Njide Okonjo-Udochi, Founder & President, Summit Medical Group
Today, women comprise the majority of the healthcare industry. With their tremendous decision-making skills and intact determination, women leaders are considered a linchpin in the healthcare industry. One such exemplary women entrepreneur who has leveraged her experience in developing and transforming the healthcare industry with innovative strategies is Njide Okonjo-Udochi. Through her leadership, Njide has aptly exemplified how healthcare can thrive by having women at the helm.
Njide is the Founder and CEO of Summit Medical Group, a state-of-the-art, innovative medical practice in Columbia, MD. She says, “We pride ourselves on our highly trained and friendly physicians and staff who provide a variety of health care services for you and your entire family.”
The Journey So Far
Njide is an innovative leader with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and extensive healthcare industry experience. She is an MBA holder at Cornell University Johnson School of Business and did MS in Healthcare Policy and Research from Weill Cornell Medicine A Certificate in Global Health from Harvard Medical School. In addition, she has a Master’s in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Njide’s prior experience involves serving as the Medical Director for a Federally Qualified Health Centre: HealthCare for The Homeless. During her tenure, she has worked with leaders in various departments to build and create a Patient Centred Medical Home for patients and helped to improve compliance and health outcomes. “This significant improvement in my patients many of whom were extremely complicated impacted me positively and led me into founding a private practice in 2004,” shares Njide.
She is an inspirational leader whose goal is to try and replicate these same services in private practice and deliver a better patient experience, increased compliance, and health outcomes. Additionally, her family and father had a strong influence on Nijde emphasizing the importance of service to others.
Throughout her journey, Njide was a physician trained in medical care and well prepared to care for patients. However, as a minority female physician, she believes that there is little emphasis on the business of medicine.
Initially, obtaining a line of credit to start a business and getting credentialed was very difficult for Njide. It was also challenging to balance her personal life and solo practice simultaneously. Her intact determination has always helped Njide to be dauntless and plunge ahead.
She shares, ‘I sought mentors and was very fortunate to be mentored by an older family physician who guided me and helped me navigate many pitfalls successfully. Also, I joined my academy and became very active in learning from older physicians in practice. Keeping a positive mindset and having a can-do attitude helps.”
Words of Wisdom
Personally, Njide believes that true entrepreneurship is the ability to translate a vision into a business venture or service that provides significant value for patients/customers as well as a positive ROI (Return on Investment). It’s all about having a clear value proposition for customers that eventually propels you to move forward successfully. As a leader, she has a clear vision for the organization to be compassionate and empathetic to the team and ensure their voices are heard and valued. Diversity of opinion, agility, and innovation are very important to Njide.
In her advice to aspiring leaders, she says, “Have a clear vision you love, work hard, surround yourself with positive individuals and never give up. Consider failure as a learning tool and learn from it. Nothing succeeds like a success so keep at it.”
An Envisioned Future
Summit Medical Group is a team-oriented and customer-focused organization that recognizes the importance of innovation as a tool for improving the health of the patient population. With the team, Njide is making a difference in the lives of many patients and families and she believes that it is the key motivator for the entire team.
When discussing the future of the company, Njide mentions that she is planning to use Digital health as a tool to improve access and outcomes for patients, especially minority and immigrant patients. She is also constantly working hard on a platform for this segment and hopes to use it as a tool to decrease the inequities in health by improving care delivery to this patient population. Njide also aspires to mentor other physicians and medical and premedical students.
“I love being a physician and to make an impact in healthcare, especially at this time. I am on the front lines as a provider and also an administrator. I love healthcare so much that my son decided he wanted to become a physician and is one now. Working with my son to improve the lives of my largely immigrant patients and minority fulfills me,” concludes, Njide.