In his previous role as president of Dell Seton Medical Center at The University of Texas at Austin, Messer oversaw a facility with 53,000 annual emergency department visits, 13,000 surgeries and 11,000 admissions, as stated in a news release.
He held responsibility for the graduate medical education programs, which trained nearly 450 resident and fellow physicians. During his tenure, the center expanded with 30 new beds and opened the region’s only neuro-critical care unit in Central Texas.
Describe your background and the steps you took along the way that led you to where you are today.
I was actually an EMT first in health care many years ago, over 20 years ago now. My first job in a hospital was as an operating room assistant and a scrub tech in the surgical services. I've led in different spaces from an operating room (OR) manager to an OR director, and then eventually to vice president of surgical services and chief operating officer in an academic medical center in Philadelphia prior to coming here. I also led all of the clinical service lines for an academic system in Philadelphia called Jefferson Health and then stepped into my first president role at Dell Seton back in January of 2023.
Is there a specific childhood memory which inspired you to pursue a career in the medical field?
Interestingly enough, my father is a retired police chief and my mom is a retired banker, so I didn't really have health care exposure early on. What I did have was a great sense of civic responsibility. ... Ultimately I became an EMT because EMT, police and fire are all very interrelated and when I say that I sort of started from a civic responsibility lens it was I was very curious about health care. ... I view health care through the lens of a pillar of society and I love leading through that lens. That all really came from my father and that sense of duty to a community.
Describe how your previous roles prepared you for this role as president.
More than anything, particularly in leadership, perspective is everything. You bring experience to a role, but I also think that you bring lived experiences. ...Having grown through a lot of different roles ... the more vantage points that you can see about the health care system and how we deliver care either as a patient from an experience perspective or as a provider or even as a leader, each role gives you a different look at the patient's experience and the provider's experience. ...It prepares you to deeply understand a very complex environment and to help navigate the challenges that that environment inevitably faces.
How would you describe the mission of Dell Children’s Medical Center?
Dell Children's is here to provide health care to the most vulnerable population in any population. ... I think as simply put as possible is that we're here to care for children and families. On the other side of that is that we're also a beacon of hope and healing. There're incredible stories in these walls, ones of resilience and overcoming issues and challenges. I think that while we deliver great care to those in need, we also are a symbol of health and wellness and resilience and vibrancy in our communities and that we serve both roles.
What are some goals you plan to accomplish in the near future?
I'd say in the near term, we're focused on just getting better every day. We understand our role as Austin's children's hospital. We understand our role of being the most comprehensive care provider for the pediatric population for kids and families. We understand that responsibility comes with the constant desire to improve and expand and to meet families where they are so that we can be the effective health care partner that we desire to be. ... We are constantly pursuing the betterment of the things we do and seeing what more we can do to provide better service.
