Surgeons’ Lives - Stuff that Matters

John Monson
  • 5.0 (3)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Surgeons tell their life stories beyond the workplace - Stuff That Matters

  1. FEB 8

    Valentine Nfonsam - The Journey from Cameroon to Chair!

    The latest episode of #Surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters is out now with valentine who talks us through a life journey from Cameroon to Chair! To describe Val Nfonsam as an over achiever would be too easy because he is much more than that. He is currently the Chair of Surgery at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia having moved there from a 2-year stint as Chair of Surgery in LSA, Louisiana. However, when he was in school in his home country of Cameroon, Central Africa, his main concern was getting to high school and university. High school and undergraduate studies were in neighboring Nigeria before he landed in Chicago in the winter. Postgraduate study was followed by a decision to go to medical school. He was no sophisticate in that process but due to a combination of hard work, talent and some luck he landed in the University of Illinois. Residency soon followed before he went to the University of Arizona in Tucson for 11 years. His ambition to lead a Department landed him in LSU for 2 years before his current position. The LSU experience was challenging and mistakes were made and lessons learnt in what Val describes as part of life's journey. Don't forget that is you prefer to listen rather than watch then the full interview is available on all your favorite podcast audio platforms such as Spotify and Podbean. #surgery #lifelessons #leadership #lifestyle #cameroon #morehousecollege #colorectalsurgery #mistakes https://www.msm.edu/about_us/FacultyD... https://www.msm.edu/Education/surgery...

    52 min

  2. JAN 4

    Matt Albert talks TAMIS, stress, travel, choices, fishing and what might be next

    This is a very special episode of #Surgeonslives #Stuffthatmatters Matt Albert is one of the best known colorectal surgeons worldwide. A florida boy through and through he truly hit the big time with TAMIS which he co-invented but popularized around the world. Always moving at maximum speed in everything he does he is a truly accomplished technical surgeon, a gifted teacher and a powerhouse of an intellect. I think he probably qualifies as a polymath being a single-fiber handicap golfer, deep sea fisherman, innovator and inventor was well as being an exceptional surgeon. However, all of that comes with a cost for any person and Matt is no different in that regard. He has learnt the lessons of stress management over many years and sometimes the hard way. In this interview, we cover some of those aspects of his life journey, the need for having fun to decompress and the benefits of engaging in therapy - "everyone needs a therapist" as he says. Pease dont forget to like and subscribe to the channel and send lots of comments. If you prefer to watch rather than listen then the full interview is available on the Youtube channel  https://x.com/TAMISYoda #tamis #appliedmedical #surgery #stressrelief #stressmanagement #lifestyle #worklifebalance #colorectalsurgery #laparoscopictechniques

    1h 1m

  3. 11/16/2025

    Mark Evers talks Cancer Center Leadership, Small town beginnings, mentorship and Rolling Stones fandom!

    In the latest episode of #Surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters we meet Dr Mark Evers. He is a surgical oncologist and cancer researcher who is the head of the Markey cancer center at the University of Kentucky? In the years he has been at the helm of the cancer center, he has led it to NCI Cancer Center designation in 2013 and ultimately Comprehensive Cancer Center designation 10 years later. Mark grew up in the smallest of small towns in southern Tennessee and was the first of his family to go to college. An early mentor was Dr. Hiram Polk in Louisville before he spent 20 years at the university of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was mentored successively by Dr. Jim Thompson, and then Dr. Courtney Townsend. Anyone would have expected him to become a Chair of Surgery in a high-ranking Academic Medical Center but he decided to follow another path when recruited to become the director of the cancer center in 2009. The conversation today was fascinating as he describes growing up from the humblest of backgrounds to becoming one of the true leaders in cancer medicine in the United States. Throughout all of this time, he has been a passionate and dedicated Rolling Stones fan, having gone to more than 50 concerts over the years in multiple different countries around the world. If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then you can find the full video interview of this podcast on the dedicated @Youtube channel. As always, please don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel and send me whatever comments you have in mind. #surgery #nci #cancercenter #mentorship #rollingstones #universityofkentucky #smallbeginnings https://www.lanereport.com/179579/202... https://www.susweb.org/2021/10/20/sus...

