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Sarah Richardson: Welcome to Flourish, the podcast where we explore career journeys growth and finding balance in an ever evolving world. I'm your host, Sarah Richardson, and today I am joined by Corina Clark.

Corina is a strategic healthcare leader with extensive experience and market access, technology, innovation, and business development. She's passionate about creating patient-centric solutions, fostering collaboration across healthcare and life sciences, and breaking barriers for women in leadership.

Corina has a proven track record of driving business transformation while advocating for equity and inclusion in healthcare. Corina, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be here. Sarah, I'm thrilled that you're here as well. And thank you Erica Glenn for the introduction.

Yes, I'm looking forward to it. Same. And I wanna start with your healthcare leadership journey, because you've established yourself as a prominent COO at Gardner Health Services in San Jose. Mm-hmm. I'd love for you to walk us through the pivotal moments in your career that led you to this leadership role, but also how those experiences have shaped your philosophy.

Corina Clark: Totally. Usually when I have a question like this, I start straight away with the healthcare pieces, right? So I think I'll go backwards to state the obvious. In healthcare, some of the more pivotal moments in my career were COVID-19 during that time. I wasn't working as an executive quite yet.

Right. So I would say if we're working backwards, that was a huge, pivotal moment in healthcare. I can't talk about my journey without saying, before I was even in healthcare, but before I even thought about healthcare, I was a professional dancer and choreographer. I had a full-fledged, career.

I owned and operated a all star cheerleading and dance studio. And I was also an NBA dancer. And so, I feel like a lot of my leadership pivotal moments were born there in, you're taking these teams, you're taking the qualities of every single person in the room. You're putting a masterpiece together and you're creating a high performing team, right?

Sarah Richardson: I have to ask though the obvious question of you've got boardrooms, you deal with C-Suite, you deal with, but you have operated at a competitive professional schedule as well. And so when you compare the two, which setting is harder or is there something to be drawn from each of them?

Corina Clark: Really great question. I think there is

definitely a sense of fusion of, people say, wow, what a polar opposite career. How do you go from dance to healthcare operations when in reality, just like I kind of touched on, a lot of those lessons are the same, right? You understand the rules and regulations of the business.

And it really is about taking everybody's core skill and having a vision where you can enhance all of their superpowers, for lack of a better word, and bring it together to create one incredibly high performing team. And I do the same thing in my healthcare settings, right? Like I've got leaders who walk into rooms and can own a room, and they just thrive in that space.

And then I have leaders that are a little more behind the scenes. They're analyzing the data, they're getting the reports, and I can't do leadership without one or the other. I need that balance. And together we create a high performing team.

Because at Gardner Health, you're part of an organization with a strong mission to serve vulnerable populations. And I'm curious, how has your vision for healthcare equity evolved throughout your career, and what initiatives are you most proud of in implementing these disparities in care.

Corina Clark: Yeah.

Thank you for that question. I would say my vision for healthcare equity has really grown. It was built from like this personal commitment that I had, even with the dance piece, right? When we had our all star dance business, we were rooted in the middle of South Sacramento where we didn't have a lot of resources.

Really viewing equity as something that isn't just like a checkbox or, okay, we've got this part of the quality down. It really is about redesigning systems that were not built for the communities that we serve. It really means listening deeply and just confronting the uncomfortable truths that we know exist and embedding justice in every layer of our care delivery.

At Gardner Health, I would say we serve some of the most vulnerable populations in Santa Clara County, and I'm really grateful that at our organization the executive team, we have a leader who says, Hey, yes, we're gonna look at the data, but you lead with data and heart, right? So, while we're looking at the data and the metrics, we're also making sure that we are integrating feedback from our patients.

That has been something that the company has been, working on implementing for years. It's, and it's here, right? Like you can come in, you go to your appointment for maybe something medical, but you mentioned something that you may need from a mental health perspective. We've got clinicians ready that will show up and support you.

Sarah Richardson: Well, I love that you noted the heart part of making some of these decisions. And we had one of our city tour dinners in Atlanta over the summer last year, and one of the major healthcare systems says, sure, we have amazing governance, we've got metrics and business cases and ROI and all these other pieces and.

