Chapter 03: Building Collaborative Culture: The Division and Multi-Disciplinary Care Centers

Dr. Balch and Ms. Sollenberger begin this chapter talking about the strategic planning activities in the Division that were formalized when Dr. Balch created the Executive Group of Chairs. They discuss the key role Ms. Sollenberger was able to play in smoothing over conflict among the physicians in 1992 and 1993, creating a watershed period for building a culture of collaboration in the Division. They talk about the promotion of values to build collaborative culture. Next Dr. Balch and Ms. Sollenberger discuss the multi-disciplinary care centers. Dr. Balch begins with an overview of the organizational model that R. Lee Clark brought to MD Anderson in the 1940s and later efforts to break up the MD Anderson tradition of surgery this created. They talk about the successful collaboration established between Dr. Eva Singletary and Dr. Gabriel Hortobagyi [oral history interview] in setting up a multi-disciplinary breast center.https://openworks.mdanderson.org/surgeryhist_interviewchapters/1025/thumbnail.jp