In this powerful episode of Hiring for Good, host Tanis Morris sits down with physician executive Dr. Tanya Liuliani Stewart for a deeply human conversation about leadership, values, and transformation in healthcare. Drawing on her journey from medical training through hospice care and senior leadership roles at United Health Group and her current work as a regional medical director at Aledade, Dr. Stewart shares candid insights on leading with compassion, building values‑driven cultures, and staying true to purpose amid complexity.
It’s not about you being on the stage or in the limelight. It’s about elevating others and helping them become the best humans they can be. – Dr. Tanya Stewart
Dr. Tanya L. Stewart’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyaluglianistewart/
Hiring For Good Website: https://www.hiringforgood.net/
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Acumen Executive Search Website: https://www.acumenexecutivesearch.com/
Suzanne Hanifin: President at Acumen Executive Search, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannehanifin/
Hiring for Good is presented by Acumen Executive Search. Acumen Executive Search is the leading certified woman-owned Executive Search and advisory Firm on the West Coast. Acumen sources, attracts, and qualifies world-class executive and management talent for organizations to support them in achieving their organizational goals. Due to their focus and local network, which is both broad and deep, we are able to leverage best practices across a broad range of industries. We employ an equity lens throughout the recruitment process.
Hiring for Good Transcript
Tanis Morris: Good morning, and welcome to the Hiring for Good podcast sponsored by Acumen Executive Search. I am Tanis Morris, and this morning, Suzanne is not here. Um, so it’s just going to be me and my lovely guest, Dr. Tanya Liuliani Stewart, a physician executive whose career bridges the worlds of medicine, business, and leadership. With over two decades of experience, Dr. Stewart has held senior roles at United Health Group, including chief clinical transformation officer and senior medical director, where she led enterprise-wide innovation, care model design, and strategic leadership development across complex health systems. Tanya combines a TUS medical degree with an MBA from OHSU and is consistently focused on transforming health care from the inside out, guiding large teams, influencing national policy, and aligning business strategy with clinical impact.
Currently serving as a regional medical director at Aledade and founder of I2 Healthcare Collaboratory, Dr. Stewart continues to push the boundaries of how healthcare can be more connected, more human, and more effective. Her journey offers powerful lessons on leading change, building culture, and keeping patient care at the center of it all. I will also mention that Tanya is a close personal friend who I am truly delighted to have the opportunity to interview this morning. Hello Tanya, thanks for being here.
Tanya Stewart: Ah, thanks for the invitation and getting us on the books.
Tanis: You got it. Welcome to Hiring for Good. Let’s get into it because there’s a lot. So, um, we typically start by asking our guests to kind of share with us their journey to where they are today, and maybe offering as well a few words about exactly what it is you do as a medical director at Aledade.
Tanya: Sure. So, I’ll start with the second part first if that’s okay.
Tanis: Of course.
Tanya: I’m a regional medical director at Aledade. All is a company that helps primary care clinicians make the transition from fee-for-service to fee-for-value, or the better quality care they provide to their patients, the better reward that they get, as well as our patients’ better outcomes. My role in this space as a regional medical director is really to support the physicians. Um, and it is a wonderful, wonderful company and a wonderful role. My history has been an interesting one, or my journey has been an interesting one. I’ll start by saying I had really crisp clarity on wanting to be a physician and go to medical school.
And so there was no question for me on that, you know, crystal clear. Once I became a physician, it became a little more interesting, and lots of unique things happened on my journey. So, I’ll start by sharing. I went to undergrad in San Diego University of San Diego. I double majored in religious studies and biology. And then went to medical school in Boston at TUS. And it was at TUS that I had a patient experience that really, I would say, planted the seed of who I would become as a physician and my eventual area of expertise. So, I want to share his story because I think it’s a pretty important one.
