Catalyzer Partner Hosts Feagin Forum at Duke University
Lansing, Kansas – July 2, 2025: As one of Catalyzer’s partners, board members, and senior facilitators, Joe Doty, PhD, helps craft strategy and deliver content for not just Catalyzer but another a national leadership organization. As the executive director of the Feagin Leadership Program at Duke University, Dr. Doty also prepares dozens of medical students, resident and fellows to develop their skills as not just world-class health care providers but as attentive leaders.
“The Feagin Program runs 9 months and covers emotional intelligence, teamwork, integrity, service, critical thinking and other patient-centered skills,” Doty said. “The experience includes executive coaching, team projects, didactic sessions, and guest speakers – all culminating in May. That’s when participants present their projects amid panel discussions, breakouts, and guest speakers during the Feagin Forum, a 2-day conference that this year included 200 participants.”
This year’s presentations drew leadership lessons from diverse and surprising topics: adversity, storytelling, near-peer teaching, anonymous reporting, and the digital environment. “Past topics have included COVID-19, vaccines, reproductive rights, and other challenges with mis- and disinformation,” he said.
The Feagin Program is named for West Point graduate John Feagin, a world-renowned orthopedic surgeon whose life also included significant work as a humanitarian and compassionate leader.
“The success of the forum and the program overall owes to two things,” Doty said: “1. Rock-star guest speakers, and 2. High-quality participants and projects.”
Guest speakers come from sports, business, the military, and legal experts, as well as health services professionals. This year’s headliners were Honorable Susan M. Gordon, former principal deputy director of National Intelligence; Robert Califf, MD, former FDA commissioner; Lt. Gen (retired) Ed Cardon, former director of the Army’s Office of Business Transformation and former commander of the Army’s Cyber Command; and Nina King, vice president, director of athletics and adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University.
“The medical school-residency-fellowship path is a high-speed train ride for up to 10 years,” Doty said, “full of complex, detailed information, including the Krebs cycle, anatomy/physiology, and clinical procedures.”
“And yes, those subjects and many others are absolutely necessary for producing competent physicians,” he said.
“But not sufficient.”
“There are also critical topics traditional medical education does not cover, including leadership, teamwork, emotional intelligence, communication, and humanitarianism,” he said.
Benefits of the Feagin Program extend from doctors to patients and to generations who follow. One alumna said it was “the most valuable experience during 10 years of medical education.”
“Overwhelmingly, our alumni tell us that the Feagin Program has been transformative, nothing like what they get during the traditional curriculum,” he said. “Improving mindfulness (self-awareness and self-management) helps physicians avoid burnout. Additionally, focusing on teamwork means better outcomes for patients – and the scrub techs, nurses, and family members who support them.”
But perhaps the best recommendations for the Feagin program come in the form of similar initiatives that Feagin alumni are starting up around the country: Virginia Tech, University of New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania, and the Mayo Clinic.
“Graduates of our program say they are different kinds of doctors – better listeners, better leaders, more present, more compassionate – than if they hadn’t participated,” Doty said.
Catalyzer is a Kansas-based, veteran-owned small business that believes servant leadership drives success and changes the world for the better. “We live out that conviction by offering tailored leadership development programs, one-on-one coaching, integral assessments, and studies that help you better understand your people and their place in your organization,” said President and CEO Steven Ingalls.
Since its inception, Catalyzer has produced and led more than 600 separate programs across diverse industry sectors, developing 17,000+ leaders nationwide. Organizations served include law enforcement, union/non-union manufacturing companies, community banks and their associations across nine states, engineering companies, and non-profits. Prominent organizations include McDonald’s, Utility Trailer Manufacturing, Tindall Corporation, Trideum Corporation, and Scouting USA.