Journal
Physician Leadership Journal
ISSN 2689274X · 575 articles
About the PLJ
The Physician Leadership Journal is the voice of physician leadership — your source for insights, ideas, and conversations relevant to professionals like you.
Each issue includes a section of peer-submitted articles that focus on medical leadership and healthcare delivery. These articles have passed the critical appraisal of our editorial board of Certified Physician Executives from around the world. Articles in this section spotlight original research, operational interventions and findings, and discussions that orient readers to key topics in healthcare and physician leadership.
The PLJ is a must-read for all physician leaders and is among your AAPL Membership benefits.
Submit an Article
We invite physician leaders to share their expertise and experiences with peers throughout the world. For 50 years, AAPL has helped physicians develop their leadership skills through education, information resources, and thought leadership. Your article can help us fulfill that mission.
We are available to discuss your writing plans, provide guidance on topics, manuscript structure, and any other assistance you may need.
Learn more about how you can make a difference as a physician leader. Review our submission guidelines or email us at editor@physicianleaders.org.
Meet the PLJ Editorial Board
Subscribe
AAPL Members receive a complimentary subscription to the Physician Leadership Journal.
Issues
- September/October 2026 Vol. 13, No. 5
- July/August 2026 Vol. 13, No. 4
- May/June 2026 Vol. 13, No. 3
- March/April 2026 Vol. 13, No. 2
- January/February 2026 Vol. 13, No. 1
- November/December 2025 Vol. 12, No. 6
- September/October 2025 Vol. 12, No. 5
- July/August 2025 Vol. 12, No. 4
- May/June 2025 Vol. 12, No. 3
- March/April 2025 Vol. 12, No. 2
- January/February 2025 Vol. 12, No. 1
- November/December 2024 Vol. 11, No. 6
- September/October 2024 Vol. 11, No. 5
- July/August 2024 Vol. 11, No. 4
- May/June 2024 Vol. 11, No. 3
- March/April 2024 Vol. 11, No. 2
- January/February 2024 Vol. 11, No. 1
- November/December 2023 Vol. 10, No. 6
- September/October 2023 Vol. 10, No. 5
- July/August 2023 Vol. 10, No. 4
- May/June 2023 Vol. 10, No. 3
- March/April 2023 Vol. 10, No. 2
- January/February 2023 Vol. 10, No. 1
- November/December 2022 Vol. 9, No. 6
Articles, newest first
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The World Wants Physician Leaders and It Needs Leadership Development Opportunities
Physician leadership is increasingly valued globally, but leadership training lags. This article explores gaps and efforts to build development opportunities.
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The Ultimate Clinical Dyad: The Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Medical Officer in Partnership
The CMO-CNO relationship is key to healthcare success, uniting distinct expertise to improve culture, safety, and outcomes. Built on respect and collaboration, strong partnerships enhance teamwork, accountability, and...
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Resigned to Resignation: When Asked to Step Down as a Medical School Dean
Medical school deans face complex roles, balancing diverse relationships and short tenures averaging four years. Success requires strategic planning, viewing the role as a step in their academic journey.
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Leadership is a Journey and Not a Destination
Leadership is an ongoing journey, not a destination. Emphasizing patience, adaptability, and mindfulness, this article explores how these traits foster resilience, innovation, and lasting organizational growth.
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Improving Accuracy in HCC Coding Through Clinician Engagement
This project improved HCC documentation accuracy by educating clinicians on VBC, RAF scores, and coding, using leaderboards and nonmonetary incentives to foster a culture valuing accurate documentation, chronic care m...
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How Can I Increase Patient Loyalty in My Practice?
Discover how healthcare practices can build patient loyalty through trust, empathy, strong communication, and patient-centered care to thrive in a competitive market.
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Harnessing the Power of Social Proof to Maximize Success: How Physician Leaders Can Avoid the Catastrophe of Failed Organizational Change Campaigns
This article provides an innovative and practical approach to the use of social proof theory to enhance the effectiveness of popular models for organizational change.
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From Volatility to Value: How Healthcare Leaders Can Fortify Supply Chain Strategy in 2026
Healthcare supply chains face growing challenges like regulatory shifts, tariffs, and inflation. This article explores strategies for resilience, leadership's role, and a forward-looking framework for 2026 and beyond.
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From Clinician To C-Suite: When Expertise Isn’t Enough — Addressing Systemic Barriers to Physician Leader Success
This study explores systemic causes of physician leadership fatigue, highlighting vague roles, poor onboarding, and limited support. It recommends organizational reforms to boost retention, well-being, and care quality.
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Ethical Leadership in Healthcare: A Multilevel Framework for Physician Leaders
This article introduces a physician-specific ethical leadership framework to address challenges like AI, clinician burnout, and financial pressures. It highlights learnable behaviors to foster integrity in healthcare.
