“Jim has helped me define my goals and move in a direction that has fostered my ongoing satisfaction with my career and with my wellness.”

Malissa J. Wood, MD FACC

Vice President and Chief Physician Executive Lee Health Heart Institute

Formerly, Co-director MGH Heart Center Corrigan Women’s Heart Health Program

Formerly, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Past Chair, ACC Board of Governors

“Jim is a national leader in patient experience and leadership development in healthcare. He has a deep understanding of clinical operations in Emergency Medicine and Hospital Medicine. This knowledge gives him credibility with the physicians and healthcare teams he serves. Our group of physicians has had the pleasure to work with Jim and we’ve seen significant improvements each time we work with him.”

Dr. Raj Chand

President, Inova Fair Oaks Hospital;
formerly CMO, IFOH; formerly President, Virginia Emergency Medicine Associates

“Huge thanks to everyone who continues to support and encourage me on this incredible journey, especially my leadership coach @JLMcKenna13 !”

Dr. Nasrien Ibrahim

Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist | Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Minority Health Policy | Nonprofit Founder.
Formerly Director of Heart Failure Clinical Research Program, Director of Heart Failure & Transplant Fellowship at Inova Heart, Virginia.

“Jim is immensely talented with groups and leadership teams searching for greater clarity, knowledge and improvement in function and best practice. He is also superb in helping individual leaders with better understanding of their strengths, weaknesses and communication styles and the impact they have on others.

He can help you build an excellent roadmap for advancement, personal satisfaction, growth and wellness. “

Dr. Mike Valentine

Professor of Medicine, Cardiology Division, University of Virginia
Past President, American College Cardiology

“He tenido el honor de formar parte del Board of Trustees del American College of Cardiology en los últimos 3 años. Formar parte de este Board es una enorme satisfacción personal pero también un gran desafío particularmente para un miembro del ACC no basado en USA. Jim McKenna me ayudó a identificar las fortalezas a aprovechar y las debilidades a corregir. Jim tiene una clara visión de la dinámica del liderazgo en el campo de la medicina y del fortalecimiento de estructuras colegiadas como el Board of Trustees. Mi relación profesional y personal con Jim McKenna ha sido muy enriquecedora y gratificante.”

“I have had the honor of serving on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology for the past 3 years. Being part of this Board is a high  personal satisfaction but also a great challenge, particularly for a member of the ACC not based in the USA. Jim McKenna helped me identify strengths to leverage and weaknesses to correct. Jim has a clear vision of the dynamics of leadership in the field of medicine and the strengthening of collegiate structures such as the Board of Trustees. My professional and personal relationship with Jim McKenna has been very enriching and rewarding.”

Daniel José Piñeiro MD, FACC

Professor of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Board of Trustees, American College Cardiology

President, World Heart Federation

“I cannot say enough great things about working with Jim. I never thought I needed a #leadership/#careercoach until #TheBestMentorEver @JJHeart_doc (Dr. James Januzzi) paid for me to work with @JLMcKenna13 to improve my career path. Thank you!!”

Dr. Hanna Gaggin

Harvard Medical School
Massachusetts General Hospital

“Jim knows who he is in the most understated way. His audiences identify with him almost immediately because he deals directly from his heart. He engages his clients with ease. He has a knack for teaching his clients how to build a solid foundation and why collaboration brings teams together. He certainly accomplished that for us.

Jim is driven by his concern for human values. I have witnessed how he gets his audience to strive for success. The results are easy to measure. He diagnoses problems like a physician. Then he helps you build sustainable solutions. The result? A healthy company.”

Mr. Thomas D. Gordon

Retired CEO, Cedars-Sinai Medical Group

“Jim’s enthusiasm for our patient experience dialogues was infectious. He helped our team of physicians see things from a different perspective – that of the patient.”

Dr. Rina Bansal

President, Inova Alexandria Hospital.

“Jim was my executive coach. He was a great partner. He was very skilled at helping me see how to navigate complex professional relationships, develop skills to better advocate and achieve goals, as well as be aware of my own blind spots. Jim was a pleasure to work with and a true confidant. He has a great understanding of the skills needed by physician leaders and executives. The things I learned have been invaluable in my ongoing development and success. “

Dr. Peter S.

