Class of 2019

Ralph So, MD, MHCDS

Intensivist and Medical Chief Quality Officer, for Quality, Safety, and Innovation
Albert Sweitzer Hospital, Dordrecht

After 16 years working “at the sharp end” as a clinician and after 8 years of work experience as medical chief quality officer, I had a profound wish to dive deep into transformation issues in health care. Ideally I wanted to do a program blend of MBA, MPH, QI like IHI courses and personal leadership. After skimming down different programs in Europe & USA, I happily ended up with the MHCDS program, which included all of the above.

Ralph, tell us more about your professional experience.

Since 2001 I have been working as an anesthesiologist-intensivist on a 16-bed Intensive Care Adults in private practice in one of the largest non-university teaching hospitals in the Netherlands, the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. In 2009 I was also assigned as medical chief quality officer of the department of Quality, Safety & Innovation of the same hospital.

What are the strengths of the MHCDS program?

The best parts of the program are both the excellent faculty, the blend of the program and last but not least the selected peer group of 40 colleagues, who all have a different background (medical professionals, industry or payers) with at least 10 years working experience next to a senior management position.

What would you tell a friend or colleague who was considering the MHCDS program?

If you really want to dive deep into health care delivery science with a blend of personal leadership, team-based care, strategy, finance, change management, operations but also population health, innovation, economics/ policy and ethics together with an ambitious peer group and an experienced faculty ……… just do it!

Already from the beginning of my journey at Dartmouth I used my skills and knowledge both in my clinical job as in my managerial job; from coaching a hospital-wide program on value-based healthcare to implementation of peer support for the medical staff and the use of different influencing tools in the continuous interaction with both medical board, board of directors and the board of trustees."