Medical School Dean Nancy Andrews and Duke Chapel Dean Sam Wells have a conversation about leadership Photo credit: Photo by Mark Manring

As dean of the School of Medicine, Nancy Andrews, M.D., Ph.D. is called upon to lead the school through many difficult issues, and when she does, she says it's in a style that emphasizes listening and relationship building.

"I do fall more comfortably into some of the patterns and characteristics that are attributed to women," Andrews said. "I like to collaborate; I like to bring people together and try to find consensus in ways that will benefit everybody."

Andrews spoke with Duke Chapel Dean Sam Wells Wednesday, Oct. 28, as part of the Chapel's Deans' Dialogues series on "leadership in difficult times." About 40 people attended the event in the Duke Clinic Amphitheater.

Andrews said she could easily point to current challenges for academic medicine. She cited uncertainty about health care reform, shrinking university budgets and a National Institutes of Health annual budget that has been largely flat over the last few years.

At Duke, she said, the medical school's academic budget has been strained by these forces, although clinical profits at the health system have been healthy.

"People who live in both worlds hear about shortages on the school side and cutbacks and things we can't do now, and people in the health system world are hearing about really very impressive margins for the clinical operations," she said.

"I think we've been fortunate that so far people's jobs have been relatively protected here," she said.

Andrews said her background as a physician who sometimes had to deliver bad news to the families of sick children has helped her learn to lead in difficult times.

"I think that having had that experience many times over has, in some ways, made it easier to deliver bad news," she said. "Telling someone that their salary is not going to increase this year or they need to step down so someone else can have a chance to be leading is a lot easier than telling parents that their child has a fatal disease."

In reflecting on what kind of legacy she would like to have, Andrews said she is focusing on building up people and not just buildings. Even when talking about plans for a project such as the proposed Learning Center at the school, she highlights the advantages to students, faculty and staff.

"When I think about what I want to accomplish here and what I want to leave behind, it all comes back to the people," she said. "If we can help our students go out and do great things in the world; if we can help our faculty find new and better ways to take care of people, to improve the health of this community, to make great scientific discoveries -- for me that's a lot more satisfying than [new] buildings."

As for his part, Wells said in difficult times, he looks for "someone who is willing to be more honest than I am able to be."