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MCW'S RAYMOND HELPS MKE NAVIGATE COVID CRISIS
During the chaotic initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, many found reassurance in the words of Dr. John Raymond, President and CEO of the Medical College of Wisconsin. During a series of daily webinar briefings cohosted by MMAC and the Medical College, Dr. Raymond delivered facts and pragmatic assessments of how the pandemic was affecting the region. Some viewers referred to him as “Wisconsin’s Dr. Fauci.”
What did we learn, and where do we go from here? Dr. Raymond shared his thoughts with Milwaukee Commerce:
What are some lessons you learned from the initial phase of the pandemic?
For some challenges, there are no easy solutions. As a society, we’ve had to choose between unsatisfactory options for dealing with COVID-19 without reliable data. As a scientist who lives by using data, that’s been enormously difficult for me.
Also, I’ve learned that we’re suffering from a glut of inaccurate, poorly curated and overly interpreted information about COVID-19, and that’s caused a lot of confusion. In some cases, there’s been what appears to be intentional disinformation. This has been referred to by the World Health Organization as an “infodemic.” And my goal for MCW has been to serve as an interpreter and curator of highquality, relevant information so we can help leaders make well-informed decisions. We’ve enjoyed working with the MMAC, M7, WEDC and public health leaders to bring good information forward.
How challenging has this been to the medical community, and MCW as an institution?
The challenge has been unprecedented from multiple perspectives. The leaders of our health care community were very concerned about preparing for a surge of COVID-19, and we massively redeployed personnel, equipment and facilities. We did that quickly, but there were two unanticipated consequences. First, the ongoing shortage of personal protective equipment really limited our capacity. Second, our revenues plummeted -- in part because of guidance to stop non-emergent procedures and visits, but also in part because we wanted to protect the personal protective equipment supply chain.
MCW went from a very comfortable margin position in early March to losing a million dollars per day in late March. That was absolutely unprecedented. Now we’ve got the challenge of restoring the confidence of our patients who don’t have COVID-19 to come back into our health care facilities.
People may not know we’re the seventh-largest employer in the region. We have over a billion dollars in revenue, one of the largest
integrated physician practices in Wisconsin and we’re the thirdlargest private medical school in the country – a complex set of businesses. Trying to respond simultaneously to a pandemic unlike any we’ve seen since 1918, and financial challenges that rival or exceed those of the Great Depression, it’s been difficult.
We had to move our business operations offsite. We had to very quickly learn how to deliver health care in a very different way. We had to move our academic enterprise to completely digital online within about a week. Through all that, we had to maintain our connection to the underresourced communities that are part of our community engagement mission.
How would you describe the career path that led you to MCW?
I grew up in working-class family in Akron, Ohio. I was the first one in our extended family to go to college, the first to go to medical school. And my aspirations at the time were to be a family physician and go back home and practice in Akron. I had an outstanding education at Ohio State. And my plans changed when I went to Duke for my internal medicine training and met a scientist named Dr. Bob Lefkowitz – who, by the way, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2012. He inspired me to become a scientist as well as a clinician.
My second faculty appointment after Duke was at the Medical University of South Carolina. I’d been the No. 2 person there for eight years and was looking to broaden my leadership opportunities. I’d always known that MCW was an outstanding institution. It’s one of the top 100 research institutions in the country. When this job came open, it intrigued me. I’d spent 28 years in the Carolinas and I loved it there. But coming back to the Midwest felt like going home.
Many daily briefing viewers noted your calm demeanor that’s reassuring in a crisis. Doctors call this a “bedside manner.” How did you learn that?
My parents taught me to listen well and be a critical thinker. And those traits were refined during my education and medical training. I found those skills to be valuable in my clinical duties, and in my leadership duties. I benefited from having outstanding mentors throughout my career, such as Bob Lefkowitz and Dr. Ray Greenberg, who was my boss and president at the Medical University of South Carolina. Both are great thinkers, big personalities. They empower people around them to grow and stretch their abilities to the fullest. They both taught me the power of candor.
What do you think this time has taught us about Milwaukee’s strengths, and challenges, as a region?
One of our main strengths is that we like to collaborate. And for dealing with complex, multi-sector problems like COVID-19 is posing to us, collaboration is key. I want to point out (MMAC President) Tim Sheehy’s leadership of the business community and his willingness to partner across multiple sectors to find solutions. I’ve also been inspired by the unprecedented level of collaboration among the health systems and clinics in the region. I think that gives us great promise for the future. I hope that we’ll build more durable bridges within the health care sector and across the different sectors of our economy going forward.
DR. JOHN RAYMOND
And I think we’re going to need to cultivate a broader range of diverse voices and perspectives as we go forward. We as a community need to take ownership for the economic and health disparities in our region, especially the central city of Milwaukee. Because that’s the right thing to do, and it’s also the smart thing to do for the vitality of our region.
What should we, as a region, take away from this to help us improve and be ready for whatever challenges we might face in the future?
I hope we can take away at the end of this that we’re resilient and we recognize the power of working together, especially at a time when there’s very partisan rhetoric going on. I’ve been inspired by the willingness of people across this region to find ways to work together.
