From the OR to the C-Suite: Dr. Brooke Schweitzer on Advanced Practice Leadership in Healthcare

On this episode of the Building Bridges podcast, host Cody Sasek interviews Dr. Brooke Schweitzer, a plastic and reconstructive surgery physician assistant and Executive Director of Advanced Practice Providers at University of Chicago Medicine. She was appointed to this inaugural role amid rapid APP growth from about 200 pre-COVID to over 600 current. Schweitzer describes overseeing PAs, NPs, CNSs, CRNAs, and nurse midwives across multiple sites, and shares how she discovered the PA profession after shadowing in surgery. 

She recounts unexpectedly stepping into interim hospital leadership at a critical access hospital, prompting her to pursue a doctorate and business residency to bridge clinical and administrative “languages.” She emphasizes saying yes to opportunities, listening, transparency, servant leadership, stakeholder alignment in matrixed organizations, and measuring value through key metrics like length of stay and readmissions as healthcare shifts toward value-based care, while advocating for stronger APP representation and leadership pathways.