Episodes

  • Reigniting Education Journeys with a Personalized Approach: Terah Crews, Chief Executive Officer at ReUp Education

    Reigniting Education Journeys with a Personalized Approach: Terah Crews, Chief Executive Officer at ReUp Education
    May 28 2026
    "In many ways, they're worse off than people who had never gone to school at all." That's how Terah Crews describes the 43 million Americans who hold some college credit but no degree because they’re often saddled with debt and lacking economic opportunity. The company she leads, ReUp Education, is focused on reconnecting these “stop outs” to their education journey by working with institutions to reduce the friction points to re-entry and by using personalized, long-term outreach that meets people where they are. “Everybody has their unique journey back. Some are going to come back relatively quickly. Others will need time to reorganize their life to get ready to take that step back to school,” she explains. ReUp’s results in states like New Jersey and Michigan suggest the approach is working, but Crews realizes more needs to be done to change the institutional policies that drove people away in the first place. “It's a journey we're on to make our higher education system more aligned to the adult learner.” In this hopeful conversation with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, you’ll also hear about the policies Crews singles out as surprisingly stubborn barriers to adult re-enrollment and why AI’s ascendance may accelerate interest in continuous learning.
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    24 mins
  • Dr. Zakiya Ellis, Principal Consultant at EducationCounsel: Why Higher Ed Needs Firefighters and Architects in the Age of AI

    Dr. Zakiya Ellis, Principal Consultant at EducationCounsel: Why Higher Ed Needs Firefighters and Architects in the Age of AI
    May 13 2026
    Surveys of college faculty about the challenges posed by AI show their concerns, understandably, center on academic integrity, but today’s guest suggests the larger challenge to higher ed is happening outside the classroom: AI disruption in the workplace. "If entry-level jobs are being abruptly taken apart by AI, how do we think about what higher ed should be doing to integrate experiential learning into the curriculum so students get some knowledge base before graduating,” says Dr. Zakiya Ellis, whose experience in the field ranges from the White House to state government to K-12 schools. But, as she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, expanding experiential learning in higher ed will require incentives for employer participation and clarifying the sector’s mission as preparing students for success in work and in life, not just helping them earn credentials, both of which are tough assignments. This thoughtful discussion also covers what Ellis means by needing both "firefighters” and “architects" in higher education; her student-centered vision for what post-secondary access could look like; and the main public policy challenges facing college leaders.

    Mentioned in this episode: “A Girl Is No One” Substack
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    26 mins
  • Dr. Joshua Travis Brown, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Education: How Higher Education Went From Mission-Driven to Margin-Obsessed

    Dr. Joshua Travis Brown, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Education: How Higher Education Went From Mission-Driven to Margin-Obsessed
    Apr 8 2026
    Market competition and the consequences of federal education policy have fundamentally changed our system of higher education and distorted the values of mission-driven schools. That's the stark reality depicted by Dr. Joshua Travis Brown of the Johns Hopkins School of Education in his book, Capitalizing on College: How Higher Education Went From Mission-Driven to Margin-Obsessed, which we’ll be exploring on today's episode of WorkforceRx. The deeply researched book draws on 150 in-person interviews with leaders at religious institutions to detail the non-traditional strategies they pursued to generate needed revenues, and analyzes what those choices mean for current and future students and the system at large. “It goes back to the moment where those institutions were about to close and the leaders said ‘we have to change in this moment of crisis. We've got to jettison norms and innovate.’” In this revealing interview with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, Dr. Brown shares candid conversations he had with leaders struggling with the tension between mission and margin. He also addresses the financially burdensome residential model and the case colleges need to make about the value of an on-campus experience, or getting a degree at all, in the age of AI. You’ll also hear why Dr. Brown thinks Americans have a distorted view of higher education, learn about the principles of innovation used by the schools that can apply to many types of organizations, and why he’s optimistic about the future of the sector.
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    38 mins
  • Dr. Andrea Austin, Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital: How to Create Changemakers in Healthcare

    Dr. Andrea Austin, Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital: How to Create Changemakers in Healthcare
    Mar 25 2026
    What characteristics do changemakers in healthcare have and how can the system cultivate more transformational leaders? As provider organizations grapple with a growing number of complex problems -- including physician burnout and increased demand for care -- there’s a growing sense of urgency to find answers to those questions. Our guest today, Dr. Andrea Austin, has been focused on that task, and on this enlightening episode of WorkforceRx, she shares the results of her research on changemaking and her insider’s perspective on how to encourage it based on her work as an emergency medicine specialist and medical educator. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, many physicians possess the creativity, persistence, sense of purpose and appetite for learning that define changemakers, but lack the environment in which to put those qualities to use. “Culture influences all of this. Organizations have to make sure that the work environment is one in which people can share their opinions and take risks. It is fundamental to changemaking.” This episode also explores key themes in Dr. Austin’s book, Revitalized: A Guidebook to Following Your Healing Heartline, which provides practical steps to overcoming burnout and creating a values-aligned medical career.
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    29 mins
  • Dr. Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College: Blurring Traditional Education Boundaries