The physician who was there said, and then we have what we believe is true, because sometimes as a clinician, your heart will tell you what you need to fight for a patient. And it may not have an exact ROI to pin to it, but you know it's the right thing to do and we still lead with that as an indicator for ourselves as well.

I'm hearing that from you. And how powerful is that for a community that needs you when they are at the most vulnerable point in their lives?

Corina Clark: Totally. Yeah. And we have a saying in our dance space, which I bring over to healthcare, a dancer superpower, is the ability to make people feel something without saying a word.

Sarah Richardson: When you are a competitive athlete, there's a whole level of commitment that comes with that, which I have to believe is one of the reasons you were recently recognized in Becker's 118 COOs to know, because you've driven operational efficiency and strategic planning phenomenally in your organization.

Can you share with us an example of a challenging operational problem that you have faced and how your approach to solving it also reflected your style?

Corina Clark: Totally I think the easy response here would be Covid. That was incredibly challenging. But I'm gonna challenge myself and try to give another example.

We would take care of patients until a certain point and then we would transfer them for that higher level of care. And the short version of this, when that pediatric virus surge hit, these hospitals were calling us saying, you guys are gonna have to figure this out because we don't have enough space.

And so that was terrifying. Just kind of coming outta COVID and figuring out, how do we ensure that we don't just have the access, and we're not just expanding hours, but how do we really make sure that we have the training, the education, and the systems in place to protect these patients.

although the nurses may not have been pediatric ICU nurses, they stepped up to the plate. We did some very real in time training where we partnered with these hospitals, these pulmonologists at the children's hospitals and pediatricians. They shared their protocols with us and we essentially implemented like a makeshift

pediatric ICU to make sure we could take care of these patients. And I would say that was one of the most challenging times from not just operationally, but just clinically and making sure that our team , trusted us enough to know we can do this, and we're leading you down the right path

Sarah Richardson: the scary part of kids and the elderly are those truly most vulnerable populations. And here you are thinking, okay, we've gotta figure this out on the fly.

And then having fantastic outcomes because of necessity. I mean, there was no other option but to find a way. And you did. Thank you for sharing the story. Yeah. The other key thing about healthcare is we've always got an influx of technology, new policies, new regulations. And of course, patient expectations is part of that feedback loop.

How do you approach leading change within your org while still keeping the team engaged and motivated during times of potentially uncertainty? I.

Corina Clark: Yeah, I think that past example is a really great lead in for this, leading change in healthcare. It's not just about like the new systems or the new technology, it's really about guiding through uncertainty.

And that, was the approach that we took during COVID, during the RSV surge. And I've found that is just incredibly successful across the board. So not just like technology or policy that is just the standard for doing all things change management. I would say recently at Gardner we rolled out an initiative that required some training, but I didn't start there.

I really started with and being very intentional about listening to the team holding space for them. Having feedback forums, rounding with the team listening to them and co-creating solutions together and making sure that what we were doing made sense for their workflows. Right? We like.

Right? It was really a key tool in keeping everyone engaged, really emphasizing their wins, and just making sure that we were communicating early and overall. I think the philosophy here is that people don't really fear change. They fear being changed without being heard and involved. And when we actually looped them in and they had some ownership and clarity, then that space to innovate was just, it flourished.

Sarah Richardson: I already know that you hold the accountability for things not going well and then giving credit for the things that do go well.

That is very much the ethos of the things that I've heard you share in the past, which is also lends itself really to mentorship and something I've heard you also share online. And I'm curious who have been your most influential mentors and how their guidance has impacted the way that you lead, but also how you're passing that down to the next generation.

And it was just so. Inspiring to hear him talk about how he led his team through these incredibly scary times. And he would say, I would tell my team walk where I walk, step where I step. He really put himself on that frontline and, prepared himself to take whatever he came first. So I would say my grandfather, definitely my grandmother, she was, pivotal in

teaching me that success is really about the lives that you can impact. That is how you measure success regardless of what metrics you get at the end of the day. If you were able to sit down and have a conversation with somebody about how you positively impacted their life, that's a win and that's success.

