The Doctor's Art

Pediatric neurosurgeons manage some of the most complex diseases in children, operating on the delicate and precious organ that makes us essentially human. Jay Wellons, MD is Chief of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the author of All That Moves Us, a memoir that offers an intimate and gripping account of the triumphs, terrors, joys, and pathos he encounters on a daily basis. In this episode, Dr. Wellons joins us to discuss his path to neurosurgery by way of English literature and family medicine, his faith as an anchor amidst his challenging work, and reflections on what the human dramas involving the most vulnerable children he has cared for has taught him about resilience, courage, and grace under pressure.In this episode, you will hear about:A discussion of the range of procedures pediatric neurosurgeons perform - 1:58How a fascination with neuroanatomy drew Dr. Wellons into neurosurgery, and how his literary studies have impacted his patient care - 3:58The origin of Dr. Wellons’ book All That Moves Us and his experiences with a personal health crisis - 8:59What it is like to operate on one of the most intricate and delicate parts of the human body - 18:00How Dr. Wellons deals with the weight of unsuccessful procedures, and how he carries on - 27:51Forming relationships with the families of very young and often very ill patients - 31:12A discussion of spiritual faith and its place in the life of a surgeon who sees so much tragedy - 35:27Dr. Wellons’ advice to students, trainees, and clinicians on how to stay connected and hopeful in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges - 40:52Dr. Wellons is the author of a book All That Moves Us: A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience, as well as the article “How the Summer Camp Doctor Earned His Stripes ” for Garden & Gun magazine.You can follow Dr. Jay Wellons on Twitter @JayWellons5Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

On New Year's Eve of 2020, at the age of 29, Katie Coleman was diagnosed with metastatic renal oncocytoma, a type of kidney cancer so rare that she is the only known case in the United States and one of only a handful around the world. The sheer uniqueness of her situation resulted in a prolonged course of prognostic and therapeutic uncertainty. Thanks to the work of oncologists at the National Cancer Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center, Katie is now in remission. Today, she is a patient advocate who passionately supports other patients through their cancer journeys. In this episode, Katie joins us to share her incredible story, her experiences with grief, uncertainty, and hope, and her lessons learned on finding joy and meaning in life.In this episode, you will hear about:Katie’s backstory and the events leading up to her diagnosis - 1:50The experience of being diagnosed with one of the rarest cancers in the world - 3:58How Katie’s oncologists discussed this unusual diagnosis with her - 10:42The experience of receiving treatment with the goal of prolonging life, rather than curing the disease - 13:06How co-host Dr. Tyler Johnson communicates issues of serious illness with his patients - 15:38How the uncertainty around a terminal cancer prognosis impacts the way patients approach living their lives - 22:21How Katie’s changing prognoses have altered her life plans - 28:53The wisdom on living well one gains from facing a life-limiting illness - 34:32Lessons on hope in the face of uncertainty - 39:55The various ways clinicians can open up and connect with their patients on a human level - 44:14Katie’s story has been profiled by the National Cancer Institute, NBC News, and the Today Show.You can follow Katie on Twitter @KayDAustinKatie is also an active content creator and patient advocate on Youtube, TikTok, and Instagram.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

Technological advancements have enabled us to accomplish medical miracles through novel medical devices, algorithms, and digital tools. At the same time, the exponential entanglement of tech with healthcare has led many clinicians to feel disconnected from the human element of medicine. Here to discuss this conundrum is Bryant Lin, MD, MEng, the director of Medicine and the Muse, the medical humanities program at Stanford Medical School, and a mechanical engineer by training who focuses on medical device development. Dr. Lin also conducts research in Asian population health and is the cofounder of Stanford’s Consultative Medicine Clinic, which evaluates patients with medical mysteries. In today’s episode, Dr. Lin shares his unique perspective at the crossroads of technology and the humanities, and discusses how storytelling can be a powerful instrument to keep physicians grounded in what truly matters for their patients.In this episode, you will hear about:How an early interest in engineering led Dr. Lin to medicine - 1:42A poignant letter Dr. Lin received from one of his long-term aging patients that reaffirms why his medical career is meaningful - 4:10A discussion of how medical bureaucratization has stolen away much of the human connection that underpins fulfilling medical work - 7:39How Medicine and the Muse, the medical humanities program at Stanford, helps clinicians connect with the meaning in medicine - 12:40What Dr. Lin hopes to achieve through teaching medical humanities to future clinicians - 25:45How storytelling helps healthcare providers better connect with their patients - 27:28How Dr. Lin integrates storytelling into medical device design, and why it is imperative to not allow technology to distance physicians from their patients - 31:24Dr. Lin manages the forthcoming digital medical humanities newsletter Panacea Health. Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

