Success In Medicine

Dr. Meena Julapalli is a pediatric dermatologist, one of only about 400 in the country.  This was a fascinating conversation, because she relays her journey from academic dermatology to a direct care practice, as well as her work on creating resources and conducting workshops on the path to joy. One of the fascinating topics we discussed was the different approaches to providing medical care. In medical school and in training, we are often exposed to academic medicine, and sometimes private practice. But there are different types of medical practice, and Dr. Julapalli started what is known as a direct care practice.  In a direct care practice, patients pay a set fee to see the physician. Patients know ahead of time what that fee will be, and there are no surprises.  In her previous academic dermatology positions, she would sometimes see as many as 50 patients a day. In her current position, she may see nine patients a day, which allows her the space and time to fully respond to her patient concerns.  She desc

My interview with prenatal genetic counselor and researcher Lauren Westerfield is a fantastic lesson in how to approach challenging career decisions. The framework and approach to impending burnout that she describes in this episode is very thoughtful and analytical--and has proven effective.  Ms. Westerfield works in both clinical practice and research as the research study coordinator for an NIH-funded multicenter study. She is based at Texas Children's Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine. One of the things that struck me about her conversation, and that she highlighted, is that many of the discussions about burnout are on "how do you move onto the next thing". By contrast, her approach provides an option for staying in a position in a more sustainable way, because that’s also an option for resolution of burnout. She wanted to stay in a great institution, doing work that she loves. She describes how she was approaching burnout at a specific point in her career, during which there wer

I really enjoyed speaking to Dr. Stefanie Simmons, because her work with the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation is an example of how advocacy in action can lead to change, even over the course of just a few years. Dr. Simmons is the Chief Medical Officer of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation. Over the course of her career, she has served as a clinician, an educator, a healthcare executive, and now Chief Medical Officer.  In this conversation, we speak about her advocacy work, and how the foundation has been able to make significant strides in promoting healthcare well-being. In speaking with her, she is clearly energized by her mission: to support healthcare providers in rediscovering the joy in their work, in order to improve the quality of their lives and improve the care that they provide to patients.  She explains that her work is focused on advocacy, awareness, and advancing solutions. As part of her work with the foundation, she meets with state and federal legislators. She also conducts out

I really enjoyed speaking with Dr. Marcy Youngdahl, a Family Practice physician who is the Director of Integrated Counseling and Health Services at Trinity University in San Antonio. I always enjoy speaking with physicians who have been strategic in their career choices, moving from one setting that was not ideal to another setting where they are strongly energized at work. I was also excited to speak with Dr. Youngdahl because this is an area of medicine that I did not know much about previously. In this conversation, she highlights what drew her to College Health. She really appreciates the combination of clinical care, alongside a public health focus. She also highlights one of the features of her career that she finds especially energizing: the chance to spend time educating her patients. This conversation is also interesting because she describes her previous private practice in Family Medicine, and what prompted her to seek a change. Specifically, she describes how important it was for her to pra

I so enjoyed speaking with Dr. Mohit Khera, who is Professor of Urology and Chair of the Department at the Baylor College of Medicine. He is also Director of the Laboratory for Andrology Research. Dr. Khera is very busy, but one of the things that struck me about our conversation is how much he enjoys the different areas of his work: the clinical care, basic science and clinical research, education of students, residents, and fellows, and administration. He describes Urology as "the most amazing field", and he feels that Urologists are "the happiest surgeons." He is able to make diagnoses and then perform procedures to address those diagnoses, and is able to impact his patients' quality of life in significant ways.  When I asked him how he is able to accomplish so much without burning out, there were several areas that he pointed to. The first was the importance of collaboration. He gives much credit to his clinical and research teams, and talks about the fact that he spends a

Dr. Hardeep Singh is Co-Chief of the Health Policy, Quality, and Informatics Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine. --He is a patient safety researcher and Professor of Medicine, and is committed to researching and developing resources to promote patient safety and diagnostic excellence in clinical practice.  --His research on how to improve missed or delayed diagnoses has impacted many, and his research on how to improve the use of electronic health records (EHRs) has been used as the basis for policy changes by the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). He has also worked with the World Health Organization on patient safety issues. --One of the things that struck me during our conversation was how his career has been so mission-driven, starting with his observation of missed diagnoses during his years of practice as an internist in rural East Texas. Those experiences inspired him to seek out a research career, and later helped guide his efforts to impact policy.--A

This was an enlightening and inspiring conversation with Dr. Lavannya Pandit, a Physician-Scientist at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Pandit is a clinician who also performs scientific research. She is a pulmonary critical care physician on staff at the Veteran's Affairs Hospital. She is Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program there and serves as an Associate Professor at Baylor College of Medicine.Her research centers on the physiologic and molecular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease.Her mission is to advance understanding of vascular disease. In this episode, Dr. Pandit describes her work, which is focused on serving her patients, particularly the veterans who have fought for our country. As a scientist, she also spends time applying for competitive grant funding, mentoring, reviewing, and conducting research.An overview of physician-scientists has noted that their numbers in the United States are decreasing rapidly for several reasons.However, clinicians who are closely involved in under

