Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing

In this business memoir, Dr. Levey shares with the reader lessons learned from many years of experience. A trained internist and endocrinologist, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute while at the University of Miami, a senior vice president for one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, chairman of the department of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Levey culminated his career as vice chancellor Medical Sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. During his long and illustrious career at UCLA, he rebuilt one of the world's premier academic health centers after the devastating Northridge earthquake in 1994. The book is titled after Dr. Levey's favorite business admonishment, Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing. Healthcare executives should adopt the lessons in this book to take their leadership to the next level. While each chapter alone is worth the price of the book, as a former healthcare executive, I would encourage every healthcare leader to study the chapters entitled Crisis Management and Fund-Raising. The chapter on fund-raising expands ones vision on the potential of what can be done and hospital foundation leaders and board members would benefit from Dr. Levey's insight and direction. You can count on one hand the number of healthcare leaders that have had the tremendous successes in fund-raising that Dr. Levey has had. Aspiring healthcare leaders should study this book as a primer on how to lead a healthcare organization, no matter how small or large, and Never Be Afraid to Do the Right Thing. Jerry F. Pogue, Publisher