Rana Awdish, MD was on the last day of her critical care medicine training when her life changed forever. Seven months pregnant at the time, Dr. Awdish abruptly found herself in a life threatening crisis when a previously undiagnosed liver tumor suddenly ruptured. She was rushed to the ICU of her own hospital, where she came unimaginably close to death multiple times. Despite this tragic event, she survived thanks to the incredible work of her medical team. Today, Dr. Awdish is the author of the acclaimed memoir In Shock, which recounts her time as an ICU patient. She is also the Medical Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and Medical Director of Care Experience for the Henry Ford Health System. In this episode, she shares what she has learned from her experiences about compassion, hope, and improving empathetic communication in health care. In this episode, you will hear about:How a family ailment inspired Dr. Awdish to pursue a medical career - 2:10An riveting personal account of the catastrophic medical event that befell Dr. Awdish - 4:17A discussion of the learning curve in medicine and the need to create safe spaces for physicians to admit ignorance - 12:13The fascinating and unsettling experience of being a highly-trained physician and a critically-ill patient at the same time, and how this experience showed her the way our current medical culture disempowers patients - 15:17Dr. Awdish’s reflections on the antagonistic environment of her prolonged hospital stay - 20:19A discussion of hope, concept often misunderstood by physicians as running counter to realistic expectations - 27:37The intense and unexpected role of spirituality in Dr. Awdish’s critical care experience - 32:14Navigating the medical profession while confronting suffering and not burning out - 34:37A discussion of Dr. Awdish’s profound essay The Shape of the Shore about the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Detroit - 37:36Dr. Awdish’s advice to new physicians and students to help them stay connected to their work and to see the humanity in their patients - 44:33Dr. Rana Awdish is the author of:In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope, a memoir about the harrowing events discussed in this episode and the revelations she attained by going through them.The Shape of the Shore, an essay about working in the ICU during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.Dr. Johnson mentions the essay The Learning Curve by Dr. Atul Gawande.Follow Dr. Awdish on Twitter @RanaAwdish.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

Imagine showing up for work every day for a year, knowing full well that each day you risk contracting a potentially devastating disease with unknown long-term consequences. That's exactly what Thomas Fisher, MD went through, as he documents vividly in his recent book, The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago E.R., which delves into what it was like fighting COVID-19 on the frontlines in 2020. Dr. Fisher, an emergency physician at the University of Chicago Medical Center, former healthcare executive, and former White House Fellow, has dedicated his life to caring for his community, the black population of Chicago's South Side. In this episode, he recounts harrowing stories from the emergency room, gives an impassioned critique of a health care system with too little space for doctors to provide the care their patients need, and shares a renewed vision of healthcare as a foundation of social justice.In this episode, you will hear about:What motivated Dr. Fisher to write his book, The Emergency, a riveting first-hand account of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic - 2:09The uncertainty and terror physicians faced at very beginning of the pandemic - 5:29An intimate picture of how emergency physicians approached the first COVID-19 patients - 9:45How an upbringing in Chicago’s South Side propelled Dr. Fisher into a career in healthcare, and how the reality of inequitable systems has shaped his medical practice - 13:10A discussion of the concept of “heroism” in the context of frontline healthcare workers - 20:35How Dr. Fisher used letters addressed to patients as a narrative device in his book to explore social injustices that affect individual health - 30:50Dr. Fisher’s reflections on maintaining a connection to the meaning of his work despite the seemingly insurmountable systemic challenges that he recognizes - 35:57Practical advice for clinicians on making space for patient care within a rushed healthcare environment - 42:28Dr. Fisher is the author of The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago E.R.Follow Dr. Fisher on Twitter @TFisherMD.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