He was an 87-year-old man. He came to the hospital because he was failing to thrive. He was literally skin and bones when he came to the hospital, and many of his organs were failing. His heart was failing, his lungs, he was filling up with fluid, his kidneys were shutting down, his liver was shutting down. All things that could go wrong were going wrong. And as I started the clinical rotation, my professor said, “Hey, the last group of students that came through have just left this man to die. We don’t know what’s wrong with him. We don’t know the cause of all of this. Who’s willing to take his case?” And I raised my hand.
So I joined the team to take on his case. And we began pursuing test after test after test on this gentleman with a hope of understanding what was wrong, so we could cure him.
And every test led to a subsequent complication. And eventually, every complication led this man from a private room, which was unheard of in a county hospital, to the intensive care unit, where visitations were restricted. The last three weeks of this man’s life were spent in the ICU without his family at his side. And I want to use this word very carefully, but it’s the word that really is the truth to it—we tortured him. We did things to him that we don’t even know that he really would have wanted had he been able to really understand what that would have meant—that he would have had time away from his family and not been able to say his goodbyes or his family to say their goodbyes or anything like that.
And if you ask any doctor, really, looking at his case, would they have expected him to live? Not one would say yes. So why we did this to him really hit me hard.
So fast forward to, I go into the ICU to make rounds on him, and his bed is empty. And um I, I, I remember seeing the empty bed, asking the nurse, “Did he go down for a test.” He had died in the night, and they had coded him. So did chest compressions, broke lots of ribs in doing that. Really, just I mean the, his last moments of, of life were, were torture.
And I remember running down the hall, well, quickly, briskly walking um down the hall, trying to keep my emotions in. And I can still feel, um, that, um, the cold tiles against my back as I slid down and just started crying, not understanding, like why, why do we do this? Why do we care for people in this way? It’s not care. It’s not good care.
And but it’s it was the care. It was the norm. And the, my resident physician, he’s kind of the person who oversaw all of the work that we did as students and, and, and interns. And he, I remember him patting me on the back, saying, “You better get used to this because this is going to happen a lot. This is what we do here.” And I thought, “This should not be what we do here. This is not good care.” So fast forward to residency. I came to Portland for my residency, great institution at Legacy, um, in internal medicine, and I was the first ever resident, um, to do a rotation in hospice.
I had never heard about hospice when I was in medical school. I’d never heard about the concept of palliative care and eventually realized this is what this man, this patient, this amazing human needed. His family needed this. This is the closure and the beauty. There’s so much beauty in, in our lives no matter where we are beginning middle and end especially at the end and so I decided that after that rotation I had to become a hospice doctor I knew I wanted to become a hospice doctor but how I was going to get there I did not know so graduated from residency got a first my first job at a multi-specialty medical practice. Classic internist job, and I met a patient, and one of my patients. She was retired hospice nurse, and it was a shared love, and so I shared with her, I’m going to become a hospice doctor someday. I don’t know how, but I’m going to do it. And she said, “Well, funny you should say that. I volunteer at a hospice now, and they’re looking for a new medical director.”
So I said, “Well, why not? I will put my hat in the ring and see if it’s a good fit. I have zero experience, but who knows?” So I did. And that wasn’t necessarily true. I was, um, asked my supervisor at my multi-specialty group if I could round on patients at, in their homes. I wouldn’t charge, just I wanted the experience. I started shadowing some hospice doctors that were at that multi-specialty group who were board certified and all that.
So I was lightly prepared, and they offered me the job. And um my first day on that job at this was at Adventist, um, um, home health and hospice, wonderful, wonderful organization. They took a chance on me. Um, they probably didn’t know this, but my first day on the job, I literally giggled to myself, twiddling my thumb, saying, “What am I doing here? Why did they hire me? I don’t know what I’m doing.”
