Dr. Meena Seshamani is Maryland's Secretary of Health, appointed by Governor Wes Moore in April 2025 and the first Indian American to hold the post. She is a head and neck surgeon with a doctorate in health economics, helped pass and implement the Affordable Care Act in the Obama administration, and ran Medicare in the Biden administration.
She explains:
◼️ How one econ class turned a future pediatrician into a surgeon and health economist
◼️ Why she paused her surgical residency for two years to work on the Affordable Care Act
◼️ What it took to stand up Medicare drug price negotiation, through multiple lawsuits
◼️ The advice from Secretary Sebelius she still lives by: "There are people who do half as much as you do and talk about it twice as much"
◼️ The one question that makes her a better boss: "What homework do you have for me?"
◼️ How Maryland's vaccine law works, and why people trust neighbors, faith leaders and pharmacists over websites
◼️ Why being a single parent never held her back, and what it will take to get more women into leadership
◼️ The question she stopped asking, and the one she asks instead: "What if I can?"
00:00 Trailer
00:41 Intro
01:40 From pediatrician to economist to head and neck surgeon
04:12 Leaving residency to write the Affordable Care Act
07:20 The patient who would call the president
08:08 How she decides between two doors
09:39 "Half as much, twice as much"
11:29 Be a good person to work for
13:30 "What homework do you have for me?"
15:08 Vaccines and Maryland's new law
18:24 Earning back trust
20:23 Hard calls and who she turns to
21:24 Medicare's first drug price negotiation
24:32 Blind spots in big decisions
25:05 "I would follow you into battle"
26:10 Getting more women into leadership
28:55 "What if I can?"
Inspiring Women with Laurie McGraw: conversations with women leaders in health, technology and business.
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