The Underdog Physician Podcast

The Underdog Physician
  • 4.4 (14)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Biweekly

The Underdog Physician podcast is for pre-med students, medical students, residents, and attendings who feel like they’re underdogs. I am a physician practicing in the US, hosting this podcast to be a source of inspiration for those willing to embrace their challenges and beat the odds no matter where they are in their entrepreneurial or academic journey. I will be discussing physician entrepreneurship and sharing the journeys of those who aspired to serve society in unique and creative ways. Listen as I interview amazing physicians who overcame great odds and are now doing amazing work.

  1. Oct 22

    Scott Becker on Building Becker’s Healthcare, Enduring Leadership, AI’s Impact, and Resilience in Business

    In this episode, we interview Scott Becker, founder of Becker’s Healthcare and Becker Business Media, about building an industry-leading healthcare media platform and lessons from interviewing thousands of executives. Scott describes starting with a newsletter and conferences as a convening network, then hiring a full-time team funded by his law practice, expanding from surgery centers into orthopedics, spine, and especially hospitals and health systems, and focusing deeply on a few core lines. He explains that enduring leaders are consistent, values-driven, and clear on their “why,” and advises physician entrepreneurs to be niche-, team-, and customer-centric and to build what customers need. Scott discusses major trends including AI’s cascading use cases, improved nurse workforce production, and nontraditional access to care such as GLP-1 prescribing. He offers a nuanced view of private equity, shares the origin of Building Great Businesses, and highlights resilience lessons, routines for deep work, and priorities around family and staying centered. 00:00 Meet Scott Becker 01:18 How Beckers Started 03:13 Scaling With Great People 05:38 Traits Of Enduring Leaders 09:01 Physician Entrepreneur Playbook 12:33 Next Decade In Healthcare 18:26 Private Equity In Medicine 21:55 Writing Building Great Businesses 25:45 Setbacks And Resilience Lessons 30:22 Work Life Portfolio 32:43 Morning Routine Deep Work 35:27 Legacy And Closing Thoughts

  2. Oct 13

    Dr. Carl Smart on Pulmonary Critical Care, the MD/MBA Path, and Investing in the Future of Healthcare

    On the Underdog Physician podcast, Dr. Carl Smart, a pulmonary and critical care specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina, discusses his journey from being born in Jamaica to studying chemistry at Fordham, attending Temple for medical school, and choosing pulmonary/critical care after reading CHEST and being drawn to ICU innovation and procedures. He explains how private-practice exposure to business plans and the rise of HMOs and corporate medicine led him to start a hospitalist program in the mid-1990s and pursue an MBA at Wake Forest to better understand finance and operations. Smart shares operational lessons on efficiency (including “just-in-time” concepts), his view that generative AI will transform the healthcare value chain while raising job-displacement and regulatory/ethical concerns, and the origins and thesis of Black Pearl Global Investment focused on affordability, access, and outcomes. He emphasizes founder tenacity, strong teams, realistic goals, and learning from failure, describes his intensive daily schedule across clinical and VC work, and outlines a legacy centered on scalable patient impact. 00:00 Guest Introduction 00:35 Redoing the Intro 02:20 Carl’s Origin Story 03:27 Why Pulmonary Critical Care 04:50 Path to Business Leadership 08:14 Why Get an MBA 10:13 Operational Efficiency Lessons 12:04 Generative AI in Healthcare 15:45 Black Pearl Global Investment Thesis 18:29 What VCs Look For 21:15 Founder Advice and AI Reality 23:13 Embracing Failure 24:47 Work Life Integration 26:13 Staying Calm Under Pressure 28:00 Legacy and Closing

  3. Sep 27

    Clinicians in Venture: Dr. Timothy Martens & Alex Tang on Vaark Ventures, AI Hype, and Building Fundable Healthcare Startups