And, um, so that kind of led me, I made it to my space, and then that led me to really the journey part of, of my story. And that’s when I got in, got there, I’m like, I got to figure out how to do this. So I started reaching out, reaching out to the Oregon Hospice Association, reaching out to any physician organizations, both national and local, finding mentors, asking people if they would mentor me. And as a mentee, I then, of course, began to learn and grow. And then created, um, a, a hospice doctor’s, um, breakfast, monthly breakfast. We would meet at the Cadillac Cafe every month. Then my intention was to build relationships, but it was also to learn and to really go over difficult cases, but also to grow. Um, and from being a mentee, I eventually became a mentor to other doctors who wanted to do what I did and really go through the experience route to become, um, a hospice doctor.
And then eventually, um, from there being, doing hospice work, I did that, um, for many years with Adventist and many other hospice organizations in the area in Southwest Washington. Um, and then a group approached me, a leader approached me that I happened to meet at Adventist, and she ended up moving to an organization called EverCare. She remembered me, and she asked me if I would be willing to, to, to take a leap and join her group, um, which is really palliative care in the nursing home setting. Um, as I mentioned, the company is called EverCare, but it was event, it was, a it was a, a division under United Health Group and eventually would be, fall under Optum Complex Care Management.
So, from there, I just kept saying why not, why not let me try. Um, and, um, people kept taking chances on me, and I kept saying I’m going to give it a try, and I grew in my career at, at United. Um, and that, um, it was funny, um, because during the time you’d mentioned, I got my MBA here at OHSU. I was actually a partnership with PSU as well. And, um, I remember, um, being in, in, in class and thinking I really am an a hands-on learner and I need to understand how, really how money flows in our healthcare system. We were not taught that in medical school.
And, um, so I was looking for a new position under the United Health Group umbrella. And I reached out to, uh, one of my colleagues I had built a relationship with over the years in my EverCare role. And I said, “Hey, you know, you don’t happen to have a open position on your team?” And she said, “You know what happens, Tanya, that I do, but we are literally just about to make an offer”. And I said to her, “Okay, no problem. I don’t want to ruin, you know, the offer if you love this person and you think that they’re the cat’s meow and they’re perfect for the role. Awesome. If not, if there’s even an inkling of doubt, I would love for you. I would love the opportunity to interview.”
And she gave me that opportunity, and this team gave me that chance. And I joined that side and learned so, so much, um, on that team. And then eventually there’s, there’s more around that, leaving UHG, um, doing, taking a cobbatical. My last day at UHD was the first day of the, the, the shutdown of our country.
Tannis: Wow.
Tanya: Yep. March 15.
Um, and, um, and I took a year and a half off and did a lot of fun things, like joined a venture investment group and actually joined a startup as a salesperson in transportation for six weeks. That was really amazing. Um, and, um, and yeah, got my nutrition degree and did all different things until, um, I eventually landed, after consulting, landed at Aledade, and, um, wanting to be back, um, supporting docs, um, and really supporting docs so that they can survive, um, in this very crazy time of change in healthcare.
Tanis: Wow. Well, my goodness, I mean that is a incredible journey. Um, much of that I think I’ve kind of been your friend, like the entire, it’s fun to actually hear about it from a more professional angle. Um, I’m, I’m curious to know along that path you’ve already shared one really transformative experience, like something that really, um, kind of solidified who you are, how you think about the work that you do with regard to leadership. What experiences have you had that have really been formative, that help shape who you are as a leader or how you approach leadership?
Tanya: I would say there’s, um, there’s two that stand out. One, I didn’t actually realize it until I was thinking about, um, thinking about this interview. The first was when I was a hospice doctor, again building my relationships, trying to figure things out. I was invited to be the chairperson, um, for, uh, a Oregon’s hospice and palliative care, um, uh, gathering. And it was, I mean, I’d never been placed in, in that position before g..being given that opportunity. And I didn’t really understand why, why they offered me this, this role. Um, and, and as I reflect on that from a, you know, that leadership perspective, I think it was because I had a level of enthusiasm that, um, was rare, was unique, and I didn’t see it. I didn’t recognize it.
