In his drive to prioritize safety and quality in healthcare at his organization and across the industry, Eskioglu taps into his early experience in aerospace engineering, which he says means a zero tolerance for errors. That training, combined with his background as a vascular neurosurgeon, guides him to champion the use of data and artificial intelligence to improve clinical processes and to reduce variation in complex clinical settings. His efforts are paying off: the North Carolina system saw an 80% drop in hospital-associated deaths and medical errors in the past four years. Eskioglu joined Novant in 2015 as senior vice president of neurosciences, was promoted to chief medical officer in 2018 and to his current roles in 2021. Novant has more than 800 locations, including 15 hospitals and hundreds of outpatient facilities and clinics. Before attending medical school, Eskioglu worked as an aerospace engineer at AlliedSignal Aerospace and Boeing.