Most physicians follow or supplement their clinical practice with physician leadership roles, and wind down their careers by scaling back to part time executives or clinical consultants before official retirement. Richard Afable, MD, MPH, FACP, suggests an alternative. After retiring from CEO and executive roles at several large health systems, Dr. Afable now advocates for community wellbeing and the development of others as the President and Board Chair of BeWellOC in Orange County. In this episode, we interview Dr. Afable about how physicians can (and should) plan for a type of “third career” - one that focuses on significance and service. He also shares concepts that physicians can consider as they work towards a retirement plan. 
 
Richard Afable, MD, MPH, FACP
President and Board Chair, Be Well Orange County, www.bewelloc.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-afable-m-d-mph-84722b162/
 

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An Alternative to Traditional Retirement: Considerations for Physicians

Richard Afable, MD, MPH, FACP

Self-Management

Self-Awareness

Motivations and Thinking Style

Adaptability

Mike Sacopulos speaks with Kristin E. Lauter, PhD, about her chapter titled, “Trust, Access, and Visibility,” in the book, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Leaders in STEM. Lauter is the director of Research Science, North American Labs for Meta AI Research.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a series of articles looking at AI in medicine. After spending more than 20 years at Microsoft, Lauter is now at the forefront of AI research at Meta.  In this interview, she describes the basics of AI and how the power of AI will be powerful for society. She also describes risk inherent because of human involvement; how humans could misuse the tools. 

As a past president of the Association of Women in Mathematics, Lauter has been a strong advocate of women in STEM positions.  She describes her philosophy of the goal of “1/3” and her work in launching the Research Networks program to support and advance women in math and computer science.  

She finds the chapters in the Lessons Learned book to be inspiring – both in messaging to younger professionals that, “You are not alone” and in advocating for both access and recognition of work of women and other underrepresented minorities in the sciences. 

Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org


The Path from Mathematics and STEM to Meta and AI Research with Dr. Kristin Lauter

Kristin E. Lauter, PhD

Professional Capabilities

Influence

Operations and Policy

Technology Integration

Resilience

Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH, is the Myron M. Levine MD, DTPH Professor in Vaccinology, professor of medicine and pediatrics, and is the director for the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Mike Sacopulos speaks with Neuzil about her chapter in the book, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders, her work for a non-profit, and her work in academic medicine. Throughout her career the power of mentorship, both as beneficiary and as benefactor, has been an inspiration to her. But what makes a good mentor?  How do women find role models who balance a family and a successful career? How has the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on women and young families advancing in their healthcare careers?

Neuzil’s leadership story is inspirational. She shares how small acts of kindness, via mentorship, can result in tremendous returns. Her clinical and policy talent, anchored on the bedrock of science, has benefited countless people around the globe.

Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org

Mentorship, Women Physicians, and Leadership with Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH

Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH

Comfort with Visibility

Motivate Others

Wendy Dean, MD, is a writer, speaker, podcast host, and the president and co-founder of The Moral Injury of Healthcare (fixmoralinjury.org), a nonprofit focused on alleviating distress in the workforce through training and consultation. She and her co-founder, Simon G. Talbot, MD, began the conversation about moral injury in healthcare with the publication of their seminal work in STATNews on July 26, 2018.  They have also recently published the book, If I Betray These Words: Moral Injury in Medicine and Why It's So Hard for Clinicians to Put Patients First.
In this interview with host Mike Sacopulos, Dean discusses what constitutes a moral injury and how technology and compensation models can add to the problem for healthcare employees. They discuss the boards of medicine and their role in protection to physicians.  In addition, she shares some ideas on viable solutions to the situation currently in healthcare.
wdean@moralinjury.healthcare
www.fixmoralinjury.org

Moral Injury in Healthcare with Wendy Dean, MD

Wendy Dean, MD

Describing her own path as a physician leader, Deborah M. Shlian, MD, MBA, also shares her book plan and the resulting project with 30+ contributors to the book published by the American Association for Physician Leadership, Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders. Fascinating stories from women in leadership roles – as models and templates for other physicians.
Further, Shlian discusses with host Mike Sacopulos the main reasons keeping women from leadership roles, the statistics on women in medical school and medical training, and COVID-19 and its impact on women physicians.
Shlian is a board-certified family practitioner with more than three decades of clinical and management experience. She has been able to balance work-life with writing, producing several nonfiction articles, chapters, and books on medical management issues. She also writes fiction. Her works of fiction have won literary awards, including the Florida Book Award’s Gold Medal.

Author Dr. Deborah Shlian on Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders

Deborah M. Shlian, MD, MBA

Brenda Denzler, PhD, is an author and editor. Her career as an editor and writer was cut short after her diagnosis with inflammatory breast cancer in 2009, at which time she was also diagnosed with treatment-related medical PTSD springing from medical encounters she had experienced at the age of five. After a difficult and re-traumatizing (but successful) course of cancer treatment, she began writing short pieces focused on cancer and, increasingly, on mPTSD that were published in local venues, on the Cure Today website, on MedPage Today, and in the British Medical Journal. The Facebook support group that Brenda Denzler moderates for treatment-related medical PTSD now has 1000 members.
In Brenda Denzler’s discussion with Mike Sacopulos, she describes how patients with post-traumatic stress disorder, caused by past medical treatments, choose to call themselves “treatment-traumatized” patients although healthcare professionals may categorize these patients as, “difficult.” 
The American Association for Physician Leadership takes the opportunity to share Brenda’s story with the SoundPractice audience of physicians and inter-professional healthcare providers.
A complete list of her health-related work can be found at: https://muckrack.com/brenda-denzler
Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org

Treatment-related Medical PTSD and “Difficult Patients” with Brenda Denzler

Brenda Denzler, PhD

Communication Strategies

Healthcare can be tough on patients, clinicians, and administrators who work in the system. Clinicians are burning out at alarming rates; depression and suicide are on the rise. Patients often feel alone in a complex system, and administrators balance competing demands in what feels like a zero-sum game.

Enter COVID. Our healthcare system, and our country, has never seen anything like it. We need empathy and human connection now more than ever.

Jennifer Sweeney is a co-founder of X4 Health and the co-creator of 3rd Conversation, an innovation program that brings together patients, clinicians, and health system leaders to connect deeply, build trust, and develop bi-directional empathy.

A trained leadership coach and patient advocate, Jennifer Sweeney is interviewed by host Mike Sacopulos on strategies for healthcare administrators and physicians to have the best outcomes.

www.X4Health.com

Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org

An Alternative to Traditional Retirement: Considerations for Physicians

RECENT EPISODES

The Path from Mathematics and STEM to Meta and AI Research with Dr. Kristin Lauter

Mentorship, Women Physicians, and Leadership with Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH

Moral Injury in Healthcare with Wendy Dean, MD

Author Dr. Deborah Shlian on Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders

Treatment-related Medical PTSD and “Difficult Patients” with Brenda Denzler

Reaching Organizational Goals for Relationships in Healthcare with Jennifer Sweeney

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The Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation and Physician Suicide Awareness

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Mentorship, Women Physicians, and Leadership with Kathleen Neuzil, MD, MPH

Moral Injury in Healthcare with Wendy Dean, MD

Author Dr. Deborah Shlian on Lessons Learned: Stories from Women Physician Leaders