    On the Underdog Physician podcast, we interview Dr. Timothy Martens, a congenital cardiothoracic surgeon and venture partner, and Alex Tang, a clinical strategy and innovation leader, about their work at Vaark Ventures supporting clinician-led early-stage healthcare startups. Tim recounts shifting from neuroscience and an interest in neurosurgery to cardiac surgery, then gaining commercialization and FDA exposure through stem cell and tissue engineering research at Columbia, later forming Vaark Ventures as a venture studio that evolved into an active angel syndicate with a diverse membership of clinicians, operators, and technical experts. Alex describes moving from clinical practice into administrative and value-based care roles, building practice models, and bringing payer and revenue-cycle perspective to investing. They outline a thesis focused on solving real “pain points” in healthcare, warn against superficial AI buzzwords, emphasize measurable ROI and workflow solutions, and advise founders on timing, committed teams, validated paid pilots, distribution channels, LOIs, and respectful relationship-building. They also discuss value-based care scaling, mentorship, and using disciplined calendar management. 00:00 Welcome and Guests 01:55 Tim Martins Origin 02:58 From Lab to Venture 05:20 Building Vaark Ventures Network 06:42 Alex Tang Journey 09:59 Investment Thesis 13:14 AI and VC Trends 16:42 Founder Advice 19:50 Value Based Care Playbook 26:06 Go To Market Strategy 30:44 Work Life Integration 32:03 Mentorship and Integrity 34:59 Legacy and Closing

  4. Sep 7

    FinalSpark’s Bootstrapped Biocomputing Journey: Transparency, Funding, and Leadership Lessons

    Ewelina discusses FinalSpark’s focus on transparency and science communication, including a live lab view on finalspark.com, to reduce fear and resistance to new technology. She explains the advantages of bootstrapping—control and founder freedom—while noting its limits, as FinalSpark currently has a six-person team and is talking to investors, seeking 50 million Swiss francs mainly to hire highly skilled people. She clarifies she is not the founder; the founders are Swiss entrepreneurs Fred Jordan and Martin Kutter, who started the company in 2014 and initially pursued digital AI research but pivoted due to the high energy and server costs, choosing living neurons for energy efficiency. She advises being selective about events, describes an open, idea-friendly leadership style shaped partly by cultural lessons from the Netherlands and UK, outlines her remote, meeting-batched work routine, and recommends scientists entering entrepreneurship learn psychology. 00:00 Lab Transparency Tour 19:13 Why Clarity Matters 19:40 Bootstrapping vs Investors 21:08 Founders and Early Vision 21:46 Energy Problem to Neurons 22:38 Networking and Events 23:40 Leadership Across Cultures 25:26 Remote Work Routine 27:10 Advice for STEM Founders 27:55 Closure

  5. Sep 7

    Dr. Jalees Razavi on Occupational Medicine Leadership, Specialty Recognition in Canada, and the Anatomy of Burnout

    On the Underdog Physician podcast, Dr. Jalees Razavi, an occupational and environmental medicine specialist and author of The Anatomy of Burnout, shares how the Bhopal gas disaster inspired his career and training in Canada at the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto. He recounts leading occupational health efforts at Saudi Aramco, including a firefighter wellness program focused on nutrition, exercise, and heat tolerance, and later serving as executive director for Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil in Canada before consulting for companies and workers’ compensation boards. As current Vice Chair of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Specialty Committee in Occupational Medicine, he explains the team-based strategy, communication, and external review process that achieved approval for occupational medicine to become a full Royal College specialty by 2027. He argues burnout is an organizational dose-response phenomenon often misidentified as depression, critiques superficial wellness programs, and describes his own routines, views on supplements and longevity, and the legacy of fairness and integrity he hopes to leave. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:42 Bhopal Disaster Spark 02:58 Training in Canada 04:08 Saudi Aramco Leadership 06:18 Back to Canada Career 07:02 Royal College Specialty Push 14:35 Burnout Misunderstood 19:24 Daily Routine and Focus 21:56 Supplements and Longevity 25:06 Legacy and Next Book 26:03 How to Connect and Closing https://www.razavioccmed.com/about

  6. Sep 6

    Dr. Aamir Rehman on Physician Leadership, AI in Healthcare, and Building Act Health and Vyzr Health

    In this Underdog Physician podcast episode, Anish interviews physician executive Dr. Aamir Rehman, CEO of Act Health and Vyzr Health, about his career across consulting, health systems, employers, payers, and digital health. Dr. Rehman shares his origin story—born in Pakistan, trained in medicine, then recruited into consulting in the late 1990s—describing how physician problem-solving skills translate to business and why he took early career risks to influence healthcare decisions. He discusses when an MBA can help, emphasizing individualized goals and the value of formal training and networking. The conversation covers AI’s potential and current limitations (including hallucinations), lessons from telehealth adoption, payer incentives as costs shift, and skepticism about longevity medicine due to murky science. He describes early-stage startup life, managing mental bandwidth, and his legacy goal: reducing patient stress through better navigation and “connecting the dots” after diagnoses. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 01:13 Origin Story and Early Career 02:48 Consulting Leap and Lessons 05:18 Healthcare Verticals and Entrepreneurship 09:10 Risk Taking for Physicians 11:49 Do You Need an MBA 15:53 AI in Healthcare Reality Check 23:07 Payers and AI Reimbursement 26:13 Wellness and Longevity Clinics 29:06 Startup CEO Life and Workload 32:10 Stress Management and Mental Bandwidth 34:52 Legacy Patient Empowerment Mission 37:27 Closing Thanks and Wrap Up

