Dr. John McCracken, a clinical professor in the Naveen Jindal School of Management and founder/director of the Alliance for Physician Leadership, retired Feb. 1 after more than 28 years of exemplary service. A retirement celebration was held that day. Guests included APL alumnus and former U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, MS’2000, as well as many of McCracken’s current and former colleagues and students, all of whom agree that Dr. McCracken’s impact on them — and the healthcare industry — has been profound.
APL is an umbrella term for various Executive Education graduate degree programs (EMBA, MS, EMBA/MS double degree) in the Jindal School that are designed with physicians in mind, Originally known as the Alliance for Medical Management Education, its first class of physicians graduated in 2000. The name was changed in 2018, McCracken said, to reflect the program’s long-standing emphasis on the development of effective physician-led organizational leadership. Since most healthcare organizations operate as businesses, but medical schools rarely teach business skills, the program was designed to fill that gap.
“Today, over 75% of doctors are employed by a corporate entity,” McCracken said.
As the oldest continuous University-based physician leadership program in the U.S. that leads to an MBA, the APL is in a league of its own, said Dr. Paul Convery, an M.D. and clinical professor in the Jindal School.
“When John first developed the program in the 1990s, there were a few other major universities that had physician-only MBA Programs,” he said. “They have all since either ceased or had significant interruptions. At the time, the concept of physicians as business partners and leaders in healthcare, aside from academics, was relatively new. Physicians had always been in leadership roles as department heads, leaders of groups and medical staff leaders in hospitals, but the new models of healthcare as a business, including hospital mergers, acquisitions of physician groups by non-physician healthcare entities and the increased role of healthcare insurance companies as ‘managed care’ called for a new skill set for physicians to acquire. John provided the answer.”
McCracken said he is proud that the program has gained a national reputation, attracting senior physicians from 28 states, and has become selective with a 12-18 month waiting list.
“Probably the most satisfying thing for me, though, has been the opportunity to remain in touch over the years with many of the more than 530 physician graduates,” he said. “They occasionally reach out with updates on their careers and to discuss thoughts on how to deal with challenges they may be facing.”
Dr. Omesh Singh, a doctor of internal medicine and the associate chief medical officer of the Centre for Neuroskills and chairman of the board of TIOPA, Inc., graduated from the APL with an MBA in 2024. He said McCracken has a thought-provoking approach that, for him, went beyond the fundamentals of business.
“He showed me how to integrate these principles into my journey as a medical leader,” Singh said. “Dr. McCracken has dedicated his life and expertise to cultivating an environment that not only sharpened my skills but also helped me see the leader within myself — one I hadn’t fully recognized before. Through his mentorship, I’ve gained a strong foundation and an invaluable network, equipping me to navigate the complexities of my career with confidence. From refining my speaking and organizational skills to becoming proficient in financial statements, Dr. McCracken’s guidance has transformed me — both professionally and personally. I am forever grateful.”
McCracken said the APL was started to teach practicing physicians not just business and administrative skills, but also leadership. The success of the program, he said, has been the result of the hard work and dedication of an outstanding faculty.
“We’ve tried to instill in our students the importance of attitudes and behaviors — and not just clinical competency — in leadership success,” he said. “Personal autonomy and clinical skills are core values of physicians, but leadership success in a physician organization requires above all the consent and cooperation of the doctors. That is very much influenced by a leader’s attitudes and behaviors.”
One of his students is Julie Riley, MD, FACS, professor of urology, Hal Reed Black Endowed Chair of Urology, urology residency program director and vice chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, in Little Rock, Ark. She will graduate in May with an MBA/MS double degree.
“From participation with Dr. McCracken and the APL program, I have learned to be more effective in communication with staff, colleagues, and trainees,” she said. “I have created an entire curriculum to the practice of medicine that incorporates many of the business principles learned over my time at UT Dallas. The program has also taught me strong purpose and direction in my career, and I can see the path I need to be on to achieve my goals.”
One of the biggest challenges McCracken’s physician students have faced when learning to navigate the business side of healthcare is acquiring the soft leadership skills of influence, negotiation and motivating others.
“We’ve had the benefit of excellent program faculty who have been able to successfully help our graduates develop those skills, as is evidenced in their post-graduation success.” McCracken said. “The majority have gone on to senior leadership roles in the nation’s hospitals, health systems, managed care organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and even the U.S. Congress.”
Convery said that, over the years, the physician leaders that have been through the APL have gone on to success in every area of healthcare from academic institutions to nationally recognized healthcare executives to becoming successful entrepreneurs.
“I have had the privilege of working with John for the past 10 years and every day, I am impressed by his vision, his integrity, his work ethic and his tireless dedication,” Convery said. “He is truly one of a kind and will be always remembered at the Jindal School as the originator of healthcare as a management track in the school.”
Riley said that McCracken has left an impact on all of his students.
“The students have true emotion on the lasting change that the program and John have left on us,” she said. “We each have a community of physicians to collaborate, support and challenge each other to influence the healthcare environment. For me personally, this spreads to the residents I train, the students I inspire and my fellow colleagues that I work with every day to give hope to a struggling healthcare system. I can thank APL and Dr. John McCracken (with his other faculty) for this.”
Don Taylor, a professor of practice in the Jindal School, was hired as APL director in 2022 when McCracken decided to step down and focus his efforts on teaching and mentoring.
“John has been right there, supportive of me throughout the journey, even in his first transition from director of the program, then into his faculty role, and now in his supporting role,” Taylor said. “He’s been very good about supporting my decisions as I try to navigate the changes in the industry. We now have different generations of physicians, different demographics of physicians, much different than when John started.”
Taylor said that he does not think even McCracken envisioned what the program would become when he started it.
“We are so unique amongst the physician graduate space and I’m talking business education in leadership development,” Taylor said. “Sometimes when people ask me what this program is all about, I say we’re a physician leadership program that, oh, by the way, gives an MBA as well. And the docs resonate with that.”
Taylor said that he is seeing more and more APL graduates wanting to give back to the program and volunteer whenever they can because of the way the program has impacted their lives.
“We create physician leaders who want to lead for the right reasons,” Taylor said. “People who leave the program have changed. One of the things that we have recently done is when they graduate from the residential program, the last moment of the last day of their last class, they have to give a testimonial to the class about what changed within them. We’ve had them breakdown in tears. We’ve had them put the whole class in tears about the transformation in their lives. When a doc stands up and says, ‘I’m a better doc, but more than that, I’m a better father and a better husband,’ well, those things make a difference.”
McCracken, whose title changed to clinical professor emeritus on Feb. 1, said he plans on staying engaged with the APL program, sitting in on classes as a support faculty member and helping in any way he can.
“For fun, I enjoy playing racquetball and trading credit spread options,” he said. “Now, in retirement, I’m looking forward to having more time for both.”
