Check out ACHE Blog’s new series featuring ACHE’s early careerist healthcare leaders. First up is Frantz Berthaud, the chair of ACHE’s Early Careerist Committee and a 2022 Career Accelerator Program scholar. Learn more about Berthaud’s role and commitment to professional development in the Q&A below.
Briefly describe your current role and professional responsibilities.
I am the market director of oncology services for the Hospitals of Providence, a multihospital system in El Paso, Texas, providing healthcare services to El Paso and the outlying communities of west Texas, southern New Mexico and northern Mexico. I oversee cancer care operations and strategy development for our system.
You have a deep background in organizations that provide care for cancer patients. What is unique about health equity in this setting?
There is no part of the cancer care continuum that is not impacted and or touched by inequity. What’s unique about it in cancer is the dichotomy of where the science and care is going in cancer versus what inequity is forcing us to address. Cancer care is poignantly personalized; it is at the cellular level and the genetic level. We are determining care regiments for individuals based on their specific genetic mutations, but inequities and systemic racism don’t care about the granular and they beg us to operate at the public health level. At the systemic strata, we’re thinking more socially about why specific ethnic and racial groups have higher incidence and/or mortality rates from certain types of cancers. So, when it comes to health equity in cancer, I’m focused on disparities in access to care, incidence, diagnosis, treatment and mortality—it truly is life or death. And that’s just direct patient care. When you start to look at the organizations providing the care, diversifying our oncology workforce is paramount, improving access to clinical trials for underrepresented populations, and budgeting and allocating operational and research funding for equitable initiatives remain a strategic priority.
How has the delivery of care evolved over the past few years for these patients?
Again, it’s that juxtaposition between where the research and science are going at the molecular level, and we have made amazing strides picking apart genetic mutations and getting a better understanding of why certain types of cancers emerge. What has been great to see is a bigger and more focused lens on disparities and social determinants of health. More health systems and hospitals are funding programs to create access to cancer care, working to knock down longstanding barriers to care, to enable patients to receive truly lifesaving care.
Describe your experience as a scholar in the 2022 Career Accelerator Program.
The Career Accelerator Program has been incredibly refreshing and recentering. I’m in a space with healthcare leaders who look like me and where we can delve into topics that deeply affect us, like imposter syndrome, branding and mentorship. We may never organically find a group like this in our careers again. I am so blessed to have been a part of this program. This is an experience that will stay with me forever.
How do you practice professional and personal self-care?
I care deeply about the environment I am constantly creating—for myself and those around me. Work-life balance, home life, team attitudes and management leadership all have such a significant impact on how we feel both professionally and personally. So, I try to remain very aware of and identify what I’m feeling and allow myself to lean into the feelings in a way that honors myself and my emotions—so when I’m exhausted, I name that for myself and for my team.
Having ways to express emotions and outlets to do so is critical for my well-being. I try to do it in little ways, like daily check-ins. I also temperature-check my team. If I’ve created an environment where folks feel safe enough to “check” me when I’m in a crabby mood, then when I’m short-tempered, short-fused, doing too much, doing too little and the stress meter is too turned up, I hope my team can help me to recalibrate. Also, professional development is professional self-care. It’s something you’re doing for you in the professional setting. You’re centering yourself and your needs.
What role has ACHE played in your professional development?
Over the course of my career, I have had many moments where I have not had many senior leaders that looked like me in my organizations. In search of mentors, I looked elsewhere. ACHE served as that network to connect me to not only a local but a national group of healthcare leaders, some who I admired and read about in journals, and others who I’ve come to call friends. ACHE has remained that constant thread for me—that central place to find enrichment and get energized about what’s happening in the healthcare space and rub elbows with up-and-coming leaders in the field and seasoned professionals. ACHE has been my point of orientation and my destination for the past several years.
What advice do you have for emerging healthcare leaders when it comes to professional development and advancement?
First, come to Congress. Don’t do it for anyone but yourself.
Make sure you’re building a career where your credibility is concordant with your compass. What I mean is, while you’re working to “make a name for yourself” as a leader or executive, and you’re garnering support and galvanizing people, ensure that your decisions are aligning with your values. When you start to understand where your compass points, it makes it a whole lot clearer to visualize a path forward not marred by decisions out-of-step with your values. And when you find that sweet spot where your values align and are in lockstep with that of the organization … oh, now it’s the cha-cha and you’re grooving!
Frantz Berthaud is market director of oncology services, Hospitals of Providence, El Paso, Texas.