  7. Aug 30

    Eric Miller on Practice Wealth, Financial Habits, and Financial Freedom

    On the Underdog Physician podcast, host interviews Eric Miller, co-founder and chief financial advisor of Econologics Financial Advisors, LLC, who has helped more than 50 healthcare practice owners transition their businesses and oversees over $250 million in assets. Miller shares why he started a financial planning firm in 2008 to serve healthcare professionals and argues financial outcomes are mostly an “inside job” driven by habits and basic systems. He highlights key blind spots like not deciding where money goes before it arrives, and explains his philosophy of treating the household as a “parent company” that manages all assets, with the practice often being the biggest investment. He outlines a three-step framework—clean up, set up, grow up—discusses building multiple income streams sequentially, warns against relying solely on qualified retirement plans, and advises setting aside a fixed percentage for investments. He covers partnership/team considerations, practice exit readiness (emotional and financial), what drives practice value, private equity trends, delegating to scale, and directs listeners to a free financial assessment at econologics.com. 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:44 Eric’s 2008 Origin Story 01:55 Money Mindset and Habits 02:48 Physician Money Blind Spots 04:31 Household as Parent Company 06:44 Clean Up Set Up Grow Up 08:08 Building Multiple Income Streams 09:51 Beyond the 401k Playbook 11:48 Financial Beast Book Lessons 13:56 Partnerships and Team Building 15:45 Delegation and Mentorship 18:06 Practice Exit Strategy Basics 20:00 Who’s Buying Practices Now 21:41 Hot Sectors and PE Targets 22:58 Work Life Integration Today 24:20 Legacy and Industry Impact 25:30 How to Connect and Wrap Up www.econologicsfinancialadvisors.com

  8. Jul 29

    Dr. Mohit Joshipura on Building Scalable Telehealth: Clinical Integrity, Operations, and Profitability

    On the Underdog Physician podcast, host Anish interviews Dr. Mohit Joshipura, a dual board-certified internal medicine and obesity medicine physician and chief medical officer at OpenLoop, about his path from traditional outpatient practice in Dallas–Fort Worth (including experience after an Optum acquisition) to digital health leadership. Mohit describes early telemedicine exposure, then leading Oscar Health’s mid-2020 rollout of hybrid in-person/virtual care across multiple states during COVID, emphasizing cross-functional collaboration. He shares a framework for digital health leaders: clinical integrity, operational efficiency, and business profitability, with clinical integrity as non-negotiable, and advises clinicians to treat interviews as two-way culture assessments. For physicians interested in advising or investing, he recommends first working as a telemedicine clinician and learning licensure, credentialing, modalities, regulations, and controlled-substance considerations. He discusses telemedicine’s future adoption, reimbursement uncertainty, AI’s shift from generative to agentic workflows, startup success factors, work-life tradeoffs, licensure strategy including IMLCC, and his desired impact expanding virtual care responsibly. 00:00 Introduction and Welcome 01:17 Origin Story 04:10 Transition to Digital Health 06:44 Mindset Shifts for Physicians 09:18 Balancing Clinical and Business 12:44 Getting Started in Health Tech 15:43 Future of Telemedicine 19:24 AI in Healthcare 21:33 Startup Success Factors 24:14 Work Life Integration 28:05 50 State Licensure Strategy 30:57 Legacy and Final Thoughts

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About

The Underdog Physician podcast is for pre-med students, medical students, residents, and attendings who feel like they’re underdogs. I am a physician practicing in the US, hosting this podcast to be a source of inspiration for those willing to embrace their challenges and beat the odds no matter where they are in their entrepreneurial or academic journey. I will be discussing physician entrepreneurship and sharing the journeys of those who aspired to serve society in unique and creative ways. Listen as I interview amazing physicians who overcame great odds and are now doing amazing work.

Information

  • Creator
    The Underdog Physician
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    105
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © The Underdog Physician
  • Show Website
    The Underdog Physician Podcast