Leading Department Excellence: Achieve the Robust Academic Health Center / Richard I. Burton MD

Academic health centers (AHCs) are complex organizational structures. Their purpose is to, as author Richard Burton puts it, “advance medical knowledge for the betterment of patient care and population health for current and future generations.” The AHCs’ role in the excellence of the current care of patients and their impact on the advances in research and education to improve patient care to even higher levels in the future can only be as successful as their leadership in structural organization and financial management.

Unique among more generalized leadership books, Leading Department Excellence is written specifically for leaders, and aspiring leaders, of major departments and innovative projects within AHCs. Instead of dispensing lines of theory, this guide provides readers with practical answers to questions of how.

Written with a well-labeled table of contents and index, the book is easy to search and navigate for those not able to read it all in one sitting. These features, as well as the final two chapters, “The When and How for the Established Chair to Step Aside,” and “Life after Relinquishing Chair Leadership,” make this book an excellent resource for even seasoned leaders.

The art of success is in knowing, loving, and believing in what you do. This book can help you with the knowing.