    58 min

  4. 10/26/2025

    Ashok Pathak - from India to East Yorkshire and a career in Surgery, Cricket and Giving Back

    Ashok Pathak from Hull in the UK, recently retired after a wonderful career as an Orthopedic Surgeon and leader in the creation of a career pathway for the Associate Specialty grade trainees. Born and educated in India where his father was a chest physician and a man who taught the values of giving back to those in need. The family established a hospital to treat Tuberculosis - almost endemic in the early 1950's - and it grew to 150 beds at one point in time. All the treatment was totally free and Ashok still runs the charity today. As a young Indian man, cricket was very important to Ashok to because a wicketkeeper and batsman playing first class cricket for his University and State. A passion for him as a young man, this is still his first love today and he has travelled to world watching many test matches live. However, medicine (and surgery) was an even bigger draw so he moved to the UK and has basically spent almost all of his career in East Yorkshire - where we first met in 1993. During this interview, he describes the career challenges, casual (and not so casual) career racism he faced in the early days and the work he ultimately did as an advocate for parallel trained doctors within the NHS. He was awarded the MBE for his services to medicine in England and India. Here is a man who understands the important things and values in life. Family, kindness, caring for those in need - truly #stuffthatmatters Don't forget, if you prefer to watch rather than listen, the full interview is available on the @youtube channel for #Surgeonslives #cricket #surgery #givingback #racisminsurgery #nhs #yorkshirecountrycricket #othopedicsurgery #familybusiness #charitymatters https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashok-pathak-243bb861/?originalSubdomain=uk http://cricketbeyondboundaries.com/india-hull-medicine-cricket-and-charity-an-anglo-indian-affair/ https://indianexpress.com/article/news-archive/print/indianorigin-surgeon-honoured-with-mbe-in-uk/?ref=archive_pg

    52 min

  5. 10/13/2025

    Matt Weiss talks career, changing direction and fixing cancer care from within a big system

    Matt Weiss is the deputy physician in Chief and Director of Surgical Oncology at Northwell Health Cancer Institute. He is an internationally recognized surgical oncologist with a special interest in pancreatic cancer and particularly interested in outcomes and matters of quality. His early career followed a very traditional academic pathway culminating in a long period on Faculty at Hopkins where his senior mentor was Dr. John Cameron. As everyone knows, there is an expectation that Hopkins surgeons will become a Chair of a university department so it was a surprise for many when Matt changed direction and joined Northwell Health a few years ago. As he describes in this fascinating interview, he was unable to resist the opportunity of improving cancer outcomes from within a large system like Northwell Health that cares for so many lives. Of course, he's still harbors ambitions on the academic front and believes that one day he will become a Chair when the time is right. But for now he is passionately engaged in the vision of a system approach. Of course, there is more to this man than his surgical career. A worryingly, good golfer, he is a lapsed fisherman and overcame his midlife crisis by buying a Porsche. He is also a fan of the Rolling Stones. Don't forget to like and subscribe to the channel and send your comments. If you prefer to watch rather than listen, then this interview is available the #surgeonslives @YouTube channel. https://www.northwell.edu/find-care/find-a-doctor/dr-matthew-john-weiss-md-1568416618 https://x.com/surgeonweiss https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-weiss-b1155a6/ #northwellhealth #pancreaticcancer #Hopkinssurgery #academicsurgery #research #surgeryrecovery #cancer #rollingstones #fishing #familytime