Dr. Monica Huang is a Diagnostic Radiologist and researcher in the area of minimally invasive breast cancer treatment with cryoablation. This episode provides some great insights into crafting a career that connects deeply to your mission.    Dr. Huang began her career as a faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine, and later was in private practice for over a decade. She then returned to training to complete a fellowship in breast imaging at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.   In speaking with her, it is clear that she has a deep commitment to developing minimally invasive treatments for breast cancer, and she is now the founder and Director of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Breast Imaging Breast Cryoablation Program.  This episode also provides some great insights into how a physician can overcome burnout.  Although Dr. Huang was in a very successful private practice, she felt that she was getting burned out. This was not due to the amount of work, but rather because her goals had chan

Dr. Abbey Vandersall is the Vice President of Quality and Clinical Services at AMSURG, an organization that maintains over 250 ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) across the United States. Her work encompasses patient safety and quality, as well as other areas that impact clinical care such as operations, strategy, policy, and government affairs. In this episode, she shares her journey from medical student to consultant to healthcare leader.One of the things that struck me about our conversation was how energized she was about innovation, strategy, and making a positive impact on patient care. She has a lot of wisdom to share for medical students.  · One of her points that really resonated with me was that your passions at age 18 or age 30 may not be the same as those at age 50, because your passions change, your experiences change, and the world around you changes. It's important to recognize that.  · When you’re thinking about career decisions, she encourages students to think: “What problem do I want to

Dr. Andru Zeller is a primary care physician who is focused on fair trade medicine. He founded the Simply Salud Clinic in 2004 as a family-centered, fair trade, integrative medical practice for people of limited economic means. Dr. Zeller completed a family practice residency, followed by a fellowship in rural health. He talks about the strength and power of medicine, but also some of the challenges, especially the cost of healthcare faced by patients of limited economic means. This inspired him to develop a practice focused on fair trade medicine. The clinic is a sustainable business, and continues to serve himself, his family, and his community.  In this episode, he speaks about his mission as well as the associated challenges.  He has been very intentional about how he wants to make an impact in healthcare, and he has developed several innovations. The clinic provides primary care, women’s health, and mental health services. The clinic also provides integrative health services and complex pain assessm

Dr. Pooja Varshney is a Pediatric Allergist and Immunologist at the Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin Texas. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas Austin, and is Director of the Dell Children’s Food Allergy Center, a clinical research center of distinction. She is the principal investigator on clinical trials that are studying the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of food allergy. Dr. Varshney has a busy clinical practice, along with teaching and research responsibilities. She conducts clinical research and also teaches students and residents at the bedside and with didactic lectures. One of the things that struck me about our conversation is that when it comes to her field, she “sometimes feels so lucky – I love everything about it“. She specifically highlights the long-term relationships with her patients, and the ability to follow them throughout their childhood. In her particular field, she also finds the scientific aspects to be fascinating,

Dr. Stephanie Cotell is a dermatologist in private practice in Columbus, Ohio.She has been in practice for over 25 years, and as she says, “I love my job."This episode provides a great overview of what it is like to practice general dermatology. Dr. Cotell practices mainly medical dermatology, with some procedural dermatology and cosmetic dermatology.In this episode, she highlights several aspects of dermatology practice that she particularly enjoys.  This includes the depth and breath of the types of conditions that she sees, as well as the chance to do many small procedures throughout the day.  She also highlights how much she enjoys learning about new medications and advances in the field, as well as the collegiality that she enjoys with her colleagues.  She also discusses the “second learning curve“ in private practice, which is continuous quality improvement to make sure that she is providing effective and efficient patient care.  Dr. Cotell is employed in a physician-owned private practice, an

I was very glad to have the opportunity to speak with Dr. Srihari Gopal, who is a physician in the pharmaceutical industry and current Global Head at Regeneron.  His work has encompassed multiple areas within drug development, from study design and research to regulatory filings to leading drug development teams. I have fielded a number of questions from students and early career physicians about the pharmaceutical industry, and as Dr. Gopal described his career, there were several aspects of his work that he highlighted as particularly meaningful and energizing.-He has really enjoyed learning and advancing the science of drug development, and has approximately 200 publications and 30 patents to his name.-He talked about the ability to make an impact on a wider scale with the work that he does, and how that is an aspect of his work that he finds very meaningful.-He is also on the cutting edge of medicine. The drugs that he is currently working on are those that we will be seeing in the clinic 10 years from no

