Stanford Leadership Development Program

Participants in the Stanford Leadership Development Program, jointly sponsored by the School of Medicine and Stanford Hospital & Clinics, learn the skills required to lead small divisions, sections or teams within an academic medical center. The program goal is to develop the leaders needed to implement institutional strategies and meet future challenges in academic medicine.

For more information on the Stanford Leadership Development Program, contact us.

Leadership Development Program Testimonials

Felipe Perez

"SLDP helped me define myself as a leader. The interactive workshop-like classes provided a strong foundation to build my leadership skillset in negotiating, leading teams, and defining my own values and goals. I made friends from across disciplines and found a new mentor who was an expert in my field that guided me in my project. The value you get from the program is worth more than the time invested. I still reference sessions in SLDP, a couple years after the program."

Dominique Arce

 

“Participating in the Stanford Leadership Development Program was an incredible way to kickstart my journey at Stanford Medicine. The program introduced me to a diverse and inspiring group of colleagues, with whom I formed lasting friendships and professional connections. The lifelong learning tools and resources provided have been invaluable in shaping my growth as a leader. I am immensely grateful for this transformative experience, which has not only enriched my career but also enriched my life.”

SLDP Staff

Stephanie Harman

Dr. Stephanie Harman is a faculty member in the Department of Medicine and Associate Chair for Women in Medicine in the department. She is also the Co-Director of the Stanford Leadership Development Program (SLDP), which is co-sponsored by OFDD and Stanford Health Care. As Dr. Harman is familiar with the challenges associated with the transition to leadership roles, she is committed to creating opportunities for all voices to be heard in leadership spaces and removing the barriers that impede the confidence of rising leaders. She has a zeal for empowering others to envision themselves as leaders in the School of Medicine and actively works to help faculty refine their individual strengths through SLDP.

Working closely with OFDD, Dr. Harman has developed the program curriculum to deliver content that is relatable to the lived experiences of faculty, provide support and resources for individual leadership development, and enable access to resources for career advancement. She sincerely enjoys the opportunity to connect leaders from different departments and facilitate the leadership growth of faculty. Dr. Harman looks forward to continuously refining SLDP to meet the needs of leaders in different stages, incorporate new contexts participants may face, and help build a community among past participants to foster continued leadership growth.

Jill Evans

Jill Evans, MPH, is a Program Director in the Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (OFDD). She provides administrative oversight for several initiatives including the Stanford Leadership Development Program. She also manages the Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL) Network that brings faculty together to address health inequities through collaboration, mentorship, education and policy. In her first six years at Stanford, as Research Director for the Office of Community Engagement, Jill collaborated with Stanford researchers and community organizations to improve the health of populations by building community capacity for research through academic-community partnerships.

Amanda Harrison

Amanda Harrison is an Events Coordinator in Stanford's Continuing Medical Education Department. For SLDP Amanda coordinates hotel and speaker logistics. She collects and distributes session data to the course director and speakers and ensures participants have all the necessary information to successfully attend this program.

2024 Stanford Leadership Development Program participants

Leadership Projects

With the help of a coach, participants design and implement a three-month team project to improve operations or create or improve programs in  the school or hospital. 

Sample projects from the FY19 program participants listed below:

 

Business Planning

  • Implemented a successful formal Nurse Manager Succession Planning Model
  • Conducted a burnout survey of hospitalists to target interventions on key causes
  • Improved metric "Did your workload feel manageable today" for cytopathology faculty from 64% "Yes" to 92% by revising schedules, streamlining the FNA service and delegating non-physician appropriate work
  • Implemented an IT self service password reset tool for SHC, UHA and Valley Care
  • Improved productivity of MayView Community Clinic by establishing a call center, creating monthly productivity reports, instituting huddles, reducing in unused slots, and increasing visits/provider
  • Documented multiple opportunities to reduce OR costs with more accurate logging of supplies (currently only 60%), improving accuracy of preference cards (92% inaccurate), and reducing unused items (20,000 to 30,000 per week)

Interdisciplinary Research Programs

  • Enhanced the prominence of the Kidney Council of the American Heart Association with new education, policy and research initiatives.
  • Increased patient enrollment in Hepatology clinical trails from 440 to 475 (8% increase)
  • Created a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid Pulmonary Biobank to enhance translational research in pediatric lung disease 
  • Completed a feasibility study and business plan for an islet cell transplant program
  • Established an arbovirus discovery and innovation interest group in the School of Medicine and on the main campus including 16 research group from 10 departments
  • Building an unbiased comprehensive database for small volume biopsy of lymphoma; collaboration includes cytopathologists, hematopathologists and oncologists from 7 institutions

Clinical Process Improvements

  • Streamlined startup administrative processes for Radiology clinical trials
  • Improved timeliness of neurodiagnostic test scheduling by 62% for EEG and 87% for EMG
  • Reduced no-show/late cancellation rates in Comprehensive ENT Clinic from 17% to 9%
  • Decreased Dysphagia Clinic time from referral to consultation by 61% and consult to testing/treatment by 43%
  • Established the first crash cart system for the Research Animal Facility procedure rooms; trips out of room to get urgently needed supplies decreased by 85% to near zero
  • Reduced late arriving patients in Urology Oncology Clinic from 22% to 13%; average late arrival time dropped from 20 to 8 minutes.
  • Improved hospitalist time managing intrafacility patient transfers to Valley Care by 50%
  • Decreased return visit no shows in Gynecology Clinic by increasing MyHealth enrollment to 85% and reducing CRM time to resolution by 75%
  • Improved gynecology patient experience with high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy by decreasing length of time brachytherapy applicators are in place by 1 hour (25%)
  • Creating a full service Dental Oncology service to treat head and neck cancer patients' dental & periodontal disease prior to radiation
  • Reduced mortality of transferred surgical oncology patients from 7.7% to 6.9% with transfer process standardization: guidelines, transfer checklist and Epic documentation

Curriculum Development

  • Created new on-line Opthalmology CME programs to increase regional awareness
  • Designed communication models for Emergency Medicine physicians to guide their conversations  with consultants and support professional interactions
  • Developed a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Education Collaborative in 4 Northern CA hospitals: joint education programs held, curriculum standardized, research opportunities identified 
  • Gained insights from pilot of a bedside skills training and assessment program in the Internal Medicine resident clinic

Leadership Training

Physicians participate in six day-and-a-half long meetings during the year in which they receive instruction on topics including leadership, finances, human resources and diversity.  The curriculum includes affecting change, team dynamics, project management, negotiation, and influence without authority, developing diversity, managerial accounting, an overview of the school and hospital, and dealing with difficult conversations. Participants learn work-leadership balance and receive feedback on their individual leadership styles and opportunities for development.

Selection Process

The Stanford Leadership Development Program is designed to include 25-30 participants each year. The program is open to all ranks in all faculty lines. Selection for the program begins with a nomination by a senior leader in the SoM or SHC. Nominees who are interested complete a short application. Participants are selected by a committee made up of Senior Deans and SHC Senior Leadership Team members. Candidates are ranked on their demonstrated commitment to building diversity, current leadership activities and potential for growth as a leader. Particular effort is made to ensure diversity within each cohort, with approximately half being women and 25 percent being from underrepresented minorities.