When Marcy Doderer became president and CEO of the Arkansas Children’s in 2013, in a way she was joining the family business. Her father, J.B. Norton, M.D., was the chief of pediatric cardiology at Arkansas Children’s when she was growing up, and one of her earliest work experiences was a college internship with the CEO of Arkansas Children’s.
“At that point, I shifted from a potential career path in banking to hospital management, and I never looked back,” Doderer said.
Doderer earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Trinity University in San Antonio and a Master of Arts in hospital and health administration from the University of Iowa. She then found work in Texas, holding progressively higher leadership positions at hospitals both large and small. After a decade of working at adult-centric facilities she joined the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio as vice president and administrator in 2002. She has dedicated herself to pediatrics ever since, though it would be another decade before she would return to Arkansas.
“Following 20 years working in large health systems, I was interested in leading a free-standing, independent children’s hospital,” Doderer said. “I wanted to work in an organization where everyone, from the governing board to the front-line staff, was interested in improving the lives of children. My timing was perfect, as the board of Arkansas Children’s Hospital had just launched a search for a new CEO. I reached out to the recruiter, interviewed, and as the saying goes, the rest is history.”
The growth of Arkansas Children’s since that time has been immense; what was once a single hospital in Little Rock has become an entire health system, having constructed an entirely new hospital at Arkansas Children’s Northwest, built new clinics in southwest Little Rock and Pine Bluff, and renovated and expanded the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Jonesboro Clinic. With an integrated network of clinics and alliances with physician practices around the state, a research foundation and a philanthropic foundation, Arkansas Children’s can serve children in all 75 counties.
Doderer and the rest of Arkansas Children’s leadership have not been content to stop there, however; right now, Arkansas Children’s is embarking on the single largest expansion of its 112-year history. The $318 million plan will add more than 100 providers, 400 team members, and hundreds of thousands of square feet in new construction and renovations on both the Little Rock and Springdale campuses to help care for even more children.
“Another major initiative is the growth of our research enterprise,” Doderer said. “Through the Arkansas Children’s Research Institute, we are quickly growing the number of clinical trials available to the children of Arkansas so that we can help bring novel and effective treatments more quickly to the state. We are also excited about adding dedicated space and research teams to help understand the best approaches to care, treatment and prevention of opioid use. We are establishing the National Center for Opioid Research this year with the help of the attorney general of Arkansas’ opioid settlement funds.”
In the health care industry, one can never expect what the next day might bring. This is especially true for a system that has experienced Arkansas Children’s level of rapid change, and it is that dynamic nature of the work which both drew Doderer in and has kept her there for her entire career. She said she spends most of her day in a long chain of meetings, but each meeting might deal with a very different and highly important topic. One might focus on internal matters for the Arkansas Children’s system, ensuring the quality and safety of services provided while managing finances and long-term strategy, and the next might see Doderer advocating externally on children’s health issues, working on economic development opportunities or collaborating with other children’s hospitals across the nation.
“I am energized to do more when I welcome new employees at orientation and when I round with our frontline teams,” Doderer said. “It is important to me to try to connect with the team several times a week so that I can thank them for the good work they do, listen to their ideas for improvements and help problem solve for the pain points in their work. I also really enjoy the deep work we do as a team to build our strategic plans. It is incredibly intellectually stimulating to sit with a group of leaders and devise new and better ways that allow Arkansas Children’s to serve more children across the region.”
For anyone hoping to follow in Doderer’s footsteps in the health care industry, she said integrity is one of the greatest qualities one can have. Maintaining that integrity day in and day out, however, takes honesty, courage and authenticity — the guts to take tough stands, engage in difficult conversations about touchy subjects, to be open about oneself and stick up for one’s own beliefs and values despite the inevitable opposition.
“Finally, I believe the best leaders find an amazing blend of ambition and humility, Doderer said. “You need some level of drive to achieve, to be better, to deliver more, and you need to be humble, kind and never have to be the smartest person in the room.”