This conversation with Dr. Brett Perkison highlighted several interesting aspects of both Occupational Medicine and career development. First, many medical students are simply not exposed to Occupational Medicine as a specialty choice. Learning about the different career choices within this specialty is interesting. Residents receive a Masters of Public Health during their training, and bring a preventive medicine and public health focus to their work.  One of the themes I see in physicians who are energized at work is that they maintain a lifelong commitment to learning and development. As Dr. Perkison‘s career has developed, he has continued to nurture his interest in clinical care, leadership, and research. He currently serves as the Residency Program Director of the Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency at the University of Texas Houston. He also continues his research studies, including projects focused on the health of disaster response workers and diabetes prevention.  About Dr. William “B

This conversation with Dr. Terri-Ann Samuels highlights the field of urogynecology/female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. It was an interesting overview of the field, and Dr. Samuels also had some great advice for medical students, including an emphasis on lifelong learning.  With all of the advances in surgery and surgical techniques, and especially the acceleration of technology in the last five years, she highlighted this as a key skill.  She also emphasized the importance of mentors, and how important that had been in her own career.  She advised that when you’re working with your mentors, really try to focus in on those whose work life and lifestyle, inside and outside of work, aligns with what you envision for yourself. And ask questions, like what time do they get home from the hospital. She also discussed the role of autonomy, and how being able to start her own practice and control her schedule has really helped her live her values, including her medical mission work in fistula rep

Dr. Munish Chawla is a Diagnostic Radiologist who later became a board-certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician due to his deep passion for the field.  In speaking with him, I was really struck by the fulfillment he finds in this new field.  He told me that reading a CT scan and making a diagnosis is gratifying, but the feeling of seeing a patient succeed with lifestyle changes was incredibly fulfilling.Another thing that struck me about his career arc was that he didn’t set out to change careers. He found himself interested in lifestyle medicine, and was initially just following his curiosity to learn more about it. Through the process, he also became very interested in behavior change. As he put it, he thought that once he shared information about the benefits of lifestyle change, that people would go out and make changes. Recognizing the importance of behavior change, he started studying coaching, Western psychology, and Buddhist psychology, in addition to mindfulness meditation.Dr. Chawla, with his wife, In

How do you build a career on the cutting edge of medicine? For Dr. Caitlin Sutton, Division Chief of Maternal-Fetal Anesthesiology at Texas Children's Hospital, it involves pursuing your professional passions-- even when you receive unsolicited negative feedback from colleagues. Our conversation was a good reminder for me that working on the cutting edge of medicine means that very few people have done what you have done. And that means that others may not be able to envision it--and may even discourage your chosen career path. Texas Children's Hospital is one of the pioneers in fetal surgeries (in which surgery is performed on a fetus while in utero), and Dr. Sutton administers anesthesia during these procedures for both the fetus and the mother. She is one of a very small group of anesthesiologists across the country who can do so, having completed fellowships in both obstetric anesthesiology and pediatric anesthesiology.  For medical students, Dr. Sutton provides a great overview of what it is like

Dr. Guo is a Professor of Rehabilitation and Integrative Medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. As a rehabilitation physician, she works with cancer patients at all stages of their therapy to improve their function and recovery. She also brings an integrative approach to her care: later in her career, she went back to school to become certified in medical acupuncture for physicians, a treatment she is now able to provide for her patients.  When I asked her what she finds most energizing about her work, she focused on the fulfillment of seeing patients regain their function, as well as the ability to use her creative problem-solving skills to help patients overcome their challenges. She also described the support she receives that helps her continue growing and learning. Dr. Guo is a full Professor at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is certified in medical acupuncture for physicians. https://faculty.mdanderson.org/profiles/ying_guo.html

There are several insights shared in this episode with Dr. Anthony Brissett which really struck me as important for career longevity. Dr. Brissett is a facial plastic surgeon and ENT physician. He wears a lot of hats, including responsibilities in clinical care, research, teaching, administration, and increasing responsibilities related to his medical non-profit organization.  He is very mission-driven, which has led him to devote much time to humanitarian work. His work in many countries around the world, from Ukraine to Rwanda, has focused on providing surgical care to patients as well as "developing capacity", in which he has worked to strengthen medical training programs locally. He continues to grow in his clinical practice as well, developing a new area of focus within facial aesthetic surgery called cultural preservation.  Another item that struck me about our conversation was how he gets it all done--always a key question when a physician wears so many hats. He spoke about collaboration, and

Dr. Sejal Desai is double board-certified in Family Medicine and Obesity Medicine, and one of the things that really comes through in this episode is the deep connection she feels to her work as an obesity medicine physician. In fact, she calls Obesity Medicine “happy medicine“, and she describes how happy she was that she discovered this field well into her career as a family medicine physician. She speaks about her deep passion for preventative medicine throughout her career, and how extra training in obesity medicine, followed by board certification, has helped her make a significant impact in her patients’ lives. This insight, about connecting deeply with one’s purpose, helps her stay energized and fuels her passion for helping patients with obesity overcome challenges and make long-lasting lifestyle changes.   Dr. Desai is a double board-certified physician practicing in Houston, TX.  She has been in practice for almost 20 years and has been specifically working with patients who struggle with the dise