Sac-town

The field trip to Sacramento on Friday to visit some of the top dogs in public health was a great experience.

We saw:
Pat Fry, President and CEO of Sutter Health
Dr Mark Horton, Director of CA Dept of PH
Phyllis Bramson, Director of Nutrition Services Division CDE
Kim Belshé, Secretary of Dept of Health and Human Services.

It was really a privilege to not only get time from these very busy and important leaders, but to also have the opportunity to ask them questions and have direct conversations with them. With so much on their respective plates, I was surprised to get so much focused time from them!

The overlaps in their characteristics was surprising, yet they each clearly had different leadership styles. All were optimistic, passionate, confident and committed and knew that they weren't necessarily the expert for everything. Pat Fry had a no BS, tell-it-like-it-is type of personality, whereas Dr Horton sounded like he would be a little more compassionate of a leader. Phyllis Bramson demonstrated a real understanding of effective advocacy and Kim Belshé knew how to prioritize in ambiguous and challenging times.

I look forward to another field trip in the Spring, it is such a treat to do this as part of the Fellows program.