    58 min

  6. 09/14/2025

    Samir Pathak talks about surgery, racism, cricket and charity

    Samir Pathak is an HPB surgeon from Leeds in the UK. The family business has been medicine for several generations, but he has also been brought up immersed in the Indian culture of cricket - and in his family's case charity. n this truly fascinating interview, he discusses his early surgical career and training. This was impacted by having undergo multiple operations before the age of 10. He also describes another family passion which is cricket -where he almost made the first class level. A truly challenging experience for him was being asked to Chair a committee, investigating the accusations of institutional racism in Yorkshire County Cricket Club. To call that task, a poisoned chalice would be an understatement, but he speaks quite openly about the experience, both good and bad, including the inevitable frustrations of political interference and how it has guided his future approach in his work life as well as outside. His grandfather and father have been involved in a tuberculosis treatment charity in India which is still helping people today. For his part, Samir has established a charity that brings the most under privileged children possible to the UK within a cricket environment in a way that truly changes the direction of their lives. This is not the typical interview from Surgeons Lives, but I think you will find it fascinating and I hope you will agree that Samir has established a very high bar to be admired. If you prefer to watch rather than listen, don't forget that the full interview is available on the #Surgeonslives #YouTube channel. Please don't forget to like and subscribe and comment about this interview. https://yorkshireccc.com/news/club-statement-2/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-pathak-08525236/ https://x.com/drsampathak?lang=en #surgeryrecovery #racism #cricket #pancreaticcancer #neilsmart #research #surgery #surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters #charity #givingback #familybusiness

    56 min

  7. 08/03/2025

    Sherry Wren - Stanford Surgeon talks about Humanitarian Surgery, No longer being the Bridesmaid, Sci-Fi and Diving

    Dr. Sherry Wren is a Professor of of Surgery at Stanford in California but in this interview with Surgeons Lives it's evident that she is a lot more than that. An early career was spent chasing the academic pinnacle of being a Department Chair, but after a number of years of always being the bridesmaid and never the bride, she experienced an epiphany that made her realize that this was no longer the most important thing to her in life. Today, she remains a busy and active clinical surgeon over the last decade or more, her real passion has developed in the arena of global and humanitarian surgery. She started by making brief visits to conflict zones around the world providing direct clinical care, but soon realized that teaching people how to deliver care was far more beneficial as a long-term investment. She continues with this passion today. During the conversation today, we hear about her early experiences growing up in Chicago, pursuing a profession with very few women in sight and her personal enthusiasm for sci-fi literature, good food, and regularly spending time on dive boats in exotic locations such as Indonesia. Don't forget if you prefer to watch rather than listen, this entire interview and all the others from this series can be found on the dedicated @Youtube channel @surgeonslives. Please also don't forget to like, subscribe and comment to the channel so that we can see your feedback. #globalsurgery #scifi #americancollegeofsurgeons #humanitariansurgery #surgery #leadership #academicsurgery #womeninsurgery #lifestyle #careerambition #departmentchair https://www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/bulletin/2022/nov-dec-clinical-congress-2022-highlights/sherry-m-wren-md-facs-fcs-ecsa-elected-as-acs-secretary/ https://stanfordhealthcare.org/doctors/w/sherry-wren.html https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherry-m-wren/

    58 min

  8. 07/20/2025

    Lord Ara Darzi - Part 2. Life after Government, Mistakes made and where to now for the NHS

    Latest episode of #surgeonslives #stuffthatmatters Agree with him or not, it cannot be denied that Lord Ara Darzi has definitely seen under the hood at the inner working of central government when it comes to setting policy and the delivery of healthcare within the UK. In this - the second episode with Ara - he describes how he came to become part of Government for two years, taking him away from a spectacular career as an academic surgeon with an amazing flare for innovation and thinking outside the box. Since that time, he career has gone from strength to strength as he has undertaken a whole raft of different initiatives covering global health, technology and most recently, antimicrobial resistance. Thankfully for him, Ara has learnt to tune out the noise that comes with such high profile roles and avoid distractions that always try and divert his focus from the target ahead. A modest and respectful man if you have any interest in the world of healthcare, you could be well advised to listen to some truly profound and insightful comments about what has and has not gone well in the last few decades and where the future lies to right the ship again. Also available as a full video option on the #Surgeonslives YouTube channel @Surgeonslives  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ara_Darzi,_Baron_Darzi_of_Denham https://www.imperial.nhs.uk/consultant-directory/ara-darzi https://royalsociety.org/people/ara-darzi-11300/ #innovation #artificialintelligence #surgery #politics #antimicrobialresistance #research #leadership #nhs #darzilord #healthcareinnovation

    56 min
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Surgeons tell their life stories beyond the workplace - Stuff That Matters

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