, irritated. So you have to pay people fairly, but you also have to have a great culture.

[B]

Absolutely. The two go hand in hand and

[A]

talk a little bit about. I'll come back to the platform in a second. How do people learn more about the platform that you're building? How do people learn more about that? And are you in? Is it, is it active already? Where is it at so far? Dr. Brooks?

[B]

Yes, Scott, thank you for asking. So I am in the process of building this platform. Please, please follow me on LinkedIn to find out more about the platform and where we're at. You can follow me at Dr. Amber K. Brooks on LinkedIn for more information. But this, this platform, at the heart of the platform or the framework is this. I want to orient our leaders to purpose. I want to create and help develop leaders that understand the importance of trust and who are also focused on their well being. You know, there's this saying that you can't pour from an empty cup. And so if you're going to show up as your best self, as a leader in healthcare, you've got to make sure that you're taking care of yourself behind the scenes. And then I think for me and for other successful leaders in healthcare, what I have observed as that secret sauce is showing up authentically and really showing up. For me, what authentic authenticity looks like is, is kindness. Not to be mistaken with niceness, but kindness. Right. It doesn't cost $1 to smile and to show up and to say hello and to be present with your teammates. Right. Like those things are, don't cost money and they their ROI is priceless.

[A]

Could not agree more. And what advice Dr. Brooks? So I found Dr. Brooks, Amber Brooks, and then plugged in Wake Forest to make sure I got the right Dr. Brooks because there's a couple Amber Brooks is on LinkedIn just for people's information, but fantastic. Dr. Brooks, what advice would you give to emerging leaders?

[B]

So my advice to emerging leaders is to really hone in on your why. So although I'm an NIH funded researcher and although I hold a leadership position now within my organization, I still carve out time to see patients in my chronic pain clinic. And on my toughest weeks, whether it's leading my research teams or my administrative leadership teams, I always find true joy in coming and seeing a patient. Just last week, Scott, I saw a patient who I'd been working with for two years and we'd been honing her treatment plan using multimodal pain management techniques. And she looked at me with tears in her eyes and she said, Dr. Brooks, you saved my marriage. People in my life say I'm a different person. And she just gave me the biggest hug. And that's, Scott, why I keep showing up every single day. That's why I keep fighting for expanded care for our patients. That's why I keep fighting for our students to make sure that they're not facing tremendous cost for their healthcare education.

[A]

Just remarkable. Dr. Brooks, thank you so much for joining us on the Beckers Healthcare podcast. We love what you do. You're an inspiration. You're remarkable. Thank you so much for joining us today.

[B]

Thank you, Scott, for having me.