When the Department of Medicine’s new Executive Administrator, David McCready, comes to work early Monday mornings, he jumps into challenges that echo the way he usually spends his weekends: remodeling, making a great old house even better. At home he and his wife, Susan, are remodeling her childhood home, building on their knowledge of architecture, carpentry and plumbing. Here in the Department of Medicine, David relies on the same creativity and planning skills as he applies his expertise in business and health administration, his experiences as a healthcare management consultant, and most recently, as deputy administrative director under Dr. Joseph Loscalzo (Link to last month’s article) at Boston University Medical Center (BUMC). For all that, David still humbly confesses that “the Brigham knocks my socks off.” David’s role at Brigham and Women’s Hospital is to direct the Department’s centralized administrative functions including financial and clinical operations, billing, space planning, research, and academic affairs. Since he officially started on July 1, David has been meeting almost non-stop with clinical and administrative leaders and staff to better understand the Hospital and the Department. Yet, despite this busy schedule, David has also managed to settle in to his new office, master the art of crossing the Brigham Circle intersection, and sit down with Your Medicine Online to discuss his new role and share a bit about himself.

Your Medicine Online: Tell me about yourself. Where are you originally from?
David McCready: I grew up in small town about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh called Beaver Falls. I completed my undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh, where I met my wife Susan. After we both finished school, Susan returned to Boston, and I remained in the Pittsburgh area for a few years while working for Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield. I joined Susan in Boston in early 1998.

YMO: Has Boston become home to you now that you’ve been here for eight years?
DM: My wife is originally from Andover, Massachusetts, so this area is quite literally her home. But Boston feels like home for me also because Susan has a very large and warmly welcoming family. Susan’s family is an extension of my own now, so I have been quite comfortable here since I relocated.

YMO: What interests you most about healthcare administration?
DM: In healthcare, we have to run our organizations like all other businesses, working like we do to get the most from our limited resources. But in healthcare, especially for an academic medical center like the Brigham, the ultimate goal is not just to make money, but to provide and promote and advance the health and healthcare of our communities. It is satisfying for me to use my business skills for an organization like the Brigham, which aspires to such important and, in my opinion, higher goals.

YMO: It has now been almost two months into your new role. How is the transition going so far?
DM: Stimulating and very fast-paced. The complexity and sophistication of the Department of Medicine and the entire Brigham enterprise continues to knock my socks off.

I’ve been spending most of my time meeting leaders, physicians and staff, and am beginning to understand how the organization functions and fits together. The biggest challenge I am tackling now is getting to know my colleagues here, what they do, and what’s important to them in their work.

YMO: Hence all the meetings?
DM: I don’t anticipate that my meeting schedule will slow down anytime soon, but meetings are the primary way that I learn what’s going on and what the Department and I need to focus on. And I am enjoying getting to know everyone.

YMO: Before joining Dr. Loscalzo at Boston University Medical Center, you were a healthcare consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Why did you decide to move from the consulting world to the academic healthcare world?
DM: Actually, it wasn’t a giant step. The primary difference between consulting and working in “industry” is perspective. On this side, we own the problem and the solution, rather than just serving in an advisory role, as most consultants do.

I spent a significant amount of my time at PwC working with academic medical centers on many of the same issues that we face in the Department today. However, as a consultant, I was limited to a specific perspective and seldom had the opportunity to see a project to its ultimate fruition. Eventually, I wanted to work on the entire puzzle rather than just pieces of it, which is what led me to BUMC. Since then, I have enjoyed getting into the nuts and bolts of the operations, developing long-term initiatives and seeing them through. And not insignificantly, my wife is pleased that I no longer have to jet across the country so frequently!

YMO: Looking back to your time at BU, what are you most proud of?
DM: I spent a year developing a free-standing endoscopy center in Brookline for the Department of Medicine. This was a huge, expensive and intimidating project, but the center is now fully operational and increasingly successful. I’m also proud of my work adding to the financial and business analysis and strategic planning infrastructure of the Department of Medicine there.

YMO: What are the biggest challenges that you see ahead for the Department of Medicine?
DM: Figuring out how to continue to grow and prosper within the reality of increasingly limited funding and space. Our Department will always have a healthy appetite for growth, but physically expanding our research and clinic operations is not always possible, especially at the pace we would like. Our challenge is to find creative and efficient ways to utilize the space that we already have, and work with BWH to expand when and where we can.

YMO: What do you do when you’re not working here?
DM: I try to spend quality time with my wife and family. I also spend many weekends remodeling our house. My wife, Susan, and I bought her parents’ home two years ago, so it is quite interesting for her to be back in the house that she grew up in. But we also wanted to make it our own, so it seems that we’re constantly remodeling, much of it by ourselves. I come to work Monday morning, physically tired, but mentally ready to be back to work. So if you occasionally see me limping around the office, you’ll know why.

YMO: Have you had much prior experience remodeling homes?
DM: Yes. My father is contractor, and my grandfather was an architect and a master plumber. So I grew up learning the skills to do most of these things myself. Now it is just a matter of finding the time to do them.

YMO: What is one thing people typically do not know about you?
DM: I am a folk music junkie. My wife isn’t as fond of folk as I am, but she is always supportive. I can’t ask for much more.

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