Alumni Corner

The Art and Business of Medicine

Dr. T. Jann Caison-Sorey, MD, MSA, MBA, FAAP, ‘12

You might ask why a successful physician would want an MBA. As Dr. Jann Caison-Sorey tells it, “I’m a physician and, as an MD, you master the art of medicine. But medicine is also a business.”

Caison-Sorey is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of New York at Buffalo. She did her post graduate medical training at Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center, a primary teaching hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York where she started her practice in pediatrics and adolescent medicine. Soon after she was recruited and relocated to Detroit to practice her specialty at Henry Ford Health System. She and colleagues built and grew HFH’s adolescent medicine specialty practice after which she was appointed division head, Primary Care Pediatrics, and chief of Adolescent Medicine – Detroit Campus.

Dr. Caison-Sorey teaching.

Things moved rather quickly for Caison-Sorey as she was next offered an opportunity to join Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) in 2000 as Medical Services Physician Quality Lead Consultant. She accepted this role and reduced but kept her clinical practice and privileges at HFH. During her tenure there, she held several physician executive positions. “I realized that I needed to learn skills they don’t teach you in med school like fundamentals of marketing, macro and microeconomics, leadership, financial analysis, communication strategies, and more,” she said, “When you reach the limit of your knowledge, you must go to find the missing pieces.”

This realization is what brought her to LTU’s Master of Business Administration program from which she graduated in 2012. “Lawrence Tech was an amazing school and with an amazing MBA program --it was the best choice for me,” she said. She had knowledgeable professors with credentials as well as actual work experience in their fields of expertise. They taught her business law, operations, the importance of supply chain management, marketing/customer perceived value, strategic leadership, navigating budget sheets, etc.

She said she needed to understand these skills as an executive running a business unit. “You must lead by example,” said Caison-Sorey. Customer service and communication are critical in any medical and business practice. The bottom line, “connect with your patients as well as your business partners in a way they can fully comprehend.” She said, “you have better business relationships and patient health outcomes when you fully prepare yourself and always respect those you engage with.”

Caison-Sorey is a member of the College of Business and IT’s Advisory Board, and she says, “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to give back to LTU for what it’s given me.”

A board-certified physician in Pediatrics, Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Detroit Medical Academy, and Diplomat of the American Board of Pediatrics, she retired from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in 2021. Caison-Sorey is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Wayne State University, School of Medicine, and teaching faculty at Michigan State University, School of Human Medicine in addition to her roles as a board member and current secretary for the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) and MSMS Delegate to the American Medical Association.

by Renée Ahee