Dr. Lindsey A. Criswell, is the director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Prior to joining NIAMS, Dr. Criswell was vice chancellor of research at the University of California, San Francisco. 

She has a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a master’s degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.D. from UCSF. 

As the NIAMS director, Dr. Criswell oversees the Institute’s annual budget of nearly $625 million, which supports research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases. 

Between 1994 and the time she became NIAMS director, Criswell was a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants and published more than 250 peer-reviewed journal papers. 

In this episode, we discuss her journey as a leader in medicine and science. Welcome to Leading the Rounds. 

Questions We Asked: 

• When did you start to see yourself as a leader? 
• What experiences helped you build your leadership style? 
• When you stepped into your current role, did you feel ready? 
• What are the greatest challenges you face in your current leadership? 
• When do you know when a good opportunity comes along to pursue? 
• Were there things in your training that weren’t addressed?
• How do you avoid being “scooped” in medical research? 
• How does one decide what leadership route to choose? 
• How has failure impacted you as a physician, scientist and leader? 

Quotes and Ideas: 

• My leadership style reflects my own personality 
• “It really does take a team effort to be successful in science and medicine” 
• “There’s no one way to be an effective leader” 
• You can learn a lot by observing people you respect in positions of leadership 
• “I’m in a stage in my career where I really want to make an impact” 
• “As an investigator, if you can’t communicate effectively at the appropriate level… you’re not going to be successful.” 
• Most, if not all, of the impactful research done is a team effort 
• “Just say no”