And I got to witness this as a young girl and watching her go from a 16-year-old teenager to a critical care registered nurse overseeing operations at hospitals and then I would have to include my father, who was a dancer for years and really implemented the ability to make people feel something through your movement.

You name it, because I really, again, like everything else, I believe in diversity of thought and the way that you problem solve looks different depending on the space that you're in. So I really leaned into mentors in my professional life that have had some experiences outside of healthcare. So I don't think it would even be right if I didn't bring creatives into my space of mentorship.

They've really helped me navigate creatively some difficult decisions.

Sarah Richardson: Isn't it so cool how you can say, yeah, I had a mentor who was in the NBA and. The wisdom that was gleaned at Grandma's Kitchen table applies across that continuum as well. And when we're fortunate enough, when we're young to be exposed to strong people who show us good habits and good ways to get things done, that just carries itself forward.

And. You have a busy life. I'm always curious as someone who balances a leadership role with all the other aspects of life, what are strategies that you've developed over time to have a sustainable life at home, sustainable life in your career, and not burn yourself out, both for you, but setting an example for your team as well.

Corina Clark: Yes. Oh, Sarah, I have had to learn this the hard way.

Sarah Richardson: All high performing women do.

Corina Clark: Yes. I definitely started out believing that the more exhausted or if I'm there earliest and stay latest, like that was a reflection of hard work and really showing up and it took me being burned out to kind of shift that.

How are you resting, how are you filling your cup up at the end of the day, getting that burst of energy back and separately, is there anything that I can do that, can I take something off your plate or can I do anything to support you? So just having those really open conversations with the team members that report to me.

And making sure that the leaders that I lead are also drilling down on that when they're talking to their team members that everyone can see. We all have boundaries and it's okay to have boundaries. You're not gonna be considered a low performer. It's actually a very commendable trait to be able to say, you know what?

I need to take a day or two to just recenter myself. Some other actionable things I do is just I'm very clear about no meeting zones on the calendar. My deep work time to just dive in and just reiterate that and again, I bring it back to dance. It's always been my reset. It reconnects me to my breath, to my body and my purpose.

Just making sure we're open and honest about what we need and how we can show up better for one another.

Sarah Richardson: What a fun way to do like a mini reset or a timeout at work. Be like, Hey, we're gonna go do some Zumba. Hey, we're gonna try some new dance moves. Like literally. And just letting people open up and have some fun with it because.

Typically operations IT people aren't the best dancers. So you bring a whole new element to the table. We probably all need that coordination. Like, if you can do this, you can do that. I love that. We gotta try that at Bluebird for sure. Totally. I wanna switch over to innovation because what innovative approaches to healthcare delivery most excite you where you are today and.

Corina Clark: Yeah, really great call out too because it looks so different. I come from a background of hospitals where we had essentially. All the resources we needed, and if we didn't have it that year, we could squeeze it into the capital budget for next year. Right? So in this space, in community health, it just looks so different.

And so again, just kind of going back to my approach, we don't consider innovation necessarily as flashy technology. It really is about re-imagining the care. And how do we meet people where they are, especially those that have historically been left behind. So how can we get very innovative in our approaches to reaching that patient population and bringing them in?

Blend like this clinical excellence with cultural relevance. One initiative that we're really expanding right now is our mobile health clinic or our mobile health program. We've got two, mobile units that essentially bring primary care to underserved neighborhoods. It really is care. Well, there's literally walls, but we call it Care Without Walls.

But again this space where this is new for them. Right. And just. Having culturally tailored wellness content that builds trust and engagement for our patients. So again, I think innovation for us really means designing with the community and not just for it, listening to them about what it is that they're needing and just remembering that we're not necessarily.

Just focused on treating illness. We wanna make sure we're building belonging, we're restoring dignity and just proving that we can solve these complex challenges when we're leading collaboratively with our patients and taking it one step at a time.

Sarah Richardson: And you and I are Californians. And I do believe.

