Why Every Future Doctor Needs an Engineering Degree (ft. Lev Gonick)

**Ed Marx** (0:00)
Health care providers are going to need to know how to prompt AI. They're gonna need to know how all that works because that's the future of medicine.

**Lev Gonick** (0:09)
That is a mark of great leadership. When everyone else is figuring out how to just survive, you're figuring out actually how to pivot to what comes next. We are the largest public university in the country with almost 194,000 students. We measure our success by how they succeed, not how the institution, quote unquote, succeeds by being the elite. All of us as CIOs need to find mission that aligns to our personal values. Our networks, as I say, our net worth is really our network. It's the network of humans, people we try to hopefully support and launch on their careers going forward.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:47)
Welcome to DGTL Voices, where healthcare and life science leaders explore the real work behind transformation. This podcast is about people, leadership, and the conversations that move healthcare forward. Now, your host, Ed Marx.

**Ed Marx** (1:02)
Hey, it's Ed. Welcome to another edition of DGTL Voices. So excited about this episode because I have a long time friend, Lev Gonick, joining us. Lev, welcome to DGTL Voices.

**Lev Gonick** (1:12)
Great to see you and thanks for having me on your program.

**Ed Marx** (1:15)
Lev, I was trying to think back how long we've known each other. It's the early 2000s, right? When did you get to Cleveland?

**Lev Gonick** (1:21)
25 years ago. So we're in our quarter century of knowing each other, you're Ed.

**Ed Marx** (1:26)
We look just the same. We're just the most handsome man that has ever lived and our wives are super lucky. I know I've told you this before, but I just want my entire audience to know. I became who I was as CIO in large part to you. I owe a lot, a large to you. So I was this man wet behind the ears. No one mentored me because of how I became a CIO, and I just fell into the position.
Then you were like, you had been a CIO for a while, I think someplace else, if not a case.

**Lev Gonick** (1:56)
California, yeah, I've been in California.

**Ed Marx** (1:59)
So I was just watching you, and you were doing these cool things, and I just stole from you. I was like, oh, that's cool. I guess you should partner with vendors as one silly example. Because a lot of people, CIOs, oftentimes it's adversarial, but you were like partnering and doing things, enjoying it. So I was just taking notes in how you worked with your customers, how you worked with executives. I was like, I just became a sponge. And so you were informally mentoring me. And so I'm always so thankful. And so I want to share you with my audience, like this is the CIO who's still super active. And also you're still leading the way today, Lev. I still copy from you. So it's not like it just happened 25 years ago. I watch you and what you're doing in Arizona, and higher education.
You're just an amazing person and leader. So anyways, I just want to say thank you.

**Lev Gonick** (2:50)
Thanks, Ed. Very gratified, as you may not know, but you were one of my CIO heroes, and I don't have that many. And so glad to know that somewhere along the way, I managed to turn a light bulb on for you.

**Ed Marx** (3:03)
Yeah, and we'll have all your contact information and show notes, and you also produce a lot of content and just a person full of wisdom, so people should definitely follow you. And so that's sort of how we first met, way back when, but the most important question that we have, Lev, is what are the songs on your playlist? Like, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

**Lev Gonick** (3:20)
I've always been a jazz guy, and so I moved between sort of the classics. You know, I'm a Thelonious monk, kind of crazy guy, and I love Miles. I love that whole sort of early 50s, 60s genre, that period of Miles and Thelonious and many others, 50s, 60s.
And, you know, I love contemporary female jazz vocalists. I love Candice Springs. I was just listening to her playlist this morning. She's out of Kansas City, and she's just one of my favorite female artists. It's a great jazz scene here in Phoenix, so I get to see a lot of great talent.

**Ed Marx** (4:00)
Oh, that's awesome. Next time I'm there, because I don't know if you know or not, but my dad lives in Scottsdale. He moved there in the last couple years.