84 episodes

The SIM podcast is dedicated to helping students and physicians achieve success in medicine. With interviews and a review of research in different areas, including career development and well-being, as well as clinical and non-clinical careers in medicine, Drs. Rajani Katta and Samir Desai present evidence-based advice and a range of insider perspectives.

Success in Medicine Drs. Rajani Katta and Samir Desai

    • Education
    • 4.9 • 37 Ratings

The SIM podcast is dedicated to helping students and physicians achieve success in medicine. With interviews and a review of research in different areas, including career development and well-being, as well as clinical and non-clinical careers in medicine, Drs. Rajani Katta and Samir Desai present evidence-based advice and a range of insider perspectives.

    Energized at work: Episode 14 with Healthcare Administration Leader Dr. Abbey Vandersall

    Energized at work: Episode 14 with Healthcare Administration Leader Dr. Abbey Vandersall

    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 solve?"

    · She also recommends that students investigate areas that intrigue them. For herself, she was absolutely fascinated during a lecture on the business of healthcare in her third year of medical school, and she later explored a summer experience in consulting.

    · One final piece of advice that she shared to medical students was to not be afraid to reach out to people that you don’t know. She says that people are often far more willing to help than we would realize.

     

    AMSURG: https://amsurg.com/

    Dr. Abbey Vandersall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbey-vandersall-md

    • 31 min
    Energized at Work: Episode 13 with Family Practice Physician/ Fair Trade Medicine Proponent Dr. Andru Zeller 

    Energized at Work: Episode 13 with Family Practice Physician/ Fair Trade Medicine Proponent Dr. Andru Zeller 

    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 assessment.


    Dr. Zeller initiated a volunteer health apprentice model, which helps provide direct patient care experience to pre-health students, as well as functioning to keep costs down so that the clinic can continue to function sustainably.


    He is also developing Pain Scan, which is a technology-assisted pain evaluation system. He saw the need for such a system, as he treats many low-income, hard-working people. 


    He became interested in integrative medicine during residency, and incorporates this into pain management.

    To learn more about Dr. Zeller and the Pain Scan System, please see these links:

    Simply Saludpainscansystem.com

    • 29 min
    Energized at Work: Episode 12 with Pediatric Allergist/Immunologist Dr. Pooja Varshney

    Energized at Work: Episode 12 with Pediatric Allergist/Immunologist Dr. Pooja Varshney

    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, with an explosion of knowledge in the basic science and clinical aspects of food allergy.

    When I asked her how she handled such a busy practice, she highlighted several important strategies. 


    One is knowing your priorities, and making sure that you protect time for those priorities. 
    Her research days are protected time, meaning that she can focus completely on her clinical research patients during that time. 
    She also highlighted that if you are employed, you need to set these goals in your job description.
    She also described “earning your autonomy“, meaning that performing at a high level over the years means that with time, you can work your way to a place where you can structure your job duties around your goals.
    It’s important to have agency to be able to design the job that you want.
    Her entrance into clinical research was really helped by having a mentor in her fellowship, going to professional meetings, presenting her work, and collaborating and networking and committees

    • 20 min
    Energized at Work: Episode 11 with Dermatologist Dr. Stephanie Cotell

    Energized at Work: Episode 11 with Dermatologist Dr. Stephanie Cotell

    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, and she highlights the autonomy she enjoys in this practice setting. 

    As reports continue to be released about physicians who are seeking non-clinical careers, I was so glad to highlight the experience of a physician who has been a happily practicing clinician for years.

    • 24 min
    Energized at work: Episode 10 with Dr. Srihari Gopal, Drug Development Leader

    Energized at work: Episode 10 with Dr. Srihari Gopal, Drug Development Leader

    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 now. In this episode, he provides some great advice for medical students and physicians who are interested in learning more about working in the pharmaceutical industry

    • 17 min
    Energized at Work: Episode 9 with Dr. William "Brett" Perkison, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Physician

    Energized at Work: Episode 9 with Dr. William "Brett" Perkison, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Physician

    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 “Brett” Perkison, M.D., MPH, FACOEM:

    Dr. Perkison is an Assistant Professor on faculty at the University of Texas School of Public Health, where he is the program director for the UT Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency. Prior to joining the UT faculty, he has had extensive experience managing occupational health services in both the energy and health care industries. During his career he has also been involved in leading disaster response efforts in the Houston area for numerous flooding events, including for Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, and Harvey.

     

    Occupational Medicine College Web Site: https://acoem.org/

    American Board of Preventive Medicine: https://www.theabpm.org/

    UT Occupational and Environmental Medicine residency website:

    https://sph.uth.edu/research/centers/swcoeh/occupational-environmental-medicine/

    Link to Dr. Perkison's publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1pa0ucD38iwAs/bibliography/public/

    • 29 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
37 Ratings

37 Ratings

Mick Mankato ,

Amazing and helpful

I think that medical students have an affinity towards trying to better understand the nuances of the application process for residency. Sometimes, however, this need for understanding leads to misdirected theorizing and misguided decisions that have a major impact on where a student matches for residency.
Here, in this podcast the authors lead an honest discussion that is backed by research about many of the important details in the application process that are commonly overlooked by applicants.

In summary, I highly recommend this podcast and its associated books.

Steve podcast ,

Well worth the time

This podcast is packed with good info / insights, and well worth the time to listen.

malpallz1234 ,

Great information!

This podcast is very informative! Thank you for creating it!

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