News | Published: Saturday, April 26, 2025
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“If you don’t have strong governance and leadership in place, everything is just noise,” said Jeff Carstens, MD, MBA, FACC, medical director for the cardiovascular service line at UnityPoint Health. During his CV Transforum Spring’25 session with Adam deJong, MA, MAACVPR, vice president of operations at Lee Health Heart Institute, explored how dyad leaders from the clinical and administrative spaces can leverage skills to support physicians and providers and deliver better patient care.
While many cardiovascular programs have already embraced dyad leadership, DeJong and Carstens offered fresh insights on how to optimize these partnerships. When implemented thoughtfully, dyads are positioned to navigate the tension between clinical necessity and financial feasibility, offering balanced solutions that improve patient outcomes and organizational performance.
The speakers addressed the inherent challenges in cultivating a dyad leadership model: lack of role clarity, cultural differences, and the ongoing effort to build trust, especially when dyad partners may not necessarily choose each other. They stressed that alignment on vision, values and mutual respect is essential to navigate these friction points. “You don’t have to agree on every tactic,” said Carstens, “but you have to agree on the direction.”
Their message of respecting and aligning different perspectives echoed throughout other sessions, particularly one that addressed generational gaps, mentorship, and the evolving definition of leadership. With 25% of cardiologists over age 61 and a pipeline that may not fully replenish the retiring workforce, speakers Ana Mercurio-Pinto, vice president of Care Transformation Services at MedAxiom, and Nicole L. Lohr, MD, PhD, FACC, director of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease and co-director of the UAB Medicine Cardiovascular Institute, stressed that the need for thoughtful, flexible leadership is more urgent than ever. With representation from millennial, generation X, boomer and the silent but influential generations, the cardiovascular workforce requires leaders who can understand different perspectives and close the gaps.
Early-career clinicians today often want a multifaceted career—bridging research, teaching and clinical work—and want to deliver meaningful contributions from day one. To mentor early careerists, Lohr encouraged attendees to empower new physicians early, invite them into decision-making spaces, give them meaningful responsibilities, and help them feel heard.
Of course, leadership across generations is not without tension. Differences in communication styles, work-life boundaries, and expectations around feedback are real. But rather than seeing these differences as insurmountable barriers, the speakers urged attendees to view them as opportunities. The goal is harmony—not balance—and fostering a culture where each team member feels seen and supported.
Leadership, as Lohr noted, is messy. But the strongest work cultures are those where expectations are set clearly, core values are defined collectively, and everyone – regardless of title or tenure – is part of the process. Dyads, when functioning well, can model that kind of inclusive, future-focused leadership from the top down.
As this session made clear, the future of cardiovascular care depends not only on clinical innovation or business acumen but also on the strength of relationships, the adaptability of leaders, and the cultivation of a truly diverse, engaged team.
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