That's how we function. Those are the things that we do. because we know it's the right thing to do. And I'm curious how you've always been able to implement those types of initiatives within your organization, but also some of the impacts it has had, both on patient care, which you've shared, but the organization as well, especially maybe those who've come into the organization that weren't as comfortable or familiar with that practice.

We don't talk about the politics behind it. It is what it is. It's evidence-based. When we look at our patient population and our workforce demographics along with utilization trends and the need for equity centered strategies like it. Becomes very clear that this is not just, a buzzword or we're not politicizing it.

So we just really maintain, we're not here to check a box and do DEI. We operate from an evidence-based space. And the evidence shows that culturally responsive care improves patient trust. It increases, their adherence to their treatment plans and improves clinical outcomes. So we just always come back to the data and we use that data to inform not just our staff, but our patients as well.

And I keep that with me every time I step into these spaces of like. Yes, this change is going to be tricky, it's going to be hard, but it's much needed. We have to make sure that we're doing right by our patients.

Sarah Richardson: When you consider that being a data-driven organization may reveal data that is uncomfortable or harder to deal with or creates a level of innovation and transformation that may or may not be technically centered, and from that perspective.

What do you find is the best way to engage people in understanding the mission behind what you are delivering at your health system when you're surrounded by huge health systems that may not have the same level of flexibility that you do?

Corina Clark: Yeah, I think just for me personally in these spaces bringing it back to the very basics, right?

We have to remember that every single one of these metrics, every statistic that is a human being, and we have to make sure that we're showing up in. A way that's human and going above and beyond to make sure that our patients feel heard, seen, and truly cared for. And we do that by building trust.

And I would say just getting back to the basics of what would you want for the person that you love more than anything,

Corina Clark: I love this question. I'll start by saying, making sure that you master the art. The dancer in me, the art of seeing the system while staying really close to the people, that is so important. I think people come in thinking that there's this particular skillset that you need and you do, I mean, to a certain degree, but remembering that, keep your people close.

The relationships are key to being successful. Really pull from your lived experience and see what's transferable. I recently did a session of mentorship with college students who were graduating with their master's in health administration, and one of the students mentioned, I feel really.

And these days I can't pay people enough to be able to just to connect. Right? Like that's something that I'm noticing has been harder for some people coming in. And so just making sure that you don't dwell on, okay, maybe my experience doesn't align completely here, but pull what does

But again, just being really fluent in culture, in communication and change management as well. Another thing I really encourage people to do is, like I did when I was working in the operation space at the hospital for respiratory, my role was the respiratory care manager. Right? But. I made sure that I was volunteering for other projects when Covid came around, I was leading a lot of the emergency operations and I would volunteer to lead workflow redesigns or look I'd volunteer my department for staffing pilots just different things so that I could be in the room with these players that I eventually wanted to, learn more from.

I compare it to Ginger Rogers professional dancer and I call the talk backwards and in heels because we're overdelivering. We're over preparing, and then we still have to prove that we belong in these spaces. And so my final thing would be just don't wait for permission to lead. Practice speaking up where decisions are being made own your impact.

Because leadership isn't really necessarily titles, it's about just stepping in when things are unclear and helping provide clarity. And anyone can do that. So start practicing now, even if you're not quite in the role that you wanna be in.

Sarah Richardson: And isn't it fascinating how when you say yes to things that other people don't want to do, then you start getting the things that you wanted offered to you first.

Corina Clark: Totally.

Sarah Richardson: That's such a win.

And the heel thing I get, it's funny how I can still do just about anything in a pair of four inch platforms, that's always like, same. You're welcome. I can see those moments for days when you don't have to wear shoes at all for your own kind of a thing. Like, I can still do that and it's pretty darn powerful.

Yes. To the future of healthcare delivery Corina, particularly for community health organizations like Gardner, what excites you the most and what challenges do you anticipate they're gonna require? Just innovation and the general approach to the things that you're facing.

Corina Clark: Yes. I love community health.

right? We really. Are seeing the power of what integrated care looks like, what community partnerships look like, and how we can utilize technology and digital tools to meet people where they are just physically, culturally, emotionally. And I think what truly gives me hope is this shift towards these care models that we're listening before we're prescribing and we're building trust.

