Expanding the Impact of Care: Dr. Nari Heshmati on Leadership and Medicine

For Dr. Nariman “Nari” Heshmati, healthcare has always been about people.

He began his career focused on patient care as an OB-GYN. Throughout his career, his leadership roles enabled him to influence how care is delivered across entire organizations. Today, he serves as chief physician and operations executive of Lee Physician Group in Southwest Florida.

This new scope of responsibility prompted Heshmati to reflect on the expanding influence leaders can have.

“As I advanced in my leadership roles, one of the things I realized is the impact you could have,” Heshmati shares. “Instead of on the 20 or 30 people I was seeing that day, on thousands of people at our organization.”

Seattle University’s Leadership Executive MBA, offered through the Albers School of Business & Economics, helped him build the skills needed to lead at that level while staying grounded in the mission that first drew him to medicine.

From Community Medicine to Healthcare Leadership

Heshmati’s leadership style has roots that reach back to childhood. He grew up in Florida in a family closely connected to healthcare and the realities of access to care.

“Healthcare was kind of a de facto,” he says. “My father was the public health department director in our county for like 30 years.”

Early exposure to healthcare shaped his sense of purpose and informed his training choices. After completing studies at the University of Florida, he joined the inaugural class at Florida State University’s College of Medicine.

The school’s model emphasized care grounded in local communities. For Heshmati, that approach became a foundation he carried forward.

“So instead of being based in a major academic center, it was community-based,” he explains. “How do you take care of your community?”

That question stayed with him through OB-GYN residency, then through his move to the Seattle area, where leadership roles became a natural next step.

Discovering Leadership in Healthcare

After completing residency training, Heshmati moved to the Seattle region to join a physician-owned medical group that later became part of Optum.

What began as clinical work gradually grew into broader responsibilities. Leadership opportunities expanded his role from patient care to overseeing teams of physicians and specialists.

With each step, he gained a wider perspective of how healthcare systems operate and how leadership decisions shape care delivery.

“When you get into those roles, you realize the impact you could have on thousands of people,” Heshmati emphasizes.

That realization sparked a new question. If leadership can expand the reach of care, what skills do physicians need to guide large healthcare organizations effectively?

What’s Driving Physicians to Pursue an MBA

Physicians often step into leadership roles while still grounded in clinical work. That shift can create new responsibilities that call for a different approach to training—a path also reflected in stories like Dr. Monika Wells’ MBA journey into healthcare leadership.

Closing the Business Knowledge Gap

Medical training equips physicians with the skills needed to diagnose illness and care for patients. Leadership roles require an additional layer of knowledge that often falls outside traditional medical education.

“We're taught to identify diseases. We're taught to treat people. We're taught to operate,” Heshmati explains. “But you're not really taught to look at a pro forma or a business case.”

As his responsibilities grew, he sought a better understanding of business functions, such as finance and operational strategy, to help evaluate programs and allocate resources for thousands of patients.

“I became pretty settled on the fact that an MBA would be the best route,” he says.

When exploring programs, he looked for one that connected business knowledge with the values that drew him to healthcare in the first place.

Business Education Grounded in Purpose

For Heshmati, the decision focused on learning business fundamentals in a program that reflected his values in healthcare.

Mission-Driven Learning

The Leadership Executive MBA at Albers stood out because it places business education within a broader mission.

“What really attracted me to Seattle University was that they put it in the context of how you would run a business,” says Heshmati. “They teach you how to do well with the economics, but also make a positive impact.”

Learning to Analyze Complex Decisions

The coursework also strengthened Heshmati’s ability to evaluate financial data and strategic decisions.

Before the program, financial projections felt disconnected from clinical work, but the MBA built his confidence with these tools.

“Now I look at that spreadsheet, I have a lot of questions,” Heshmati explains. “What were our inputs? How did that look?”

The ability to analyze data and ask deeper questions has become essential in his leadership role, where decisions often involve evaluating new care models or redesigning operational processes.

Studies support that physician executive education, including MBAs, enhances healthcare leadership and decision-making. A systematic review of physician executive education found that MBA training can strengthen organizational decision-making within healthcare systems.

Turning Insight into Healthcare Innovation

The lessons Heshmati gained through business education are most evident in the work he leads now. In Southwest Florida, he focuses on care models that can scale while remaining patient-centered.

Projects that Improve Patient Outcomes

Today, Heshmati uses clinical and business expertise to shape programs that improve patient care.

Many of these initiatives focus on prevention and chronic disease management. When reviewing data within his organization, he identified an opportunity to intervene earlier with patients living with poorly controlled diabetes.

The team developed a coordinated care program to better support patients.

Participants receive care from specialists, including:

• Dieticians
• Clinical pharmacists
• Long-term disease management teams

“We dropped the hemoglobin A1C in these patients between one and a half to two points,” Heshmati says.

The impact, however, goes far beyond clinical metrics.

“Statistically, we have added probably three years of life expectancy to that,” he explains. “Thinking about the times of the holidays, we added three more holidays with their families.”

These initiatives require careful financial planning to ensure they are sustainable and scalable, particularly given the challenges of aligning limited resources with long-term patient outcomes.

“You can actually construct the business case there to show that by doing the right thing, it actually doesn't lose money,” Heshmati emphasizes.

Expanding the Reach of Health Education

Heshmati has also explored ways to extend health education beyond the clinic.

Through his YouTube channel, “DrNari,” he answers common medical questions in short videos designed to help patients better understand their care.

“I found I'd have a lot of the same discussions with people,” Heshmati shares. “I thought, I wish there was a way I could get this information out in a wider format.”

Digital platforms created that opportunity.

“It's a tool that gives you a wider audience,” he explains. “That ability to magnify that impact was important to me.”

Balancing Impact and Sustainability

Healthcare leaders often balance financial realities with patient needs. Heshmati believes both goals are achievable.

“You can be successful in business while making a positive impact on society,” Heshmati shares.

The Leadership Executive MBA emphasizes that same balance. The program integrates rigorous business education with leadership development to prepare professionals to guide organizations responsibly in complex environments.

For healthcare organizations, that perspective can shape how leaders allocate resources and design systems that serve patients over the long term. Leaders who understand clinical care and operations are often better positioned to guide organizations through change.

Expanding Healthcare’s Impact

As his career has progressed, Heshmati has continued to seek ways to expand the reach of healthcare programs and services.

His work often focuses on identifying opportunities to improve operational processes that strengthen patient outcomes while supporting the sustainability of healthcare organizations.

This approach reflects a shift happening across the healthcare industry. Leaders are increasingly exploring ways to:

• Improve preventive care
• Expand access to services
• Develop models that support long-term health

For Heshmati, leadership offers the chance to shape those systems in ways that benefit patients and communities.

Leadership Lessons for the Next Generation

As he reflects on his path from clinical practice to executive leadership, Heshmati offers simple advice for professionals considering leadership development opportunities within healthcare:

“Do it,” he says.

Healthcare systems face growing challenges that require thoughtful leadership. That work can be demanding, yet it also creates opportunities to improve the delivery of care.

“If you find the right organization and you’re able to make that positive impact, the good is always going to outweigh the bad,” Heshmati shares.

Experiences like these reinforce why mission-driven leadership matters. Healthcare programs and systems ultimately shape the lives of real people. Leaders who understand both medicine and management can help ensure those systems work for the communities they serve.

The Albers School of Business & Economics strives to create professionals ready to lead that charge.

Explore Seattle University’s Leadership Executive MBA program.