Robert Gavora

vice president, MercyOne Iowa Heart Center

Age: 34

Education: Cornell University, master's in health administration; Washington College, Bachelor of Arts in economics

Wife: Sarah Gavora

Children: Hugh Gavora (3); Lee Gavora (6 months old as of March)

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Tell us four of your proudest accomplishments or accolades.

I’m willing to make tough decisions to protect my organization and ensure a good future for the patients we are humbled to serve — recently our organization moved one of our longstanding cardiovascular practices to a new locale after being in the previous location for roughly 25 years. This wasn’t an easy decision, but one which needed to be made to protect our organization’s future and ensure we can serve our patients now and going forward.    

I’m a “I won’t stop until the problem is solved" person. I’ve built my career helping solve problems and develop solutions that are sustainable for the long term. I’ve had leaders across many business mediums tell me that above all else, their primary job function is to develop solutions to problems that will help sustain their business. This input has stayed top of mind for me and something that I carry out every day, week and year in my career. My colleagues and those who report to me know I’m their resource for developing solutions to barriers that our teams encounter daily.  

The work myself and our team is accomplishing at MercyOne Iowa Heart Center is improving the health of our Central Iowa community and providing life-changing resources for patients that cannot be obtained anywhere else in the Des Moines metro. Our cardiovascular clinicians are involved in research trials for cutting-edge clinical technology, and our program offers select procedures and services that aren’t available at another institution in Central Iowa. 

I’ve worked in a multitude of business and operational roles within MercyOne and never say no to taking on a new task or project. This has helped propel my career as I’m someone who's not only accountable to my team but my organization as a whole — I'm a big believer that our organization needs to maximize its talent across multiple business units to ensure we achieve our desired outcomes as an organization.

What's your biggest passion, and why?

My biggest professional passion is working with physicians. My father is a physician, and I have an enormous amount of respect and gratitude for those who choose to become physicians and leaders in medicine. In my role with MercyOne Iowa Heart Center I partner with our 45 physicians to ensure we are leaders in cardiovascular medicine across Central Iowa and our state. I take pride in having our physicians view me as their leader/ally in the fight to help patients with cardiovascular disease and expand access to care.

How do you define success, both personally and professionally?

Personally: My pride and joy are my wife and two sons. Ensuring my kids are happy, have what they need in life and have the ability to do what they enjoy whether playing outside/sports, reading a book or just relaxing with me and my wife is success to me on a personal level. I also am very data driven and like quantifying my success, so I do a minimum of 75 pushups a day to try and stay in shape among other physical activities. Every day updating my log to show my pushup count helps me quantify my activity and success. 

Professionally: There are numerous quantifiable indicators that we use to measure our organization’s success and financial sustainability, but to me an equally as important indicator is the reception and feedback I receive from our physicians and clinical staff when I go and do rounds across our outpatient clinics and in our hospitals where our clinicians provide care. Small group or one-on-one discussion with a colleague at their place of work (not in my office) gives me the real insight I need to understand how our colleagues are really doing, and what I can do to better support them in their work. When I see someone smiling and enjoying their work, I know we are doing something right to help them in their role.

Tell us about an issue you think more people should know about.

The general public’s true understanding of our health care ecosystem across our country and locally across Iowa is very important, and frankly a concept that, without experiencing firsthand as a patient or a family member who is a patient, is hard to fully understand or appreciate. Our health care ecosystem in America is fundamentally flawed due to myriad reasons, but two ring supreme to me — that the entities that are profiting in health care aren’t those directly taking clinical care of patients, and that for-profit health insurance organizations make more money if their policyholders utilize less health care. I would hope all agree that our goal as a nation is to be healthier and live longer, but the fact that health insurers are incentivized financially to fund less overall care for patients is why we see certain medical services and procedures denied for payment by health insurance companies. This negatively affects the patient and the health care provider who provides medical services that patients need.

What's an experience or memory that influenced how you saw the world or what you wanted to do in life?

Growing up, my father was (and still is!) a primary care physician. He worked in private practice for 26 years, owning his own business with one other physician before their business became integrated with a large health system. Watching him not only take care of patients clinically but also sometimes become a patient’s lone advocate, help them through life and become more than just their caregiver inspired me to want to help people. When I decided to major in economics and business management in college, I set out to find a path to marry my business acumen with a career in health care and have been blessed to be able to see out this path every day in my current role at MercyOne.

What are your aspirations for the future?