What is it like to comfort patients in the moments before they surrender consciousness to undergo surgery? What can the humanities teach us about being present for a patient when they are at their most vulnerable? As an anesthesiologist and founding director of Medicine and the Muse, Stanford Medicine’s health humanities program, Audrey Shafer, MD has spent her career pondering and addressing these questions. In this episode, Dr. Shafer discusses how her exploits in the humanities have shaped her career in medicine, gives us an intimate and vivid picture of the vital work anesthesiologists do, and shares what her recent personal experiences with cancer have taught her about what it means to truly care for patients.In this episode, you will hear about:How growing up in an artistic household initially pushed Dr. Shafer away from the arts and toward a medical career - 1:51Why Dr. Shafer chose to become an anesthesiologist - 5:51Dr. Shafer’s discovery of the medical humanities and how she would later create the first program of its type at Stanford Medicine - 8:57A discussion of what the medical humanities are and a defense of its value - 12:00Reflections on the profound privilege of being an anesthesiologist and a medical educator - 17:45A behind-the-scenes look at an anesthesiologist’s work - 25:02Dr. Shafer’s recent cancer diagnosis and her treatment journey - 34:29Advice for clinicians and medical students about seeing patients’ illnesses within the greater context of their lives - 41:15Follow Dr. Shafer on Twitter @AudreyShafer.You can peruse the Literature Arts & Medicine magazine here.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

Born with hemophilia in a time before effective therapies existed and having experienced treatment complications including hepatitis C and HIV, Eric Winer, MD spent much of his childhood and young adulthood in and out of the hospital. Today, he is the Director of Yale Cancer Center and President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the largest organization of clinicians caring for cancer patients. An internationally renowned expert in breast cancer, his research has immensely impacted how breast cancer is now treated. In this episode, Dr. Winer shares his path to oncology and his insights from being a lifelong patient on stigma, compassion, and empathy.In this episode, you will hear about:How growing up with hemophilia led Dr. Winer to the field of medicine - 1:50The patient that cemented Dr. Winer’s dedication to oncology as his life’s work - 7:55Dr. Winer’s reflections on how his experiences as a patient shape his work as a doctor - 12:52Facing the reality of caring for patients with terminal illness - 18:21How Dr. Winer grounds the care he provides in the humanism of each patient - 23:49Dr. Winer’s mission and vision as president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology - 25:49How leading by example is critical to cultivating a strong, respectful, and collaborative institutional culture - 31:02Dr. Winer’s advice to medical students and new clinicians on maintaining a connection to meaningful work - 33:12Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

Our modern world grants us unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli—not just drugs, but also food, news, shopping, sex, gaming, social media, gambling, and more. But psychiatrist Anna Lembke, MD argues that this society-wide overindulgence in pleasure threatens to lead us to deeper pain. Dr. Lembke is the director of the Addiction Medicine Service at Stanford Medicine and is the author of two bestselling books, Dopamine Nation and Drug Dealer, MD. As one of the first doctors to sound the alarm on the opioid epidemic in America, she's an expert on the issue and has advised policymakers at the highest levels of government. In this episode, Dr. Lembke describes her work treating all kinds of addiction, discusses her deep concern with the overconsumption of pleasure in our culture, and shares what we can all do to renew meaning and connectedness in our lives through balancing pain and pleasure.In this episode, you will hear about:What first drew Dr. Lembke to a medical career and how she initially discovered psychiatry - 2:13Why Dr. Lembke dedicates herself to addiction medicine, and how her philosophy can help others find meaningful work - 9:16The historical shift, with the advent of the opioid epidemic, to understanding addiction as a medical condition instead of a moral or personal failing - 12:53Reframing addiction as a medical diagnosis and approaching patients facing addictive disorders with compassion - 17:58How flaws in contemporary medical practice and misaligned incentives for doctors contributed to the opioid crisis - 24:15A discussion of Dr. Lemke’s book Dopamine Nation, including how easy access to pleasure causes addictagenic responses in nearly every aspect of our lives - 29:32How humans can reconnect with meaning despite living in a culture that often substitutes meaning with cheap pleasure - 34:15Dr. Lembke’s advice to all clinicians for how to better connect with patients - 45:20Tyler refers to the essay “I Used to be a Human Being” by Andrew Sullivan.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

