Chief Medical Officer Program

Michael Sacks’ work focuses on strategic leadership and aligning leadership skills with organizational culture to drive successful execution. His teaching spans leadership development, organizational management, strategic thinking, and influence without authority. At Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, he leads executive education programs and serves as faculty director for the Woodruff Leadership Academy. He has also taught and consulted for global clients, including Microsoft, IHG, Toyota, UPS, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Tim Cunningham’s work explores how compassion, resilience, and structural well-being can transform health care systems and support frontline professionals. His research and practice focus on clinician well-being, crisis response, and the integration of human-centered care into organizational strategy. He teaches programs on health care innovation, leadership, resilience, and compassionate practice across clinical, academic, and executive education settings at Emory University.

Molly Ryan Epstein’s work explores how strategic communication influences leadership effectiveness by focusing on change communication, intergenerational collaboration, and gender dynamics in the workplace. Her teaching helps professionals craft persuasive messaging that drives organizational impact. She teaches courses on leadership communication, negotiations, and inclusive messaging across undergraduate, MBA, and executive education programs at Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

Erika V. Hall’s research examines how race-, gender-, and class-based stereotypes shape workplace dynamics and impact leadership outcomes. Her work explores how implicit biases influence team interactions, intergroup negotiation, and organizational inequality. She teaches executive education programs on negotiation, bias, team leadership, and organizational behavior at Goizueta Business School, Emory University, and guides curriculum development through Goizueta's Business & Society Institute.

Bradley Haws has over 30 years of leadership experience in health care finance and strategy. He has held senior roles at the University of Iowa Health Care, University of Virginia Physicians, and Intermountain Healthcare, Inc., with expertise in financial operations, investment strategy, risk management, and governance.

Özgecan Koçak’s research explores how shared cultural codes, including organizational identities, categorization systems, and communication norms, influence decision making, conflict, and adaptation in organizations and markets. Her work often investigates why collective meaning-making breaks down and how leaders can more effectively align beliefs to foster strategic coordination and inclusivity. She teaches executive education and MBA programs at Goizueta Business School, Emory University, on topics including organization design, identity, strategic management, and behavior in complex systems.

Rebecca Martin’s work focuses on global health leadership, policy, and public health system strengthening across international settings. Her career spans over 30 years in global health, including leadership roles at the CDC and the WHO, where she advanced immunization strategies, HIV response, and global health security. She also teaches and advises on global public health, epidemiology, and international health strategy.

Rod McCowan’s work centers on strategic change leadership and executive development, exploring how leadership alignment, organizational culture shifts, and neuro‑leadership frameworks impact enterprise-wide transformation. His research examines why executive actions succeed, or sometimes fail, and how leaders can evolve into principled change agents. He teaches programs on principled leadership, organizational change, talent strategy, and leadership development across undergraduate, MBA, and executive education curricula at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. At Accelerance Group International, he coaches global C‑suite teams on strategic transformation and organizational renewal.

Rachel Patzer’s research centers on health services and disparities in care, particularly in access to kidney transplantation and health care quality. She designs and tests data-driven interventions, including the iChoose Kidney decision aid, to reduce inequities and improve outcomes across diverse patient populations. Patzer teaches and advises on health quality improvement, outcomes research, and evidence-based decision making in clinical and policy contexts through Emory’s Health Services Research Center and the Healthcare Innovation Program. As the director of this center and an associate professor in the Department of Surgery at Emory School of Medicine, she leads multidisciplinary initiatives to strengthen data-driven public health and clinical systems.

Dane Peterson’s leadership focuses on health care operations, organizational strategy, and performance improvement in complex academic medical systems. His work explores how executive decision making and team alignment drive quality outcomes and system-wide transformation. He teaches and advises on health care leadership, strategic planning, and operational excellence.

Chad Ritenour’s work focuses on physician well-being, academic leadership, and innovation in urologic care delivery. His efforts explore how faculty development and efficient clinical practices can enhance both patient outcomes and provider experience. He teaches programs on men’s health, faculty leadership, and professional development at Emory University School of Medicine.

Karen Sedatole’s work investigates how performance measurement systems, executive compensation structures, and forecasting shape organizational trust, motivation, and strategic alignment. Her research examines why reward systems sometimes fail and how leaders can design systems that reinforce positive behaviors and collaboration. She teaches programs on performance measurement, reward and compensation design, forecasting, and strategic change across executive education, MBA, and doctoral curricula at Goizueta Business School, Emory University.

Thomas Smith’s research explores how macroeconomic trends, labor dynamics, and industry structures influence leadership decisions and organizational performance. His work spans diverse fields, including cultural economics, sports and entertainment economics, and health care finance. At Goizueta Business School, Emory University, he teaches executive and MBA programs in finance, economics, and strategic decision making. As the professor in the Practice of Finance and as the academic director of the Master of Finance program, he brings real‑world insights and multidisciplinary rigor into the classroom. Smith also regularly speaks with media outlets, including CNN and NPR, on economic trends.

Peter Topping’s research examines how leaders navigate paradox, conflict, and change to build high-performance teams across organizational boundaries. His work explores why leadership initiatives sometimes backfire and how “both/and” thinking enables executives to reconcile competing priorities in complex environments. He teaches programs in leadership development, organizational change, team dynamics, negotiation, and talent strategy across full-time MBA, evening MBA, and executive MBA offerings at Goizueta Business School, Emory University.