Dr. Anne Dixon’s story: How hockey and family legacy shaped a mission to support clinicians

Some of Dr. Anne Dixon's most important life lessons came from a high-speed hockey rink.

She started out as a figure skater because, as she puts it, “Girls didn’t play hockey back then.” It didn’t matter. The first time she chased a puck, she found something that resonated.

She’s now spent more than four decades playing the sport she loves, first as one of only two girls in her hometown league, later as a collegiate athlete at Princeton University, and today as a player, coach and devoted hockey parent. The game remains her favorite way to recharge.

“When I’m on the ice, the only thing I can do is think about the game that I'm playing,” she said. “It’s the ultimate team sport.”

Those lessons about teamwork, resilience and leadership continue to influence her work as an OB-GYN and healthcare leader.

Dixon grew up in a family where medicine and service were part of daily life. Her father, a rheumatologist who practiced into his 80s, showed her what it meant to dedicate a career to helping others.

Her grandmother, Dr. Jean Wells, provided another powerful example. She was a pediatrician in Connecticut and spent decades caring for children at a time when few women entered medicine.

While interviewing her grandmother for a college project, Dixon heard stories about the barriers women physicians faced and the determination it took to overcome them.

One story stayed with her. While a medical student at Yale University, Wells was told by a prominent physician that women did not belong in medicine. Her response became family legend: “Well, you better get used to us because we’re here to stay.”

The story gave Dixon a deeper appreciation for the barriers her grandmother faced and the opportunities those efforts created for future generations.

“It was really important to my career and to feeling like I belong in every room,” she shared.

Today, Dixon wears a bracelet her grandmother gave her when she graduated from medical school, a reminder of the legacy she carries forward.

Dixon has always valued the relationships she builds with patients.

“I love connection,” she said. “I've learned so much from my patients over the years.”

That appreciation for meaningful human connection extends beyond the exam room. As she cared for patients, Dixon became increasingly interested in the factors that help clinicians build and sustain those relationships, leading her to begin exploring clinician burnout and professional fulfillment nearly a decade ago.  What began as a side project evolved into a national leadership role dedicated to helping clinicians thrive.

Today, she serves as a physician leader for clinician experience at Optum Health while continuing to practice medicine and support Optum Massachusetts. Her focus is helping to improve the experience of physicians and advanced practice clinicians across the organization.

Dixon often describes her work through hockey analogies. For example, most people notice a team’s star scorers. Few notice the goalie until they struggle. Healthcare, she believes, works much the same way.

“If our clinicians are struggling, we cannot win in the game of value-based care,” she explained.

Her goal is to create conditions that allow clinicians to do what they do best: care for patients.

This means improving workflows, scaling innovations, reducing administrative burdens and creating an environment where clinicians feel supported and valued. It also means making sure they have the time and space to provide the care they would want for their own loved ones.

As a physician, daughter, parent and patient herself, Dixon understands how much patients depend on clinicians being at their best.

Whether she’s coaching her son’s hockey team, caring for patients, or helping shape the future of clinician experience, Dixon is guided by a lesson passed down from her grandmother: Never give up hope.

For Dixon, that’s as relevant to healthcare as it is to life.

Healthcare faces significant challenges, and she remains confident that progress is possible when people work together toward a common goal.

“I’m a glass-half-full kind of girl,” she said.

It is the same optimism that has carried her from the hockey rink to the exam room and into leadership — always focused on helping others succeed and ensuring patients receive the care they need.