What happens when miscommunication between a doctor and patient leads to intractable conflict? What happens when a patient requests an intervention a doctor does not feel ethically comfortable with? In the toughest of situations, doctors turn to the clinical ethicist for help. David Magnus, PhD, an internationally regarded leader in clinical ethics, is the director of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Bioethics, and former president of the Association of Bioethics Program Directors. In this episode, Dr. Magnus shares lessons learned from the most ethically ambiguous scenarios he has managed, the importance of ethical thinking skills for all clinicians, and the difficulties inherent in clinician-patient communication.In this episode, you will hear about:What it’s like to be a clinical ethicist, handling the tough ethical questions doctors call on them to resolve - 5:05How an ethicist determines what is “right” in a given circumstance - 9:10How Dr. Magnus’ deals with patients who refuse to accept his recommendations for care - 11:33Dr. Magnus’s journey from professor of philosophy to leading thinker on medical ethics - 14:00How the intense specialization of modern medicine may be contributing to clinician burnout - 23:31How misinterpretation of language can be a major barrier to good health care - 32:25Why clinicians use “hedge language” and “shield attributions” and how they can dramatically alter a patient’s understanding of their situation - 40:46Dr. Magnus’s advice to new clinicians on cultivating skills in ethical thinking and responsible patient communication - 50:45Learn more about the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities here.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022

As former CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, Robert Pearl, MD was responsible for the work of 50,000 healthcare workers and the medical care of 5 million Americans through Kaiser Permanente hospitals across the country. A leading expert on healthcare management and strategy, Dr. Pearl is the author of two bestselling books, “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Healthcare–And Why We’re Usually Wrong” and “Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients,” a regular contributor to Forbes, and the host of several popular medical podcasts. He is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, clinical professor at Stanford Medicine, and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this episode, Dr. Pearl shares his thoughts on why American healthcare is failing not only patients but also physicians, and what we can do to address inherent problems in the culture of medicine.In this episode, you will hear about:Dr. Pearl’s journey to a career in plastic surgery - 2:13Grappling with complications that arise during surgery - 9:40Dr. Pearl’s transition from surgeon to CEO of the Permanente Medical Group - 12:49The mission that Dr. Pearl brought to his role as CEO and how he implemented that mission - 17:21How Dr. Pearl paved a path for increasing both the quality of care and physician satisfaction, while keeping costs low, and why so often these goals seem at odds with each other - 20:32The toxic culture of denial in medicine and why it is killing doctors and patients - 27:45How status and compensation disparity contributes to physician burnout, and what to do about it - 35:47Dr. Pearl’s administrative strategy that led Kaiser Permanente to much success during his tenure as CEO - 43:08Dr. Pearl’s advice to physicians on how to stay connected and empowered in their careers - 46:38Dr. Robert Pearl is:Author of two books: Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Healthcare - And Why We’re Usually Wrong; and Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors & Patients, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without BordersA frequent contributor to Forbes Magazine The host of two podcasts: Fixing Healthcare and Coronavirus: The TruthFind more information at RobertPearlMD.com or follow Dr. Pearl on Twitter @RobertPearlMDVisit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2022