Tell us about yourself and your background.
I am originally from Australia. I have been married for 28 years, have 2 fantastic kids, and 2 dogs. I have had the chance to live and work in a variety of amazing places, including the UAE, China, Hong Kong, Australia and Southeast Asia. I have been in healthcare for my entire career, and worked my way up from a start in nursing homes through to having a master’s degree in health management and co-founding companies and leading large organisations. I believe my greatest success is that I am still going. I have worked through ups and downs, passed through challenges, have a wonderful family around me, try my best to be a good man, and I still feel a strong drive & sense of purpose in the work I do.
What has been your biggest success as COO of Waha Health?
Creating a culture of trust, accountability, transparency and excellence
Healthcare is a business built on trust- consumers place their lives, literally, in our hands, and we need a team of people who hold that privilege with the highest regard and know that we owe it to our clients to offer the best we can, in every aspect of the patient journey. In health, we cannot always guarantee the desired outcome, but we can create a good experience, and that experience only comes from a team that is deeply and authentically caring, and that care can only come when the carers are also cared for- with trust, accountability and support.
What is your current focus in your current role?.
Healthcare very often is sickcare, a system designed to treat you when you are experiencing symptoms in a particular system of the body. I am working on bringing a new philosophy of “Health”care, where we look at how to keep the patient healthy, both by looking at physiological imbalances, but also in how we eat, sleep, move and think. I am trying to create a system that revolves around the patient, keeps them healthy and optimizes their health.
Throughout your career, you have launched new clinics, expanded healthcare businesses, and entered new markets. What do you believe are the essential ingredients for successfully scaling a healthcare organisation?
I always believe there are 2 key ingredients- ensure you give your patient the best experience possible, and second- ensure you create an environment that allows your employees to thrive. We don’t need to create a demand; unfortunately, people get sick and will always need healthcare systems, we just need to make sure we provide excellent care for people- both our patients and our staff.
What healthcare trends are emerging globally?
I think healthcare will become more personal and precise, both in the advancements in diagnostics, but also in the both the acceptance of wearables and the advancement in continuous tracking. I feel we will have much more personal real time data that will allow us to make more personal interventions.
You have worked across Australia, China, Hong Kong, and the Middle East. How have these different healthcare systems shaped your leadership philosophy?
There has often been a large dive between “eastern medicine” and “western medicine”, often coming from deep misunderstandings. Very often we are saying the same things, just with different words- in China you may say “Qi”, where in the west we may say “energy”. Different word- same concept. I feel that the most successful healthcare systems, and actually even life systems, are ones that integrate both eastern wisdom and philosophy and western medicine and science
What leadership qualities are most important for the next generation of healthcare executives?
Be humble- don’t forget that we are all humans, just doing our best. Be honest- truth is so important, both in what you say and what you do. Be Brave- take risks, especially if your gut tells your they are right. Be kind- I don’t like the word “nice”, but being kind is so important, especially when you have to give tough feedback.
If you could give one piece of advice to future healthcare leaders, what would it be?
Healthcare needs to be about a balance of being a strong leader who can make tough decisions and a caring human who lead with the heart. I think the best advice is the same advice I try and follow being a man: “Build a strong spine and a soft heart”
As Group COO of Waha Health, what is your long-term vision for the organization’s portfolio?
Currently I run 3 different companies- Healthbay (polyclinics), IVF & Longevity. I want to bring them together and create a truly integrated healthcare ecosystem, that is easy for the patient to navigate. I want to build our services around the life cycle of the consumer- from prevention-sickness- optimization- longevity.
Where do you see the greatest opportunities for healthcare <a href="https://jordangazette.com/jordan-russia-agree-steps-to-boost-trade-and-investment/”>investment in the UAE over the next five years?
I feel there are 2 areas:
1. Consumer-driven healthcare- we are data rich; we have so much information, but we may not always know what to do with it. I feel the consumer will drive their health decisions more, and that will create opportunities for tech companies to see how they can tap into that and make that data useful to consumers. Whoop is an excellent example of that.
2. I think health will extend beyond the hospitals and become more in the community. I see the gym as the new primary care clinic, and I see healthcare being more integrated into the way we live.
What legacy do you hope to leave through your work at Waha Health?
There is a Maya Angelo quote I love: People forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget about how you made them feel”. I hope I made people feel heard, supported, inspired, respected and cared for.
Where can readers connect with you?
