Dr. Fleming has used personal experiences — gained from nearly three decades as a practicing orthopedic surgeon who also ran hospital committees and trained future doctors — and professional training — including an MBA degree — to create a pioneering master’s degree program at UT Dallas that rigorously equips students — with or without a background in healthcare — to efficiently and effectively manage the business side of healthcare, an industry that represents 15 percent of the DFW economy.
Dr. Fleming has demonstrated leadership by creating a degree program that responds to the local healthcare industry’s need for well-trained management professionals who understand and can run the business side of their ventures. Healthcare is the second-largest employer in the DFW area and adds $52 billion annually to the regional economy.
In launching and running the highly successful MS in Healthcare Management program, Dr. Fleming has cultivated relationships with leading doctors, researchers, hospital administrators and other healthcare professionals, as well as with business people, educators and politicians. Some of these people serve as advisers to the healthcare management program and help keep it attuned to industry needs. Some mentor or hire students. Others respond as classroom speakers and conference participants. All commit because of Dr. Fleming’s efforts to make healthcare management an engaging, interesting and responsive field.
To this same end, Dr. Fleming started and serves as adviser to the university’s Healthcare Management Club. The club’s first president, an MS in Healthcare Management graduate, begins medical school this fall.
With the 2012-2013 academic year, Dr. Fleming begins a new initiative, to make UT Dallas the go-to center for North Texas small and medium-size businesses looking for help in responding to changes wrought by national healthcare reform legislation.
Dr. Fleming is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a Fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, a member of the business honorary Beta Gamma Sigma, a member of Sigma Iola Epsilon and a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society.