My ultimate career aspiration is to be the CEO/president of a health care system that includes outpatient clinics, hospitals and acute care centers. I’m blessed in that my current role involves oversight of one of the largest business units and service lines within MercyOne, giving me invaluable experience and great professional satisfaction. Cardiovascular medicine is unique in that its clinical work is heavily involved in both the outpatient (clinic) and inpatient (hospital) settings, meaning our work is at the forefront of many pertinent organizational initiatives and projects. Personally, I aspire for my sons to be open-minded, good-hearted young men who treat others with respect and kindness while also staying true to their core values in life.

What's one piece of advice you'd give to a young professional?

Don’t say no when asked to take on a new project or learn a new skill unless you truly believe it would be detrimental to your development as a professional. Part of how I got my foot in the door at MercyOne and built relationships with leaders and providers in our organization was showing up early, staying late and not saying no to taking on more or new work. I always have, and continue to, view new asks of myself or my team as an opportunity, not a burden, and that has allowed myself and those close to me at work to grow and be exposed to new, exciting opportunities. Don’t hold yourself back, make sure when you go to bed at night you’ve done everything within your control to help advance your career.

What's one regular habit that's made you successful?

When I have a very important meeting I am leading where a decision may ultimately be made, or I am giving a presentation to a group of stakeholders, I always arrive to the meeting location or to my office (If the meeting is virtual) at least an hour before the discussion to ensure I’m prepared, have my notes ready and can practice answering hypothetical questions I believe I may receive based on the content shared during the meeting. Fans and viewers across the world see Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen throw the perfect pass hitting the receiver right in their hands, in stride, while sprinting down the field, but we don’t see the endless hours of weight training, practice, tape watching and mental preparation that goes into that single throw. Same thing in the nonsports professional world — there is no shame in being overly prepared. I’ve never seen someone ridiculed for showing up over-dressed to an event but certainly have if they are under-dressed. There is never a wrong time to wear a suit.

What is one thing you would like to see Central Iowa leaders address, and why?

I preface this by saying I understand the magnitude of this endeavor, but as a native East-coaster, the Amtrak and train system is an integral part of life that we don’t have in Central Iowa. I know the Amtrak goes through Osceola, but not having a station in or near Des Moines is a missed opportunity to increase economic development in Central Iowa as well as improve travel across the Midwest. As a kid I could easily wake up in Virginia or Washington, D.C., and be in New York City by lunchtime via the Amtrak. I know this would be a huge economic investment, and with the Des Moines International Airport expanding, the need for trains may eventually become a moot point, but having a more cost-effective approach in travel to Minneapolis, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis and anywhere across the country via Amtrak would be superb.

What's one fun fact about you?

I am a native East Coaster, and grew up and went to college and graduate school on the East Coast. I didn’t move to the Midwest until I began my career at MercyOne nearly a decade ago. I view my experience living in different states and cultures as a great way to learn more about life and gain an understanding of different perspectives and communities across our nation. There isn’t generally a “right” way, but there are many ways to live and/or do something. And most importantly, we are all much more alike than we sometimes like to admit.

Hobbies:

I enjoy physical fitness — specifically running. I’ve run one full marathon and three half-marathons and hope to run another half-marathon in either 2025 or 2026. My older son is almost 3 and really enjoys learning to play soccer and kick the ball around. Weather permitting, I try to take him to the park or play in our backyard as much as possible to help him learn and burn some energy. I was a Division III soccer player in college and am hopeful my kids see value in playing the “beautiful sport.” I enjoy taking our family to new places to gain new experiences — we took our older son to the beach for the first time in 2024, and he had a blast. I am hoping as someone who enjoys going down 6-foot slides on his own as a 2 1/2-year-old that he may trust me that he can dip his toes in the ocean water, and he will be OK!

What is one word that best describes you?

Tenacious.

What’s one food (meal, snack, dessert, whatever!) you think people must try in the Des Moines area?

The cheeseburger at the Nineteen14 bar and restaurant in Minburn is superb.

What’s the funniest or most surprising thing that’s happened to you recently?

My nearly 3-year-old son calls me out when he can tell I'm stressed looking at work email on my iPhone — it is amazing how children can easily pick up on your emotions!

What’s your favorite tradition to participate in locally?

I enjoy running in local DSM annual races — the Turkey Trot over Thanksgiving, the IMT marathon/half-marathon or what was formerly the DSM Dam to Dam!