Leaders Reshaping Healthcare

In this episode, med‑device veteran Rick Hudson walks through his career from U.S. Surgical and Intuitive to founding VitalCoreHealth, a patient‑focused telehealth company offering compounded GLP‑1 therapies and wellness solutions.

Rick shares actionable hiring and leadership advice—how to spot motivated candidates, build culture intentionally, and support team growth—and explains trends in the GLP‑1 and peptide market and VitalCore’s approach to patient care.

🎙️ New Episode Alert — Real Leaders Reshaping Healthcare

Today's the day! I'm so excited to share my conversation with Elina Onitskansky, Founder & CEO of Ilant Health, a value-based center of excellence for obesity and cardiometabolic care.

Elina's path took her through McKinsey, Molina Healthcare, and Help at Home before she set out to build something of her own — and what makes her story so powerful is that Ilant isn't just a career move. It's personal. Her own lived experience with obesity is what drove her to build a company designed to treat the condition the way any other chronic disease deserves: with evidence, without judgment, and built to fit real life.

We talked about the moment she knew the system needed to change, why obesity still carries stigma inside healthcare itself, how she's building a model that blends behavioral science, AI, and human coaching — and what it really takes to lead a team willing to bet on a category others shy away from.

This is one I think a lot of you will find both inspiring and genuinely useful.

Thank you, Elina, for such an honest and thoughtful conversation!

#HealthcareLeadership #ValueBasedCare #Podcast #HealthcareExecutiveSearch #WomenInBusiness #Obesity Care

In this episode Pamela Baird interviews Andrew about his accidental start in healthcare sales and how he rose to become a hospital CEO. They discuss practical leadership lessons, hiring and retention strategies, and the importance of mentoring and open communication.

They also explore challenges in rural healthcare—access and prevention—and look ahead to future opportunities with AI and technology, offering concrete advice for aspiring healthcare leaders.

Montez and Pamela discuss the challenges of cybersecurity in healthcare, emphasizing the importance of early involvement and effective communication. Montez highlights the need for healthcare leaders to view cybersecurity as a patient safety issue, advocating for regular collaboration with CISOs. He shares insights on managing cyber incidents, the risks of ransom payments, and the evolving role of AI in security. Montez also stresses the importance of translating technical jargon into business risks and maintaining a balance between security and operational efficiency. The conversation underscores the critical role of cybersecurity in protecting patient data and ensuring system integrity.

Host Pamela Baird  interviews Montez Fitzpatrick, a seasoned CISO, about building security programs, responding to major cyber incidents, and the difficult decisions around paying ransoms. They discuss differences in risk approaches between healthcare and financial services, leadership lessons for technical professionals, hiring red flags, and the impact of AI on security.

The episode emphasizes treating cyber risk as patient safety, improving communication across clinical and technical teams, and practical steps leaders can take to mature security programs and protect data and people.