Physician Advisor, Atrium Health;
formerly, Chair Department of Medicine at Spectrum Health
Hospital Medicine Physician Leader

“James provides an incredible service to help us improve the customer experience which helps to provide high-quality, clinical care.”

Dr. Melinda Kantsiper

Clinical Director, Div. of Hospital Medicine; Bayview Medical Center; Asst. Prof. of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine;
CMO, Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital.

“Jim, as I have always appreciated, I am inspired by the way you walk in a room full of physicians who are known for their big egos and spark a discussion which helps us improve, whether we consciously admit it or not.”

Dr. Muhammad A.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

“It has been a pleasure to work with James over the past twelve months developing a wellbeing and resilience programme for cardiology trainees in Ireland. James’s knowledge and insights on these topics coupled with his inclusive approach, facilitated the trainee group as they explored, developed and implemented a programme driven by needs identified by themselves. His ability to guide both group and one to one sessions is very impressive and the Irish cardiology trainee group have benefited greatly from working with James and having exposure to his expertise.

Barbra Dalton

Executive Administrator, Irish Board for Training in Cardiovascular Medicine.

“The Hospitalist Leadership team engaged Jim as a professional coach to take their group to the next level of performance around improving their HCAHPS scores and overall professional presence across a 330 bed facility. Building esprit de corp, accountability and getting results became palpable attributes of his work with this team.   Jim possesses the rare gift of drawing out what is best in the professional provider along with providing the coaching around how to hardwire this behavior to sustain meaningful change… Jim was highly respected not only by the physicians he worked with but by every member of the executive team. In Jim the core skills of knowledge and the ability to connect with professional providers intersect gracefully.”

Claude Margot RN,MS NEA-BC

Former Chief Nursing Officer, Holy Cross Germantown Hospital

“Our cardiovascular service line had Jim McKenna work with physician and administrative leaders to help develop and align our leadership team. We got the results we wanted and it was a very enjoyable process. Jim’s professionalism and expertise yielded some great initial results and we are now able to work from that foundation to continue our progress as a more well aligned and synchronized team. His coaching included “big picture” thinking as well as practical tips that helped build our leaders confidence, collaborative abilities and ability to productively work through conflict. Gaining physician trust is not an easy task- but Jim makes it appear effortless. I highly recommend Jim McKenna for both his group and 1:1 coaching/leadership development. “

Dr. Steve Smalley

Cardiologist Essentia Health
Past President, Minnesota Chapter of the American College of Cardiology and ACC Board of Governors

The coaching process helped me look at the bigger picture and see the interplay between personal and professional life. it also helped me be more mindful about work/life balance and operationalize that in my life. I’m in a better place than I was a year ago.

Dr. Arjun Ghosh

London Cardio-Oncology, UK

We all have skills that are under-appreciated and others can learn from. An important lesson learnt in the BCS Emerging Leaders Programme. Special thanks to @JLMcKenna13 for his coaching.

Dr. Shazia Hussain

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, United Kingdom

“I had the great opportunity to work with Jim through the Irish Cardiology Society. He provided excellent career and leadership coaching to several Specialist Registrars through webinars and workshops. He taught me how to reflect on my own stressors and develop resilience strategies in order to prevent burn out. He has a great way of making you feel relaxed, is a great listener and communicator. Jim taught us to look after ourselves and inspired us to strive for healthy, happy and successful careers.”

Vivienne Sullivan

Cardiology SpR, Wexford, Leinster, Ireland

“James was excellent at listening to my comments and was able to react very quickly to them in an effective and meaningful way. James really listened and was able to internalize my thoughts and feelings.

James was always present and was able to quickly shift gears during a conversation and recall discussion points from past sessions. This was very helpful in thinking about past points and continuing to progress meaningfully. He pushed me to set assignments and held me accountable for the follow-up. These exercises were helpful and almost always led to valuable insights.

James’s communication skills were of the highest order and demonstrated an excellent sense of professionalism while embodying a warm tone.”

Alan Ocheltree

Attorney, Director, Cardinal Health

“Working with Jim to effectively maximize the patient care experience has truly been invaluable, both as a group and on a one-on-one interaction level. His calm, trust-inspiring personality and insight into my strengths and weaknesses and knack to guide me, made my daily interactions with my patients go from ‘pleasant and good’ to ‘fantastic and memorable’. Pleasure working with you, Jim!“

Dr. Fatima S.

