Bridging Healthcare and Leadership with Dr. Catherine Moya

I am the Chief Medical Officer of Broward HealthPoint, a network of community health centers serving South Florida, deeply committed to expanding access to high-quality, compassionate care for all.  Communication is the cornerstone of this mission; it unites people around a shared vision, builds trust, and turns purpose into sustained impact.

Collaboration lies at the heart of healthcare; transforming shared goals into meaningful outcomes for the communities we serve. I joined the Mastering Executive Communication program to strengthen my ability to align strategy with execution and to continue growing as a leader who inspires action through clarity, authenticity, and purpose.
 

After completing my MBA, I sought to further develop my leadership and business skills on a global stage, which led me to join Columbia Business School Executive Education’s Chief Executive Officer Program. As part of that journey, I selected Mastering Executive Communication as my elective, and to my surprise, it was a new course offered exclusively in Dubai. I was immediately excited by the opportunity to learn in such a dynamic, international setting.

The experience exceeded expectations. Collaborating with accomplished peers from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Greece, Spain, Germany, Pakistan, and Australia sparked an extraordinary exchange of ideas and perspectives. The Dubai setting amplified that global dimension, exposing me to diverse cultures and leadership styles that elevated the learning and made the program one of the most memorable experiences of my professional journey.
 

As a physician leader, I have seen firsthand how complex healthcare can be, where clinical, operational, and financial priorities often intersect and sometimes compete. Leading in this environment requires the ability to communicate effectively across departments, align diverse perspectives, and inspire collaboration around a shared, patient-centered mission.

Through the Mastering Executive Communication program, I wanted to strengthen my ability to bridge these worlds, translating clinical insight into strategic dialogue that drives organizational growth while keeping our focus on patients, communities, and long-term sustainability. For safety-net systems like ours, that balance is essential to remain relevant and continue fulfilling our mission of advancing equitable care.

The program reinforced that authentic leadership begins with self-awareness, understanding your strengths, and communicating with confidence and purpose. It taught me that leadership presence is strengthened not only by authority but by the ability to connect, listen, and inspire trust.

I also learned the value of engaging with leaders across functions and sectors, including clinicians, operations, finance, human resources, community organizations, and the board, which broadened my perspective and strengthened my ability to communicate with authenticity and empathy. I apply these same principles when communicating with patients, families, and community leaders, listening actively, building trust, and ensuring that complex information is conveyed with clarity and compassion.

Bruce Craven and Jeffrey Golde are exceptional educators, true experts in leadership communication. They encouraged us to step outside our comfort zones and use our full presence to communicate with authenticity, clarity, and impact. Their sessions reinforced the importance of connecting purpose with message and delivering it with intention.

I am already applying what I learned through this program. The exercises and peer collaboration helped me approach real-world leadership scenarios with openness and creativity, drawing insights from industries far beyond healthcare. As a result, I now lead with greater confidence and influence, whether presenting to the board, collaborating with clinicians and other departments, or communicating complex ideas with clarity and empathy.

The program challenged me to step outside my comfort zone and embrace new ways to grow. On Jeffrey Golde’s recommendation, I even enrolled in improv classes, an unexpected and genuinely fun experience that strengthened my confidence, spontaneity, and presence as a communicator.

Professionally, the program gave me the courage to take on new leadership responsibilities, including serving as Accountable Care Organization (ACO) President for Broward Health. In that role, I have drawn directly from the lessons of this program, communicating more effectively with both organizational physicians and community doctors, many of whom I was meeting for the first time, and leading discussions around financial performance and shared accountability. The experience helped me lead with greater authenticity, clarity, and purpose, bridging diverse perspectives to build trust and alignment across the healthcare system.

A defining moment was a class exercise on storytelling. I realized that the most impactful and memorable communicators are those who share stories that truly connect with others, stories that make you feel as if you are right there with them, able to visualize their experience and feel their message come to life.

Since then, I have used storytelling as a leadership tool to inspire action and strengthen alignment, especially in healthcare, where stories inspired by our patients and outcomes are among the most powerful ways to engage teams and motivate change. I have learned that storytelling can move people in ways numbers and metrics alone cannot, creating connection, shared purpose, and vision needed to drive strategic decisions and build the buy-in to continue serving patients and the community with excellence.

The Mastering Executive Communication program taught me that communication is at the heart of leadership, especially in healthcare, where leadership goes beyond strategy to touch lives and advance a mission greater than ourselves. It helped me bridge strategy with purpose, data with story, and teams with mission, skills that continue to shape how I lead every day.

More than anything, it strengthened my belief that authentic, purposeful communication can align people around a shared vision and drive meaningful, lasting impact for the patients and communities we serve.