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Disruptive Physician Behavior as a Leadership, Governance, and Patient Safety Challenge
This article reframes disruptive physician behavior as a leadership, governance, and patient safety issue. It proposes a five-step framework for addressing harmful conduct while ensuring fairness and accountability.
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Beyond the Pandemic: Crisis Management in Healthcare in an Era of Complexity, Uncertainty, and Misinformation
This article explores a leadership framework for tackling future healthcare crises, emphasizing trust, communication, adaptability, and decision-making to address challenges like misinformation, cyber threats, and cli...
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A Journal for This Moment — and Every Moment That Brought Us Here
The Physician Leadership Journal (PLJ), the flagship publication of the American Association for Physician Leadership (AAPL), has been reimagined to address the evolving challenges of healthcare and physician leadership.
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What the Doctors Said: The Qualitative Story Within Physician Leadership Development Research
The article analyzes physician narratives from a study on leadership development, revealing themes like trust, communication, and reflection. It highlights how safe environments foster growth and reduce burnout.
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What Physician Leaders Need to Know About Change Management for AI
Physician leaders must navigate change management as AI transforms clinical care, tackling challenges without a clear playbook to guide this pivotal shift.
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What Physician Leaders Can Learn From Counseling Psychology
Physician leaders face high-pressure environments, balancing clinical duties, organizational demands, and leadership. Counseling psychology offers tools to coach colleagues and manage emotional challenges effectively.
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The Market for Physician-Researchers’ Labor: Unpaid Work, Paid Access
Academic publishing drives medical progress but relies on unpaid physician-researchers while imposing financial barriers and limiting access. This article critiques systemic flaws and proposes ethical reforms.
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The CPE Credential as a Catalyst for Healthcare Transformation: A Personal and Organizational Perspective
The Certified Physician Executive (CPE) equips physicians with leadership skills to manage complex healthcare systems, enhancing individual and organizational performance.
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Shaping Your Healthcare Team at Every Level
Effective communication is vital for healthcare teams to prevent errors, burnout, and poor outcomes. Self-awareness, connection-building, and recognition foster collaboration and resilience.
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Reducing Clinical Variation Through Interdisciplinary Leadership: A Field Report from a Large Academic Medical Center
In 2025, Jersey Shore University Medical Center implemented a clinical variation reduction (CVR) model, improving length-of-stay, discharge rates, patient experience, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration thro...
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Physicians and Impostor Syndrome: Between Selflessness and Self-Mastery
Impostor syndrome affects physicians with self-doubt despite competence, driven by perfectionism and cultural norms. Balancing humility and excellence worsens it, but mentorship and psychological safety can help.
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Improving Physician Organizational Attitudes and Leadership Self-Efficacy
A study on a 12-month chief medical officer leadership program found significant improvements in leader self-efficacy, shared vision, and organizational commitment, enhancing leadership confidence and alignment.
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Finding Your Voice: A Physician Leader’s Guide to Public Speaking
Public speaking is vital for physician leaders but often causes anxiety. This article offers strategies like preparation, audience focus, and organized content to help healthcare professionals present effectively.
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Conversations with the Past
The article examines 65 years of changes in medicine from one physician's viewpoint, exploring advancements in technology, training, patient care, and bureaucracy, while emphasizing the need to preserve humanistic val...
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A Purpose-Driven Framework for Career Sustainability Among Physician Leaders in Academic Medicine
This review presents a framework to help physician leaders align values, reflect, and make strategic decisions for sustainable, fulfilling academic medicine careers.
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Whom Physicians Become Under Pressure
Healthcare leadership faces structural pressure, with lives at stake and constrained resources. Burnout, trust erosion, and blame persist, highlighting the need for values-driven leadership under stress.
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When Dialogue Becomes Data: The Empathy Gap in AI-Driven Physician Recruitment
Generative AI revolutionizes medical hiring by automating sourcing, screening, and communication, but demands ethical oversight to address risks and challenges.
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Tree in Bedrock — Our Two-Physician Marriage
Bryan and Yolanda Becker's 33-year marriage thrives on shared values, resilience, and mutual support. From their chance meeting in an ER to navigating demanding medical careers and family life, their partnership is ro...
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Toxic Followership and Leadership: The Hidden Threat to Organizational Success
This article explores toxic followership, its causes, and its negative impact on leaders and organizations, offering strategies to address manipulative behaviors and foster healthier workplace dynamics.
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The Shadow Economy of Toxic Leadership in Healthcare
Toxic leadership harms healthcare organizations, creating unreported negative outcomes. This article offers eight evidence-based strategies to measure, monitor, and reduce toxic behaviors, fostering ethical leadership...
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The ER as America’s Mirror: 37 Years on the Front Lines with Dr. Louis Profeta
Dr. Louis M. Profeta shares his journey in emergency medicine, reflections on societal challenges, writing career, and insights on physician resilience and medical education.
