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This is where health care leadership comes together.

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Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500

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hospital and health system executives and nearly 800

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speakers to Chicago April.

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This series event includes keynote conversations with Dallas

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Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George

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w Bush. For the agenda and event details,

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visit beckershospitalreview.com

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and click on the events tab in the

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upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you

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in Chicago.

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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.

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My name is Chanel Banger. Today, I have

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the pleasure of speaking with doctor Nicole Fox,

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associate chief medical officer and medical director of

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pediatric trauma at Cooper University Health Care, who

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joins the podcast today to share insights in

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the health care trends she's keeping an eye

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on, advice for leaders, and a bit more.

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Doctor Fox, thank you so much for joining

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me. Thanks, Chanel, for having me. Happy to

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be here. Likewise. Well, to get us started,

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could you please introduce yourself and tell us

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a bit about Cooper University Health Care?

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Sure. Well, as you said, I'm the associate

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chief medical officer at Cooper, but I'm also

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a trauma surgeon and a surgical intensivist,

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as well as the medical director of the

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pediatric trauma center. So I serve two roles

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there as a trauma surgeon and a hospital

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executive.

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Cooper is an academic health system in Southern

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New Jersey. We have over 11,000

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employees,

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including over a thousand physicians and over 1,600

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nurses.

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So it's a busy place. We admit over

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32,000 patients a year, and we're the only

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one level one trauma center in Southern New

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Jersey. And, there's a lot going on.

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Well, let's get into what's going on. Can

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you talk about what trends you're currently watching

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either in pediatric trauma or just health care

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overall?

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Well, sure. Let's start with health care overall.

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I mean, what aren't we watching really is

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the question.

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Some of the things that are high on

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the priority list are obviously the incorporation

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and use of AI in our health system.

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That's a big one.

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How do we leverage this technology and how

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can we make work more efficient?

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Of course, the health care policy changes and

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how they'll impact the delivery of care is

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very important.

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But really, the thing that I'm focused on

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the most currently is the workforce.

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These are challenging times and the question is

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how can we keep the people who are

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delivering care and helping the hospital run smoothly,

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stay happy,

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productive,

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and efficient.

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You know, we can't ignore the fact that

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we are entering 2026

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after some very difficult years in health care.

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The the pandemic for one and and changes

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that are on the horizon.

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We're tired and our teams are tired, and

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that needs to be addressed

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and acknowledged and work needs to be done

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around that. I can tell you that that's

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particularly relevant in trauma care.

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We have been busy, we have never stopped,

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and the work is difficult. And so really

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paying attention to the workforce and what they

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need right now is a top priority for

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me and my teams.

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Got it. Got it. And now going into

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2026,

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can you talk about what you're most focused

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on and excited about?

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Sure. Along with the theme that I just

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discussed, personally, I'm most focused on and excited

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about the development of our workforce and ensuring

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their sustainability.

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So the demands of on our system are

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tremendous and we need to ensure that as

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things get tougher, we have people who are

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still ready and willing to do the work

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and meet the challenges. So I'm very proud

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of the culture we build at Cooper

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and the fact that we're constantly looking for

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ways to keep people informed, to make their

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jobs easier, and remove barriers to getting their

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work done. So in my specific role, for

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example,

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physician engagement,

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physician well-being is very important, and I'm proud

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of some of the programs we put in

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place

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and are in the process of developing

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to assist with that. So one example would

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be our peer support program for physicians,

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and also advanced practice providers. We have a

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large team of peer supporters who are willing

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to serve as support for their colleagues.

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And we're also developing a coaching program,

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for physicians and APPs and working with the

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American Medical Association

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on our joy in medicine program.

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So, really, all efforts

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geared around

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trying to keep people engaged, wanting to come

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to work, excited to be in health care,

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and giving them the tools they need to

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stay resilient

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and focused.

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Thank you so much for walking us through

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that, doctor Fox. And,

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kind of expanding on that, can you talk

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about what you're most proud of from the

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past year or so?

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Well, I'm really proud of the fact that

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our engagement results across the organization

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are very high. It shows that the people

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that work at Cooper wanna be there, they

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intend to stay,

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and they're enjoying their work. And so I

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wanna continue that momentum forward in 2026,

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find maybe where some gaps exist and there

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are spaces that we need to fill. But

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overall, we're in a very good position with

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our workforce, and people are happy to be

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in our system.

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Got it. Got it. And as we all

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know, health care is evolving rapidly. And with

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that and all of your experience, I'm curious

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to know what advice do you have for

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the next generation of health care leaders stepping

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into the field today?

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Sure. I mean, two things. The first one

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sounds simple, but staying connected

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to your why

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and finding ways to help others do that

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as well is really important.

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The pace and the sheer volume of information

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we're subject to each day

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causes us to really get lost in the

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mechanics of the work. So, for example, I

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find myself, it's really easy for me to

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tell people what I do and how I

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do it, but it's easy to get disconnected

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from why I went into health care in

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the in the first place, why I do

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what I do. So with my teams, taking

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the time to step back and trying to

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focus on this when you can

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is really important and kinda bringing people back

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to that. And and most people have lost

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it, and that's understandable as time goes on.

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But doing activities with them and exercises to

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try to reconnect to their why, I think,

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is very important for leaders.

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You know, and I would say the other

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thing is, as leaders, we generally have the

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opportunity

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to see the bigger picture

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and understand what's going on behind the scenes

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and why certain decisions are being made in

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the system.

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Communication around that is critical,

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to keep people engaged and the lines of

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communication open. So making sure that we're sharing

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what we know, making sure that we're being

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clear about why decisions are being made and

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how

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they are reached

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is even more important now than it than

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ever before.

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Excellent advice. Well, doctor Fox, I wanna thank

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you for your time today. But before I

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let you go, is there anything else that

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listeners should know? I I know that you

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have a podcast,

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Prognosis

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Ikigai.

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Would you wanna talk about that for a

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bit? I do. Sure. I'd love to talk

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about it. So Prognosis Ikigai was sort of

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a passion project that started for me this

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year.

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Ikigai is a Japanese word for basically your

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reason for getting up in the morning or

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your reason for

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a living. You could translate it as to

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your why.

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And I started it because I see the

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darker side of health care. I see people

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that are disillusioned, people that are disengaged.

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And so I decided to focus on speaking

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to people in health care who have had

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successful and fulfilling careers, and they're all at

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different stages, of their journey, and ask them

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how they did it. And I really was

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surprised I had such a great variety of

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guests,

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this year. Everybody from our own CEO at

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Cooper,

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to the first black female transplant surgeon in

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The United States,

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to

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a former paramedic and firefighter who suffered from

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severe PTSD and had to retire and became

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a licensed,

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therapist.

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Just stories of people who had made their

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way in health care,

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who had had interesting journeys, and who were

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very happy, very fulfilled,

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very connected to their why, and doing what

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they love.

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And just hearing their stories unfold over the

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hour of the podcast was phenomenal, and it

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taught me a tremendous amount.

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So I I really enjoyed it this year,

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and I'm gonna continue it. Next year's theme

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in 2026 will be women leading in health

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care.

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And so, hopefully, everybody will stay tuned for

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that, but it's been a lot of fun.

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Love to hear it. And for listeners, that's

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Prognosis, I k

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I g a I.

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Well, doctor Fox, I wanna thank you once

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again for your time today and for sharing

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your insights on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank

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you so much. Absolutely. Thank you.