    Dr. Pam Eddinger, President of Bunker Hill Community College: Blurring Traditional Education Boundaries
    Mar 11 2026
    Offering only one degree; developing a cloud computing program in collaboration with Amazon Web Services; working with high schools so students can earn an associate degree before graduation: these are examples of the kind of innovation community colleges must pursue to stay relevant to students and employers alike, according to our guest today, Dr. Pam Eddinger, president of Bunker Hill Community College. “This is where the next iteration of community college must be. We can’t just stay in a classroom. It doesn’t work that way anymore.” Those examples and others are included in the new book Dr. Eddinger is co-editing, Beyond the College Walls: Partnerships and the Future of Community College Reform, which is due out from Harvard Education Press in September, 2026. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, who contributed a chapter to the book, community colleges must work to blur the boundaries between high school, college, and careers and make it easier for students -- especially adult learners -- to gain the skills they need in ways that fit their lives. Join us for a forward-looking WorkforceRx conversation on how community colleges are reimagining pathways to economic mobility and building partnerships that connect students more directly to opportunity.
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    32 mins
  • David Zuckerman, President & CEO of Healthcare Anchor Network: Boosting the Local Economic Impact of Hospitals

    David Zuckerman, President & CEO of Healthcare Anchor Network: Boosting the Local Economic Impact of Hospitals
    Feb 25 2026
    “How do we leverage what we have more intentionally to have greater impact in our communities?” That purposeful question is posed and answered in this thought-provoking episode of WorkforceRx by David Zuckerman, president and CEO of the Healthcare Anchor Network (HAN), whose seventy health systems and 1,000 hospitals are committed to improving economic equity, vitality and community health through their hiring, purchasing and investment decisions. The approach is built on the acknowledgement that healthcare organizations, as well as institutions of higher education, are “anchors” of local economies due to the scale of their economic activity, and it is fueled by the appealing alignment of mission with good business practices. Join Futuro Health CEO Van Ton- Quinlivan as she explores the accompanying workforce development strategies, how to make the business case for this approach, and the importance of having internal champions at the executive level. And stay tuned to hear about innovative examples of HAN members in St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans and elsewhere that are reimagining the role health systems play in economic development.
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    42 mins
  • Teresa Chapman, Chief People Officer with Santa Clara Family Health Plan: Helping Employees Adjust to AI Disruption

    Teresa Chapman, Chief People Officer with Santa Clara Family Health Plan: Helping Employees Adjust to AI Disruption
    Feb 11 2026
    Even though use of artificial intelligence in the workplace has nearly doubled for US employees in the past two years, a recent Gallup poll found that only 22 % of companies have a clear, communicated strategy for integrating AI. On today's episode of WorkforceRx, we’re going to explore how organizations can help their employees adjust to AI disruptions and redefine their value in an AI context with Teresa Chapman, Chief People Officer with Santa Clara Family Health Plan, which serves over 300,000 members across California’s Santa Clara County. “We want to make sure to equip our employees to be expert users of a multitude of AI tools so that they have the confidence to evolve with the surrounding environment,” she shares. As Chapman tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, the company is also working to develop a “co-architecture” with employees and AI to achieve a symbiotic relationship that draws on the strengths of each and keeps the special attributes of humans in focus. “The future of work is going to really be more around problem solving and creativity and emotional intelligence and relationship building. It's going to be about understanding where the human fits in.” Don’t miss this timely look at how forward-thinking employers can maintain, and even strengthen, the human touch in healthcare and other sectors.
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    38 mins
  • Kaitlin Lemoine and Julian Alssid, Partners At Work Forces: Moving Workforce Development to the Center of Education

    Kaitlin Lemoine and Julian Alssid, Partners At Work Forces: Moving Workforce Development to the Center of Education
    Jan 28 2026
    “There are persistent and critical gaps between education and industry that hinder economic advancement and we share a belief that those gaps need to be bridged,” says Julian Alssid, summing up why he and his business partner, Kaitlin Lemoine, created Work Forces, a consulting company that serves stakeholders in those sectors and beyond. On this episode of WorkforceRx, they join Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan for an informative dialogue on how to create and sustain effective workforce development partnerships based on insights gained during their decades of work in the space. They also discuss trends they’re learning about in their client work and as co-hosts of the Work Forces podcast. “One thing that stands out is that workforce development for a long time felt kind of peripheral to education, and I think it’s more now than ever the center of things,” shares Kaitlin Lemoine. In this thoughtful conversation you’ll also learn about: • The biggest changes in preparing learners for work • Trends in skills-based learning • A promising shift toward regional initiatives • How AI is forcing clarity about the durable skills workers need. As you’ll hear from these nationally recognized experts, the pressure to get these relationships and programs right is growing as the pace of change in the workplace accelerates on a daily basis.
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    25 mins