Johns Hopkins Medicine, Howard County

“Jim was incredibly effective in helping me become more aware and less reactive. I find Jim to be a trusted advisor and friend.”

Farzin Arsanjani

CEO, Hyperoffice Software

“It was a pleasure to have Jim in our midst; he worked with our hospitalist group to improve customer satisfaction. He sensitized our group to the value of patient satisfaction (beyond the obvious financial incentives) and his coaching has helped us come up with new ideas to meet patient expectations. To sum up, we were able to progress from delivering ‘good service’ (something that we already did) to doing a ‘great job’.”

Dr. Nirmal K.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

” I am very grateful that Jim has walked me through my recovery from burn out. He introduced me to many tools. He also helps me improve my communication skills. It can be tough finding your words when you are swimming in confusion and exhaustion. He has assisted me with finding words to express myself and also has improved my communication with others, so it it is now more efficient and positive. I can now be more assertive and confident”

Dr. C.

Johns Hopkins Medicine

“When I was part of the Hospitalist team at Medstar Montgomery Medical Center, we had a very good team of physicians, but our overall doctor communication patient satisfaction scores were low. Jim supported the entire team of hospitalists by working with us collectively and individually. As a result, the team score improved and it stayed high after he left. I think Jim helped us see things differently from the patient’s point of view. We were very happy with the improvement.”

Dr. Dilhana Sumaiya B.

Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine

“I believe in Jim’s Patient Centeredness program and I have never seen such a reward/recognition/thanking environment that has been created due to these concepts. We, nurses, techs, physician providers, case managers, social workers, etc., have really gotten to know each other on a more personal level, thanked each other with Shining Star recognition cards, and the collaborative relationships are absolutely fantastic. Thank you goes a long way, and I feel that we, as a team are more comfortable reaching out to each other to let each other know that a great job was done. ”

Rona C.

RN, MSN, CNS; Patient Care Manager, Johns Hopkins Bayview

“The patient experience training and coaching that James provides continues to help me in my current role. It should have been part of my PA (physician assistant) school training.”

Brandi S.

Physician Assistant, Calvert Memorial Hospital

“As a healthcare provider and advisor of public healthcare policy, I feel that having a leadership coach like Jim is paramount to success. Jim’s collaborative coaching style is founded on self-honesty. He utilizes direct methods to achieve the ‘best practice of medicine’ that facilitates undaunted courage to redirect outcomes for the common good. There is a lot to be said for a team (coach-client) approach”.

Dr. Lynda Terry-Choyke

Medical Officer in the Washington DC area

“When I was the Medical Director for Inpatient Specialists at MMMC, I had a great opportunity to work with Jim on physician coaching to improve patient satisfaction. Jim took the time to meet individually with each physician in the group to assess then suggest ways to improve patient interaction, empathy, and communication.

In order for our hospitalist group to understand patients’ vulnerabilities, Jim had all of us put on the very fashionable hospital gowns and little yellow booties… Even though we were all laughing, we immediately felt the depersonalization that our patients experienced. At other times, he showed us that a subtle change in understanding and wording or tone, can make a big difference in the eyes of the patient. Jim also coached me to manage physicians with different issues ranging from behavioral to cultural differences and was a force in ensuring the continuity of quality patient satisfaction during difficult times.”

Dr. Christine D.

Medical Director

“James McKenna has an incredible ability to recognize personal strengths and foster their growth. More specifically, Jim has an ability to identify valued characteristics that can improve professional and personal interactions… To summarize, Jim has been a huge asset for our organization.”

Dr. Mark F.

Emergency Medicine Physician

“Jim speaks the language of the doctors.”

Dr. Eric Howell

CEO, Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM)

“Jim McKenna provided outstanding leadership coaching for members of the American College of Cardiology Board of Trustees. I was a fortunate recipient of such coaching, which was done in a personalized, effective, and enjoyable manner. His coaching helped me develop new personal and professional insights and I would recommend him every time for anyone interested in this important exercise.”

Dr. James Januzzi

Hutter Family Professor, Harvard Medical School; Cardiologist, Massachusetts General Hospital;
Senior Faculty, Baim Institute; Trustee, American College of Cardiology