Preoccupied with Potential As Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan, Justin Dimick, M.D., could be forgiven if he were motivated...
As Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan, Justin Dimick, M.D., could be forgiven if he were motivated by ego and personal success. And yet his own gain is not what drives Dr. Dimick but rather the growth and development of others to excel and achieve their goals. Being “preoccupied with helping people fulfill their potential” is what motivates him to be a leader, mentor, and designer of innovative training programs at Michigan.
In this episode of WittKieffer’s Accelerating Physician Leader Impact series, part of our Impactful Leaders Podcast, Dr. Dimick speaks with WittKieffer’s Michael Anderson, M.D., about leading in the current moment. Dr. Dimick advises colleagues to keep their heads down and work hard, to not get caught up in the chaos and uncertainty around them. For those who focus on doing good work, he says, opportunities will come.
Further, he says, leaders across academic medicine can be more open to skepticism and less dogmatic, especially around the value of medical research and innovation in the public’s eyes. “How do we restore the trust in the people of this nation whose taxes pay for this?” he asks.
They continue the conversation with a discussion of entrepreneurism and Dr. Dimick’s role in co-founding the analytics company ArborMetrix. Launching a startup is not entirely different from building a department or research team, he says. All involve convincing someone (whether venture capitalists or the NIH) to provide the resources to fund a great idea and then identifying and developing the right people to make it succeed.