Christy White, MD, steps up as medical staff president
Christy White, MD, is looking forward to a good term. She took the helm as president of the medical staff at Cincinnati Children’s on January 1, bringing with her a broad perspective of the medical center, thanks to her background in General Pediatrics and Hospital Medicine.
“I want to thank Derek Wheeler for his exemplary leadership,” she said of the immediate past-president. “I hope to build on the work he’s begun on medical staff wellness and engagement.”
White, who hails from St. Louis, MO, earned her MD from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine and completed her residency and chief residency at Cincinnati Children’s. She is Associate Chief of Staff for Inpatient Services and medical director of both the Center of Destination Excellence and the Hospital Medicine Complex Care Team.
White will continue to partner with the Chief of Staff office to address the feedback from the medical staff engagement survey that took place last summer. The survey revealed that Cincinnati Children’s care providers are experiencing burnout at a rate that is on par with other similar institutions across the country.
“We are hosting a Greeley leadership training seminar February 23 and 24**,” says White. “The agenda is in the preliminary stages, but the focus will be on provider burnout and wellness, credentialing, peer review, Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE), Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE), and developing mutually beneficial mentor/mentee relationships. Please join us for whatever portion you can. You don’t have to be present for the whole thing. We will send the final schedule out soon. It’s free to all members of the medical staff here and in the community. We want to capitalize on Greeley’s expertise to elevate the work of our medical staff.”
White hopes to improve medical staff engagement by:
- Hosting more meet-and-greets for medical staff, which provide opportunities to ask questions and give feedback to Medical Executive Committee members. These events are also a good way to for junior medical staff members to interact with the leadership.
- Rethinking how we bring new medical staff on board and pairing them with mentors who will support them by adding routine check-in points to help ease the transition.
- Supplementing the work being led by the Chief of Staff Office and the Office of Faculty Development and Academic Affairs to promote wellness. She also wants to support the Cincinnati Health Collaborative and Cincinnati Academy of Medicine in their efforts to collaborate with other hospitals on how to care for the mental health of providers.
“There are a lot of advantages to being a medical staff member,” says White. “You get access to Cincinnati Children’s resources and references to foster your own personal education. You can collaborate with colleagues who are caring for your patients here – there’s a lot to be said for seeing and talking to people face-to-face.”
White is energized by the possibilities that lie ahead. “Our biggest strength is our people,” she says. “Everyone is invested in making things better. They’re coming forward with lots of great ideas.”
** This is a correction to the information that appears in the Staff Bulletin January print edition.
