Dynamic leadership and collaboration are more crucial than ever in health care, and both are clearly demonstrated by the dyad leadership model. When physicians and administrators combine their experience and expertise it improves clinical care, operational performance and system-level decision-making. It also gets results.
When there are multiple skill sets working together through this dyad relationship, there is greater reach, impact, integration and innovation, Susan Parisi, MD, chief wellness officer (CWO) at Geisinger, and Brittany Drumm said at the 2025 American Conference on Physician Health™ in Boston. Drumm spoke in her capacity as program director of professionalism and well-being at Pennsylvania-based Geisinger health system.
Bringing a physician and administrator together also gets things done faster because, as a team, they are better equipped to identify the priorities and tactics that speed up progress.
Dr. Parisi and Drumm, her operational dyad partner, focused specifically on physician well-being. Their shared leadership improved the culture of the organization and, as a result, the work life of those delivering care at all levels.
What makes a good dyad partnership, they said, is a like mindset and worldview, as well as a willingness to grow. That’s because with physicians and administrators, each person needs to be able to give and take a little for the relationship to thrive.
The traditional dyad model in health care typically tasks the physician leader with oversight of clinical quality, while the administrative partner oversees day-to-day operations. Working within an expanded version of this model enabled Dr. Parisi and Drumm to depend on each other’s strengths and fully align their work with Geisinger’s mission, values and culture.
Geisinger is part of the AMA Health System Member Program, which provides enterprise solutions to equip leadership, physicians and care teams with resources to help drive the future of medicine.
Aligning mission with mechanics
When Geisinger began planning well-being initiatives it became clear that administrative and clinical leadership would need to be in full sync for success. That made adoption of the dyad model at Geisinger a logical and pragmatic decision.
What led to a dyad partnership in well-being at Geisinger was the complex environment physicians and administrators work in. It also came from best practices within the Well-Being 2.0 framework, an AMA initiative to shift from focusing solely on preventing burnout by creating engaging and sustainable health care organizations.
The COVID-19 public health emergency only accelerated the need for—and the speed of—change. And it pushed Geisinger to ask: “How do we move beyond simply knowing that this work is important and operationalize it in a way that makes a real impact?”
To achieve the partners’ goals, the initiative’s focus was widened to address the less obvious factors that touch physician well-being. Dr. Parisi was charged with expanding clinical oversight to include strategy, mentoring peers and bolstering relations with other departments, including both the clinical enterprise and health plan. Drumm’s wider scope expanded the focus to data innovation, vendor and contract management, grant development and finance.
While the framework is similar to a traditional dyad structure, the strategy, mission and vision are different at Geisinger. That included understanding the intricacies of each other’s professional worlds, which enabled Dr. Parisi and Drumm to harness their individual strengths and work smoothly in tandem.
As the leader in physician well-being, the AMA is reducing physician burnout by removing administrative burdens and providing real-world solutions to help doctors rediscover the Joy in Medicine®.
Translating partnership into action
Dr. Parisi and Drumm took what she describes as, “a road show of dyad education,” meeting with both clinical and operational leaders throughout the system.
Through this, Dr. Parisi ensured that the most appropriate clinical voices were heard, connecting with senior leadership and bringing her own expertise to conversations around stress, crises and culture change. Working with department chairs, she explained how—and most importantly, why—they should involve their entire clinical team in well-being initiatives, emphasizing their links to patient care, recruitment and outcomes.
Drumm’s responsibilities complemented Dr. Parisi’s work from the administrative side. She handled immediate resource planning, served as the frontline operational contact, and managed logistics to support implementation at the practice level.
The language that Drumm needed to speak was how to operationalize the work while for Dr. Parisi it was about credibility and clinical impact at Geisinger.
Overcoming barriers and demonstrating value
A strength of the dyad partnership is building support for well-being by putting different lenses on an initiative. This has enabled Dr. Parisi and Drumm to deliver comprehensive plans tailored to the specific audiences.
At times this involved leveraging data and financial modeling. At other times, they leaned into the value of professionalism and quality. Dr. Parisi and Drumm shared several examples demonstrating this approach to gain buy in for their internal coaching program and personnel crisis response teams.
Taking this shared collaborative approach, they have been able to navigate addressing both resource requirements and supportive outcomes.
Harnessing partnership
The success of Geisinger’s dyad model demonstrates the power of partnership across disciplines. But what stands out most isn’t just the structure, it’s the process. This work moved forward not because the model simply existed, but because two leaders were determined to customize it as needed to turn advocacy into execution.
Empathy and authenticity were as key as their hands-on tactics. While physicians and administrators approach things differently, by harnessing partnership they can work towards the same goals. As health care continues to move forward and physicians experience burnout, it is vital that everyone is as adaptive as the environment around them.
In that spirit, dyad is not just a leadership model, but a worthy challenge. Real, actual well-being that exists beyond mission statements requires partnerships built not just on titles, but on shared accountability, fluent translation between worlds and a relentless willingness to move forward.
Mark your calendar for the next American Conference on Physician Health October 14–16, 2027 in National Harbor, Maryland.
