In this episode of the Healthcare Plus Podcast, Quint Studer is joined by Dr. Roger Kapoor, physician leader and author of Working Happy!: How to Survive Burnout and Find Your Work/Life Synergy in the Healthcare Industry.

Quint and Dr. Kapoor dive deep into one of healthcare’s most urgent challenges: burnout. Drawing from personal experience, clinical insight, and extensive research, Dr. Kapoor explores why so many healthcare professionals are feeling overwhelmed—and what we can do about it. He explains that burnout isn’t just a workplace issue; it often starts within ourselves, and recognizing this can be the first step toward healing.

Listeners will hear why “work/life balance” may be a flawed concept and how “work/life synergy” can offer a more sustainable, fulfilling way forward. They’ll learn about the powerful concept of ikigai (a Japanese term for “reason for being”) and how finding purpose in even the smallest moments can bring resilience and joy back to a healthcare career. Dr. Kapoor also explores fundamentals like diet, exercise, and sleep in a way that’s fresh and compelling. (You’ll love his insights on the “night shift janitors” that clear out the waste in our brains.)

This episode is a must-listen for anyone in healthcare who’s grappling with stress, seeking practical ways to recharge, or simply wanting to reconnect with the meaning behind their work.

About Dr. Roger Kapoor

Roger Kapoor, MD, MBA, is the senior vice president of Beloit Health System in Beloit, Wisconsin, a community-based nonprofit hospital with approximately 23 service locations. He is a Harvard-trained dermatologist who also holds an MBA from the University of Oxford in England and has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles published in professional journals including the New England Journal of Medicine. He was the recipient of the Wisconsin Medical Society’s Kenneth M. Viste, Jr., MD, Young Physician Leadership Award and named one of the Top 25 Emerging Leaders in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.

Kapoor has been credited with re-engineering the delivery of healthcare to his community, resulting in a dramatic rise in patient satisfaction at his institution from a stagnant 16th percentile to an astonishing 88th percentile in less than a year. He concurrently ushered in transformative results in quality, leading teams to achieve three consecutive “A” ratings from the national watchdog group Leapfrog, a four-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Five-Star Quality Rating System, and numerous quality-of-care pathway accolades.

As a practicing board-certified dermatologist, he has built a successful medical and cosmetic dermatology practice using advanced techniques to help patients live happier, healthier lives.

His book Working Happy! How to Survive Burnout and Find Your Work/Life Synergy in the Healthcare Industry was published in 2024.

In this episode of the Healthcare Plus Podcast, Dan Collard welcomes Céu Cirne-Neves, MPA, FACHE. With over 25 years’ experience as a healthcare executive, she now serves as a faculty member in the undergraduate and graduate health administration programs at Rutgers University.

They discuss insights Céu has gained from her unusual path, which led her from her first job in healthcare marketing to chief administrative officer and finally to academia. At Rutgers she’s observed major differences in today’s students vs. those of years past (for instance: they’re far more focused and specific on what they want, and very intentional about gaining the competencies and resources needed to achieve it).

Céu shares her recent idea for drawing undecided students into the Healthcare Administration major by building an exploratory course based on Quint Studer’s book The Calling: Why Healthcare is So Special. (“I feel healthcare is more than a job,” she says. “I’m trying to make it enticing for them to see the difference they can make through healthcare administration.”)

Filled with practical takeaways, this episode will appeal to anyone seeking more understanding on what drives the next generation of Health Administration students, how to help them connect to their calling early, and how to develop and mentor them.

About Céu Cirne-Neves, MPA, FACHE

Céu Cirne-Neves, MPA, FACHE, is a healthcare executive with more than 25 years of experience in senior level positions and has made a successful leadership transition as full-time faculty at the Rutgers University EJ Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. At Bloustein, she teaches in the Master of Health Administration Program and serves as the coordinator for the undergraduate Health Administration Program. Furthermore, she is the faculty advisor for the undergraduate student organization, Future Healthcare Administrators, which signature event is the annual healthcare administration case competition.

Cirne-Neves brings to the classroom a wealth of practical health administration experience resulting from years leading culture change, operational effectiveness, and patient safety and experience. She served as the CEO of Saint James Hospital, Cathedral Healthcare System, Newark, for 10 years, and most recently, in a variety of senior level roles including as Vice President of Ambulatory Services at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC), RWJBarnabas Health, Livingston.

Throughout her career, Cirne-Neves has demonstrated how to convert an organization’s Mission, Vision, and Values into a leadership model that improves workforce engagement, organizational performance and results. She excels at strategic planning and implementation, operations management, and community benefit; and most of all, she shares the resolve that health administrators must nurture and contribute to the next generation of healthcare leaders.

Cirne-Neves is board certified in hospital administration and as a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE); she is a past president of ACHE’s New Jersey chapter and serves as the ACHE Regent for New Jersey – Northern; as part of her annual Regent Awards Program, she has now introduced the Student Associate and Mid Careerist Regent Awards, elevating the significance of both levels of health administration. She has served on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Board of Examiners and under her leadership CBMC received the regional Baldrige Gold Award for Performance Excellence.

She has enjoyed serving in the most senior roles at healthcare organizations and now promotes bridging healthcare organizations with healthcare education.

In this episode of the Healthcare Plus Podcast, Dan Collard talks to Annamarí Dietrichson, BSc, MHA, an executive health coach and keynote speaker renowned for her expertise in avoiding burnout, creating a thriving culture, and cultivating leadership essentials. She also oversees patient experience for the Continental Division of HCA Healthcare.

While leadership can be an exhilarating path, it can also wear people down when they don’t know how to manage it. Still, Annamarí says it’s possible for leaders (and everyone) to thrive in healthcare, regardless of its pressures. It’s about being the boss of our brain: Thoughts that might not even be true create an emotion in our body that ends up driving stress or success. That emotion drives us to act in ways that can either get us the results we want…or not.

After deeply researching burnout, she formulated a methodology to tackle it. Called THRIVE—an acronym for Targeted Thoughts, Healthy Habits, Rest and Resilience, Intentionality, Vigilance, and Empowered Energy—it’s a framework for creating the mindset and skillset to be solution-oriented, keep your thoughts from hijacking you, and build a thriving career.

Annamarí says fighting burnout is both personal and a corporate responsibility. She wants every leader and every individual in healthcare to work on their personal well-being as if nobody else is going to help. At the same time, she wants corporations to fight burnout as if no individual is going to do it themselves. If both groups put in 100 percent, that 200 percent effort might help us finally win this thing—for ourselves and, ultimately, for our patients.

About Annamarí Dietrichson

Annamarí Dietrichson, BSc, MHA, is a seasoned healthcare executive, executive health coach, and keynote speaker renowned for her expertise in avoiding burnout, creating a thriving culture, and cultivating leadership essentials. As the founder of Annamari Health & Leadership Coach, LLC, she empowers healthcare leaders and organizations to unlock their full potential and THRIVE.

Annamarí serves as the division vice president of care experience for the Continental Division of HCA Healthcare. She completed her graduate studies at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, where she graduated with a bachelor of science degree in 2001. In 2018 she received her master’s in health administration from Louisiana State University. Annamarí is a South Africa native who is proud to be a naturalized U.S. citizen since November 2022. When she is not at work or coaching her clients, you can find her somewhere in the mountains adventuring with her husband and their two cattle dogs.