Fast forward to then, a recognition of that level of enthusiasm at United Health Group. I was given a very, very rare opportunity to volunteer as, um, the culture ambassador co-chairperson. And it was at a time in our organization when we were going through, um, really some soul searching and, um, and solidifying the values that UHG stands for. The mission, the vision, the purpose, and all of that, and getting, um, really the soul of the organization, um, intertwined with our own personal souls. And it was very, very unique and, um, as a culture ambassador co-chairperson, um, I was given the opportunity to travel the country, um, host, you know, like, I just called them our radio shows. And, and, this is before podcasts were anything, so I’ll just say, make that comment, um, but we had these radio shows and we would highlight the amazing work that, um, culture ambassadors were doing across, um, across United. And from the, the time that my colleague and I, his name is Paul Calmeyer, he and I, um, co-chaired this together. When we started, there were about 500 ambassadors. And at the end of two years, we had over 5,000.
Tanis: Wow.
Tanya: Ambassadors. And I really believe it was because we decentralized everything and we elevated everyone else. We did, we elevated the good work that everyone was doing and really working hard to transform the soul of their teams and themselves, and share their stories. And that made such a huge difference. By the time I left United Health Group, there were over 30,000 culture ambassadors, and that was just within about, um, four years from the time that I left the role of culture ambassador.
Tanis: Wow.
Tanya: So, it was a pretty, um, remarkable exponential growth, um, of that group, and it just taught me a lot. It taught me a lot about the importance of it’s not about you. It’s not about your, um, being placed on the stage and the limelight. It’s about others. It’s about elevating others and helping them to become the best people and humans they can be.
Tanis: That’s a really, um, beautiful sentiment, and I think it’s one that great leaders share. There’s a lot that you’ve mentioned that is meaningful to you and that you’ve been able to, um, you know, uplift and empower others through your work. When you think about the closely held values that are really yours alone, you know, not necessarily those that belong to the organizations that you work for, even if they happen to align.
Tanya: Yeah.
Tanis: How, as a leader, do you operationalize, you know, kind of your personal mission?
Tanya: Yeah. So, it’s funny. So, um, I never thought about my own personal values until I went through the culture ambassador program or the culture program, the culture training, um that was done at UHG through a group called Sun Delaney. I’d never really thought the importance of having my own values. So important. So I want to show you something if I can.
Tanis: Yeah. Please.
Tanya: So, um, so what I, this, this is something that has stood the test of time. I, this is a, a page that I bring with me. Would bring with me in every single meeting I went to so I could rip it out and change my, my different folders. But whenever I went to a meeting at UHG, would bring this with me. Because on this page, it had my values on it. So I would never forget what mattered to me. Tanis: Love this.
Tanya: And whenever I saw the Venn Diagram become separated, the organizational values was being discussed in the room, what mattered to me was important to me as my soul. Um, that helped me pause and, and ask the question is this, is this the right decision, is this the right fit. Like, you know, in a high level but also at a micro level. Are we making the right decision? That’s based on our companies values. But it’s also keeping me true to me.
Tanis: Yeah.
Tanya: And. So. I mean, operationalizing it it’s very, very personal.
Tanis: Well, I’m dying to know what’s on the page.
Tanya: Well, do you want to hear what my values are? Okay. So, um, I have five. You don’t want too many, but you don’t want too few, right? So, here are the five. And there’s, there’s a little sentence for each one. So, um, courage. Uh, never give up on your dreams, no matter what barriers you face or what others may say. Compassion. Walk in the shoes of others. Seek to understand their viewpoint and embrace the common thread. We are really failing at this today on so many levels. Family. Um, love, care, embrace those who give us strength. And family is beyond the blood, right? It’s friends and your co-workers. Innovation. Think differently. Um, be open to making the impossible possible. And then inspiration. Recognize the importance of meaning and purpose.
Tanis: That’s beautiful, Tanya. I love that. And knowing you, I, I, I really see the ways that those values like, show up in your life, um, outside of work. So that’s very impressive.
So when it comes to building teams, do you hire based on those values or do you, you know how, how do you build teams? How do you go about adding to the teams that you lead?
