Tracee Thomson
Tracee Thomson
Vice President, Physician Alignment and Recruitment - Catholic Health
For Tracee Thomson, recruiting grew out of a career spent working closely with physicians and healthcare leaders.
She began her career in her 20s working with physicians in radiology and radiation oncology for a national practice management company.
That experience eventually evolved into physician alignment and recruitment.
When Tracee joined Catholic Health nearly 10 years ago, she was originally hired to build the organization’s IPA network. Nearly five years ago, she was asked to become more involved in direct hire and acquisitions to bring more high-quality providers into the health system.
Her work now spans both field experience and direct physician recruitment, helping fill key roles across Catholic Health’s ambulatory network.
Recruiting in a Clinical Environment
Tracee’s recruiting path is different from many traditional talent leaders.
Rather than coming up through a typical recruiting function, her background is deeply connected to healthcare operations, physician relationships, and clinical alignment.
That experience gives her a unique perspective on what it takes to recruit physicians effectively.
For Tracee, recruitment is not only about filling positions. It is about understanding clinical experience, evaluating fit, and ensuring the right providers are presented to clinical leadership.
How AI Is Changing Recruiting
Tracee is already seeing AI influence the physician recruitment process, particularly in candidate materials.
“We’re definitely getting to a stage where we recognize CVs that have been crafted by AI,” she says.
In clinical recruitment, that creates new challenges.
Recruiters must look beyond polished resumes and carefully vet clinical experience, background, and appropriateness for the role.
While Catholic Health is exploring AI at the broader system level, Tracee says the most immediate impact in her work has been the need to evaluate candidate information more carefully and scale appropriately.
Candidate Experience Matters Most
As recruiting continues to evolve, Tracee believes one principle remains essential: the candidate experience.
Her advice to other talent leaders is to stay focused on how candidates feel throughout the interview process.
At Catholic Health, her team makes a point to communicate with physicians, even when they are not the right fit at that moment.
That relationship-first approach matters.
Looking back over the last two years, Tracee has seen meaningful return from candidates who either declined an opportunity or were not selected initially, but later re-engaged with the organization.
“Those relationships matter,” she says.
For physician recruitment, timing is often a major factor. A role may not be right today, but it could become the right opportunity later.
Advice for Talent Leaders Heading into 2026
Tracee’s advice is clear: protect the candidate experience.
Even when a conversation does not result in an immediate hire, candidates should walk away with a positive impression of the organization.
For Tracee, recruiting is about long-term relationships, trust, and timing.
By combining healthcare expertise, physician relationship-building, and a strong commitment to candidate experience, Tracee Thomson represents the kind of leader helping healthcare recruitment move forward while keeping people at the center of the process.