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Servant Leadership and the Chief Medical Officer: Ethos Made Operational
Servant leadership empowers physician executives to navigate clinical complexity and limited authority by fostering moral authority, psychological safety, and workforce engagement. It emphasizes structured listening, ...
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Resuscitating Healthcare: 80 Years of Federal Laws, Financing, and Future Forecast
This analysis traces U.S. healthcare policy from the 1798 Marine Hospital Act to today's value-based care, highlighting key laws like Medicare and Medicaid. It explores spending growth and future sustainability challe...
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Perceptions of Private Equity in Private Practice: Insights from Ophthalmology
Private equity (PE) has grown in private practice medicine, impacting ophthalmology. Interviews revealed mixed views on PE’s influence on clinical autonomy, care quality, patient costs, and operational sustainability.
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Landing the Job
The author shares her journey to becoming CMO, tackling negotiation, gender bias, and career growth, emphasizing preparation, strategy, and collaboration.
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Improving the Physician Experience to Attract, Retain, and Engage Top Physician Talent — Part 3: Rethinking Physician Development and Advancing from Competence to Continuous Improvement
This article explores two phases of physician development: structured training and fragmented post-training growth. It advocates for continuous, structured programs to enhance skills, retention, and organizational ali...
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From Silence to Solutions: Building Courageous Cultures in Healthcare
This article highlights how healthcare organizations can combat the risks of silence by fostering psychological safety and courageous cultures. It outlines strategies for empowering frontline workers to share insights...
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Every Physician Is a Leader
Asha Padmanabhan, MD, shares her journey from reluctant leader to anesthesiologist, advocating for women, resilience, and physician-led growth in medical leadership.
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Building Trust, Not Power: Leading with Humility and Purpose
The author reflects on leading an Internal Medicine department, emphasizing trust, humility, and collaborative leadership to balance patient care and team well-being.
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An Unexpected Outcome: How Leadership Development May Reduce Physician Burnout
Physician burnout is a healthcare crisis often tackled with costly programs. A study found leadership development, focusing on character and collaboration, unexpectedly reduced burnout, offering new intervention insig...
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Signing Your Work and Signing Your Life
Every action and interaction reflects your values and shapes your persona, trust, authenticity, and brand. Strive to ensure every deed, word, and decision represents your best.
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Making SMART Goals Smarter for Physician Quality Incentive Compensation
Enhancing SMART goals with additional mnemonics ensures physician quality incentives are fair, achievable, and relevant, especially when compensation is at risk.
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Addressing the Underperforming Clinician: A Leadership Challenge
Medical groups often face issues with underperforming clinicians in areas such as productivity, clinical quality, and patient experience. Common causes include inefficiencies, poor communication, and lack of empathy. ...
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Improving the Physician Experience to Attract, Retain, and Engage Top Physician Talent — Part 2: Refocusing the Physician Leader’s Role on Engaging the Team
This article explores physician leadership's evolving role and suggests strategies to enhance effectiveness, including role clarity, structured meetings, and self-leadership, to improve well-being and reduce burnout.
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Followership and Leadership: A Symbiotic Partnership for Success
Followership is a vital aspect of leadership, emphasizing active engagement, critical thinking, and shared vision. Strong leader-follower partnerships rely on trust, respect, communication, and adaptability.
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A Comparison of Flourishing Questions and Healthy Days in Population Health
This study explored whether Flourishing Questions from The Human Flourishing Program align with Healthy Days, a population health measure. Using survey data, it found moderately negative but significant correlations, ...
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The Interprofessional Advantage: How Mixed-Team Leadership Training Builds Trust, Communication, and Performance in Healthcare
This study highlights how interprofessional education (IPE) boosts physician leadership by improving collaboration, communication, trust, and inclusive behaviors, enhancing team performance in healthcare.
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The Emerging Physicians Leadership Program at Boston Children’s Hospital: A Unique Program Equipping Exemplary Mid-Career Physicians to Successfully Transition to Leadership Within the Organization
Physician leadership is key to healthcare quality. Boston Children’s Emerging Physicians Leadership Program (EPLP) trains mid-career physicians, fostering skills for leadership, collaboration, and operational improvem...
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Beyond Burnout: Why the Chief Medical Officer Must Build Belonging, Purpose, Storytelling, and Transcendence
CMOs can combat burnout by fostering meaning through belonging, purpose, storytelling, and transcendence. These strategies enhance well-being, resilience, and transform healthcare into a thriving community.
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Transforming Medical Leadership: Formulation of an 11-Competency Physician Leadership Model for Next-Generation Healthcare Leaders
Mass General Brigham developed an 11-competency leadership model for physician leaders, offering a validated framework to enhance leadership, navigate healthcare challenges, and drive excellence nationwide.