Tanya: Yeah, I would say the, probably the most important thing I think of when I’m pull, like pulling a team together is, is our team really balanced.
So just, you don’t want to have too many Tanyas, you don’t want to have too many Tanises, right? You don’t want like, like all that high energy, all the energy will be sucked out. You’ll get nothing done. All those great ideas, right?
Tanis: We need operators.
Tanya: We need operators. That’s right. That’s right. Operators, analysts, like there’s different styles that, that will complement and potentially conflict, but complement if you can find that.
So one is, is there balance in that? Um, and are those styles there? When I’m looking for the right person, it’s passion. I always want to know, like, and I want to see, no matter what their style is, do they care deeply about, about the work that they want to, to do? And that the mission or the vision, not my mission and vision, but the mission and vision of what we’re after, like we’re trying to accomplish.
And what I’ve learned is you’ve got to be really careful because I’ve not always done a good job at this. You have to be really careful about not confusing passion with greed. Because there can be some overlap with that and, um, and, and, and making sure that, you know, watching carefully for that.
Tanis: Interesting. Yeah, I could see that. I guess as you’re developing leaders, as you’re helping them come up, you know, you mentioned already that you’ve sat in a mentorship role a number of times. Um, and I, I would imagine that probably even for folks who work, you know, under you, they would see you as a mentor just knowing you. Um, when you give advice to those kind of up-and-coming leaders or maybe to, you know, your own children as they, as they enter adulthood, and, or maybe even to your younger self, you know, what would be the most fundamental pieces of advice or piece of advice that you would offer? Like we say to your 20-year-old self, what would, what piece of advice would you give?
Tanya: Yeah. Um, so you know, I used to believe that when you’re looking for a role, you look at it like a marriage. Like it should be forever. And, um, and I would say that, that the advice I give is don’t have that point of view. Um, be open. Be open to the possibilities of what’s out there. It’s a journey. Your first job does not have to be your perfect job.
Tanis: Yeah.
Tanya: And um, and it doesn’t need to be a forever job. Um, so just be open to the possibility and don’t, don’t sell yourself short. Even if you think you’re underqualified, you’re not. If you’ve got belief in yourself, if you’ve got a passion to learn, if you’ve got a desire, you know, to, to, to, to, you know, make the world a better place, whatever, whatever it is that really makes you wake up in the morning, um, then go all in and fake it till you make it, right? I mean, um, yeah.
Tanis: That’s great. That’s wonderful. Well, the final question that we always like to ask our guests is, you know, what does hiring for good mean to you? We chose that title because it is iterative. And I, I look forward to hearing your interpretation.
Tanya: Well, I think I, I may have already, um, hinted at this. Um, hiring for good is not forever. So, I would start with that. Um, that, uh, if you find, if you found a amazing organization, fantastic. Stick with it, you know, and you can grow there. Great. Um, but that’s, that’s one. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’s not, um, does not have to be a perfect thing. And then hiring for good. Um, I’m just going to always say like passion. Like find, find folks who really believe, um, believe in what you’re after. Believe in what you, uh, you as an organization, you’re trying to accomplish. Um, and, um, that have good character and that they can bring them, their best selves, um, to the workplace. So that’s what I would say.
Tanis: Well, that’s wonderful. I, um, I’m so excited to share this conversation with our audience, and appreciate you coming, and thank you very much for being part of Hiring for Good.
Tanya: Absolutely. And I’m going to make a quick plug.
Tanis: Yes, please.
Tanya: For you to be on this side of the table and Suzanne to be on the other. So, I want to watch that episode.
Tanis: All right. I think it’ll probably happen. All right. Thank you.
Outro: Thanks for joining us today at Hiring for Good. If you were inspired by our conversation, don’t forget to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to learn more about our executive search services, check us out at www.hiringforgood.net or our company website, Acumen Executive Search. Thanks so much, and don’t forget to join us next time for another in-depth conversation about transformational leadership. Til then, have fun.