“Leading A National Success”

Dr. Lynette Scherer is a trauma surgeon who spent the first 15 years of her career at UC Davis Medical Center, a large academic training program where she rose through the rank of Professor of Surgery. During her time in academia, Dr. Scherer served as the Residency Program Director, where she developed her skills at identifying specific traits that made people a good fit for the program. During her many years at UC Davis, Dr. Scherer also served as the Chief of Trauma and Emergency Surgery and it was through these experiences, she developed a keen sense of how to build functional teams.

During this time, she developed a research interest in standardizing care across the Trauma and Emergency service line – which is associated with improved patient outcomes.

As a recognized educator and national trauma expert, Dr. Scherer was invited to Afghanistan by the United States Air Force to evaluate the trauma system's functioning during the war in Afghanistan.

As she transitioned to the private sector, Dr. Scherer brought her academic experience to the community hospital setting, along with a balance of business sense and clinically sound decision-making that has helped SAMGI flourish and become the “gold standard” in trauma care across a multitude of service lines. As an expert in the American College of Surgeons Trauma Center Verification process, as well as identifying the necessary skills that make surgeons a good fit for SAMGI’s team-based models, the leadership team built by Dr. Scherer has been successfully building SAMGI programs for the last 8 years. However, standardizing patient care is only half of the SAMGI secret sauce; inspiring the company’s surgeons to practice this way is the other half. An excellent communicator with a knack for motivating surgeons, Dr. Scherer can bring the team together in such a way that SAMGI’s standardized practices lead to excellent patient outcomes and reproduces their peer-reviewed and published performance. It is an unyielding commitment to clinical excellence in addition to these many other skills that have allowed Dr. Scherer to lead SAMGI to national success.

“I have always been a mentor and a teacher. So I hope that for both women and men, I have modeled behaviors that create expectations around success. First, one must expect excellence from themselves and their teams,” says Dr. Scherer. “An integral part of that process involves recognizing when you didn’t hit the mark. Rather than ascribing blame for the shortcoming, putting forth a solution to avoid similar outcomes in the future has always served me well.” Dr. Scherer has developed SAMGI into a solidly “grow our own” type of leadership company.

SAMGI is incredibly proud of the staff development that has taken place over the last 8 years. When “the right stuff” is identified, individuals are given the tools, support, and leadership direction to capitalize on their potential from the top down. They have had incredible success stories that include Trauma Medical Directors, Administrative Assistants, Credentialing Specialists, all grown from the ground up in SAMGI. Dr. Scherer is quick to call out when team members are achieving goals and reaching for goals that are a stretch for them, and then taking the extra step of inquiring if they are interested in pursuing a path that would allow them to grow into “the next” role.

“I have found that you don’t have to give up kindness to be an incredibly impactful and powerful leader. In reflection, I think one of the most important leadership qualities I possess is that I care about the people I work with – and they know that,” explains Dr. Scherer. “I find people are naturally motivated to give their best when they are appreciated, which I think as a woman is a natural sentiment.”

It is all about the patients for Dr. Scherer and everyone at SAMGI. Crossing the “50,000 patients served” threshold was a major milestone for them. For the days to come, Dr. Scherer and her team will continue to up their game as they move through this decade, focusing on ongoing refinements in their care, training future leaders, and ensuring their patients receive care from surgeons they would “pick” if they could. “I seek to develop the leadership team at SAMGI to the point where I work myself out of a job! Nothing is more satisfying than seeing your ideas and plans put in to action by others who add their own special twist on the idea.” WL