The Biotech Startups Podcast 🧬 No Margin, No Mission: The Business Truth Healthcare Leaders Must Accept | Amy Hay (Part 1/4)
Jan 5, 2026
33:44
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"If you work hard and you try hard, you'll get there. It might take a long time. It might be a little bit bloody, and you might be battered, but you'll get to the top of the mountain. You just have to work hard."
In this episode of The Biotech Startups Podcast, we explore Amy Hay's formative years and the experiences that shaped her unique approach to healthcare leadership. From caring for her grandparents through dementia in Dallas to landing her first job at MD Anderson Cancer Center on the same day as its new president, Amy's journey reveals how personal crisis, liberal arts education, and unwavering resilience can forge a distinctive path in oncology and biotechnology.​
Amy shares how her father's advice to "behave as if you're in your next job" transformed her approach to work, starting from her role as a receptionist where she learned to never say no—only how. She recounts her unconventional college application using a photo essay documenting individuals at a Dallas food bank on Thanksgiving, her child life internship at Santa Rosa Hospital, and how these experiences taught her that meaningful healthcare careers extend far beyond clinical roles. Amy also discusses the critical balance between the business of healthcare and patient care, explaining how her decision to pursue a Master's in Healthcare Administration while working full-time at MD Anderson gave her real-world context to apply theoretical knowledge immediately.
Key topics covered:
- Early Healthcare Exposure: How caring for grandparents with dementia and watching her parents navigate crisis sparked a lifelong passion for supporting people through difficult times
- Artistic Business Thinking: Blending her mother's artistic creativity with her father's business acumen to create novel collaborations and partnerships that shouldn't work on paper but become exceptional
- Liberal Arts Foundation: Using photography and psychology at Southwestern University to understand people deeply, culminating in a child life internship that revealed non-clinical healthcare pathways
- Building Reputation Through Service: Starting as an MD Anderson receptionist in 1996, learning every system, and becoming the go-to problem solver by always saying yes and figuring out how
- No Margin, No Mission: Recognizing the symbiotic relationship between healthcare business economics and quality patient care, leading to graduate education while maintaining full-time work
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Subscribe to the Podcast:
Find our guest, Amy Hay at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amychay/
Website: https://ctmc.com/
Find our host, Jon Chee, at these links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonchee
Learn more about Excedr:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/excedr/
Website: https://www.excedr.com
Intro & Outro Songs Created by OkKyojin, Owned by Excedr:
Website: https://flow.page/kyojin
Resources & Articles:
Child Life Specialist Role and Training:
Child Life Specialists in Cancer Care:
Companies, Universities, & People mentioned:
MD Anderson Cancer Center: https://www.mdanderson.org/
Southwestern University: https://www.southwestern.edu/
Santa Rosa Hospital: https://www.christushealth.org/locations/santa-rosa-hospital-westover-hills
Houston Baptist University: https://www.hbu.edu/
​Dr. John Mendelsohn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mendelsohn_(doctor)
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
05:13 Amy’s upbringing and early passion for helping people
08:08 The “behave as if you’re in your next job” philosophy
09:23 Influence of Amy’s artist mother and business-minded father
11:22 College journey and the photo essay application
16:25 Internship as a child life specialist at Santa Rosa Hospital
17:40 Undergraduate experience and influential professors
20:05 First day at MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1996
25:34 Learning the business of healthcare and “no margin, no mission”
27:26 Bridging research, clinical care, and business
29:01 Graduate school experience at Houston Baptist University
31:45 Outro
The Biotech Startups Podcast gives you a front-row seat to the business and science of building a biotech. Hosted by Jon Chee, CEO of Excedr, the show features honest conversations with founders, execs, and investors about their work, their companies, and how they got there. From scientific breakthroughs to startup lessons, each episode explores what it really takes to grow a life science company—from pre-seed to IPO.