Dawn R. Crumel is Managing Counsel for Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is experienced in governance, compliance, physician compensation, physician practice acquisitions, clinical research, and health information technology. Previously, Dawn was counsel at Children’s National and University of Pennsylvania Health System. Her career started clerking for the New Jersey Supreme Court. Dawn is on the board of the Nashville General Hospital Foundation and served on the board of the American Health Law Association and the advisory board of the Health Law Reporter for Bloomberg BNA. She has an A.B. in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

How did you become an executive in the health care industry? Have you always been interested in health care?

Believe it or not, I chose health law in high school when I decided to study biomedical ethics after reading in the newspaper about the second man in the United States to obtain an artificial heart. I was fascinated by the varying perspectives on whether this person should obtain the heart and who made those decisions. I planned to go to law school and work at a hospital because all hospitals must have biomedical ethics committees. I have enjoyed a career in health care law because of how I am able to contribute to helping people.

AI is a hot topic across all industries, and healthcare is no exception. With your role in an academic medical system that emphasizes research and teaching, how do you foresee balancing innovation with potential risk when it comes to trends like machine learning?

I love working in academic medicine as I support innovation that changes patients’ lives. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an incredible disruptor that can improve the diagnosis and delivery of health care. Yet, there is risk of injury, bias, and privacy breaches from AI. Guardrails on AI need to concentrate on transparency and accountability as AI utilizes our data. In academic medicine, as protections for AI develop, we definitely are weighing the benefit to our particular research before we agree to include our data in AI.

Thanks for joining us at the 2023 WBL Summit in April! What was your favorite part of attending? Was there a key takeaway from one of the speaker sessions that stuck with you?

The speakers were phenomenal and provided lots of practical tools for self-reflection. I was especially impacted by Daphne E. Jones. During her opening keynote, she urged us to “define vision and suspend disbelief” and to “have environment be a part of you.” As I assess my goals, I find her words inspiring as I think out of the box, envisioning other phases of my career with a vision board.

Personally, or professionally, what might the WBL network be surprised to know about you?

Parlo l’italiano! I speak Italian! I was directly enrolled at the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy for my junior year of college. I took oral exams in Italian and have kept up with the wonderful language. I would love to retire in Italy and have a second career in the art business.