Kevin O'Leary MD is the Chief, Division of Hospital Medicine, Associate Chair for Quality in the Department of Medicine and John Clarke Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He is the founding Director of the Northwestern Medicine Academy for Quality and Safety Improvement. Dr. O'Leary completed his medical school at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and his residency at Northwestern University. He is the Deputy Editor for the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety and also serves as principal investigator of the Redesigning Systems to Improve Quality for Hospitalized Patients (RESET). He is the recipient of multiple awards including the Leape Ahead Award from the American Association for Physician Leadership, Award for Excellence in Teamwork in Quality Improvement from Society of Hospital Medicine, and Award for Clinical Innovation from Northwestern.

When Dr. O’Leary was a pre-med student, he envisioned success as making great saves as a doctor. Yet, as he progressed on his journey to being an internist and leading Northwestern's hospital medicine division, the definition of real success changed. Now it is about helping patients understand their illness a little bit better, addressing their fears and their concerns, helping them navigate a complex healthcare system and seeing them achieve their goals. True success lies in “those tiny wins” says Dr. O’Leary, “that can occur with almost every patient, every single day.”

Pearls of Wisdom:

1. As a resident, when you hear a leader give an inspiring talk, yes - take mental notes. But go one step further: reach out and engage them in a conversation about it.
2. Real success as physicians lies not only in the occasional miraculous saves, but more so in the tiny, everyday wins, such as helping a patient have a good death.
3. Be careful about what advice you accept and don’t accept from a mentor. It’s good to have a team of mentors to bounce ideas off of. If a mentor gives you the same advice twice, consider accepting it.
4. It’s fine to have an idea of the direction you want to go, but recognize that you’re going to get unexpected opportunities. Keep an open mind and tap into them.