So we'll really have to get creative in reimagining what the workforce looks like. In healthcare, we tend to be very rigid. I know that when work from home became a thing, it was like a thing at the hospitals, right? Like we had these very, rigid ways of doing things, but we have to reimagine what that looks like in the future.

I did a zoning plan last week, and my goal was, what do I want this part of Gardner to look like in 30 years? This business, I added daycare, I added a wellness area. I added a gym like to the blueprint because I'm thinking, Hey, in 30 years we're gonna have to meet people. Where they are. I mean, honestly, right now we need to start thinking that way.

Sarah Richardson: You said it best. We already have the data. We already have the tools and the capability to create wellness journeys versus illness journeys for people. It's a lot of the social constructs that are out there because who doesn't want access to healthy, affordable food? Who doesn't want to be able to have childcare so they can go have a meaningful career to be able to do all of the things that you have shared?

Getting there is such a passion for so many of us, and I love hearing you say that. Thank you. Are you ready for speed round? Let's do it. I'm waiting for, these are the hard questions. Now I've done through all the life of affirming moments, I'm like, alright, now let's get to the speed round, which I'm gonna go start with your morning virtual or your evening wind down.

What's your non-negotiable daily habit that keeps you grounded amidst chaos?

We do a little puppy yoga meditation session. Just sharing a lot of gratitude and just being very intentional about what I am grateful for in the morning is very important. And the third piece of my ritual is I have a Mind Movie. And shout out to my coach, Heather Monahan, who introduced this to me. I created a mind movie under her guidance. And really it's almost like a video version of a vision board and it's three minutes. And it's got a little bit about, my energy, my current state, where I'm going to be in the next few years, and it's got a really happy song playing in the background and I watch it every single day.

Sarah Richardson: I love the puppy yoga. It's probably a lot safer than goat yoga too. Plus, I dont know if I'm goat in the house. But love, love that routine. And I'm gonna ask Leadership superpower. If you could have one to make your job as a COO easier, what's it gonna be?

Corina Clark: This was so easy instant insight. And what I mean by that is immediately being able to understand what the root cause is of any operational issue or staff concern or patient barriers, the moment it arises, we spend, and I know you know this so much time cutting through the noise and just the complexity that a lot of times it slows down decision making when we're trying to figure out the root causes.

Sarah Richardson: Oh, so good. And think how much, literally what we would cut through in a given day if you just kind of knew what was creating Certain scenarios.

Yes.

Corina Clark: Yes. So efficient.

Sarah Richardson: So efficient. You mentioned your mind movie, you've mentioned potentially Zumba. So here's the question. What's the song that best represents your leadership style or that you're gonna play before? An important meaning. I also like to call this sometimes your walkup song before a big speech.

Corina Clark: I love this. I love this. I think there are two, and they're both very much Beyonce. Number one would be Run the World. I mean, come on. So that is definitely, I would say just that energizing song that gets me going. And then the one that I listen to, just to kind of remind me of why I am in this space is a song called Bigger by Beyonce.

Sarah Richardson: Absolutely. And then the last question for you, the time machine question, if you could transport yourself into any moment in healthcare history to observe or participate, when, where, why?

And wouldn't observe, I would for sure be jumping in and leading to ensure that the systems built are designed for the communities that they served. The future would really just represent everything that we're doing now, everything we've fought for, and ideally seeing health equity, not as an aspiration, but as a promise kept and we're not waiting on that to arrive right now.

We're doing the work, we're building it now, but I would fast forward to when that is just everywhere in the United States, and I would love to be leading that charge when it happens.

Sarah Richardson: I'll tell you, if you're gonna lead it, I'll be right there with you to happen because you're absolutely right and thank you for that forward looking perspective because everybody should feel safe in their ability to receive healthcare and have a healthy, happy, independent life.

Sarah Richardson (2): Thanks for tuning into Flourish, where we unearth the hidden gems of career journeys, illuminating paths to success and fulfillment. If you found value in today's conversation, please share it with your peers and leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

We hope these stories catalyze inspiration within you, propelling you forward in your own career odyssey. Stay connected, stay curious, and keep flourishing.