Show Notes
Help Ian interview all 120+ specialties! www.undifferentiatedmedicalstudent.com/suggestions/ Donations page! Show notes and links for this episode can be found here. Dr. Hodes is an American internist in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He is the Ethiopian medical director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a 103 year old organization that provides high-impact disaster relief and long-term development assistance worldwide. Dr. Hodes completed his undergraduate degree at Middlebury College in 1975; completed his medical degree at University of Rochester School of Medicine in 1982; and then completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University in 1985. Before completing his residency, Dr. Hodes made his first trip to Ethiopia as a relief worker during the 1984 famine. He then won a Fulbright Fellowship after residency to teach at Addis Ababa University School of Medicine from 1985-1988. In 1990, he joined the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to help care for the Ethiopian immigrants to Israel, work that eventually led him to become senior consultant at Mother Teresa's Mission, caring for sick and destitute patients. In addition to his work in Ethiopia, he has worked with refugees in Rwanda, Zaire, Tanzania, and Albania, in one instance being charged with the health of some 50,000 refugees in the Kibumba camp in Zaire. In 1999, Dr. Hodes met 2 abandoned orphans with Pott Disease (or, tuberculosis of the spine) and adopted them so that he could put them on this insurance so that he could bring them to the United States for surgery. This set in motion events that would see Dr. Hodes officially launch the Ethiopian spine program in 2006. During that first year, he got 20 new patients with spinal deformities. The clinic now averages over 1 new patient a day. Today, following nearly 3000 spine patients, Dr. Hodes partners with world-renowned, Ghanaian spine surgeon Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei, with whom he has arranged over 600 surgeries. Observing this, noted Indian spine surgeon Dr. S. Rajasekaran commented "Rick has the largest collection of the worst spines in the world." Dr. Hodes has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles in the medical literature; has been awarded 5 honorary doctorates; and has been a commencement speaker at multiple schools, including the University of Rochester, UC Davis, and Brandeis. The American College of Physicians has awarded him "Mastership" (the level of membership above fellow), as well as the Rosenthal Award for creative practice of medicine. He was recognized as a CNN Hero in the category "Champion of Children." He is the subject of 4 documentary films, including "Making the Crooked Straight" and "Zemene," as well as a book, "This is a Soul: the Mission of Rick Hodes" by Marilyn Berger. Dr. Hodes lives in Ethiopia with his family and patients. Please enjoy with Dr. Rick Hodes!
More from The Undifferentiated Medical Student
This is another exciting conversation with a physician who is following a non-traditional career path! Dr. Arup Roy-Burman Dr. Roy-Burman is a pediatric intensivist (aka pediatric critical care specialist) and former Medical Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Dr. Roy-Burman is now the CEO of Elemeno Health, which he cofounded in 2016. Dr. Roy-Burman completed his undergraduate degree at UC Berkley in 1989; completed his medical degree at UCSF in 1994; completed his residency in pediatrics at Stanford in 1997; and then returned to UCSF for a fellowship in pediatrics critical care (aka PICU fellowship), which he completed in 2000. After his fellowship, Dr. Roy-Burman took his first attending job at the Children's Hospital of Oakland eventually crossing the Bay to fill the role of Medical Director of the PICU at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital in 2011, where he was also the Director of Transport, Access and Outreach. In this dual role of Medical Director of the PICU and Director of Transport, Access, and Outreach allowed Dr. Roy-Burman to interact with large swaths of the healthcare system from inpatient to outpatient and with all sub-specialities who consult in the PICU. With this experience of the inter-workings of the hospital system combined with his clinical understanding of patient care and provider pain points, he decided to co-found Elemeno Health, which received backing from famed accelerator and venture capital firm, Y Combinator. At a high-level, Elemeno Health is a SAAS (software as a service) company whose software aims to help push best-practices to front-line providers as well as capture feedback from these front-liners, thereby closing the "knowledge-practice gap." ***Medical students, residents and all interested parties:*** If interested in joining the Elemeno Health team, Dr. Roy-Burman would love to hear from you at [email protected]! Please enjoy with Dr. Roy-Burman! P.S. We recorded this one in Dr. Roy-Burman's car on his drive from an investor meeting in Palo Alto back to his startup digs in Oakland, which makes for an interesting listen! Try to get through the first 5 minutes--the audio gets much better.
This is an exciting interview with Dr. Marty Makary, a New York Times bestselling author and Johns Hopkins surgeon, who talks about what he calls the "hybrid specialist" and the importance of non-traditional careers in medicine. Get a free audiobook along with a free 30-day Audible trial membership at www.audibletrial.com/TUMS Dr. Marty Makary Dr. Makary is a New York Times bestselling author and Johns Hopkins general surgeon and Professor of Health Policy. His book The Price We Pay (book trailer below) takes on surprise medical bills and reveals how individuals and businesses can lower their health care costs. Described as "a must-read for every American" by Steve Forbes and a "deep dive into the real issues driving up the cost of health care" by Dr. Don Berwick, The Price We Pay is the "The Big Short" of American Medicine. Makary is a frequent medical guest on NBC and FOX News and a leading voice for physicians, writing for the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Dr. Makary serves as executive director of Improving Wisely, a national physician collaboration to reduce unnecessary medical care and lower health care costs. He is also the founder of Restoring Medicine, an advocacy effort to help people who can't afford their medical bills. His current research focuses on the appropriateness of medical care, administrative waste, price and quality transparency, and the impact of health care costs on low-income populations. Dr. Makary was the lead author of the original articles on the Surgical Checklist and later served in leadership with Atul Gawande on the World Health Organization Surgery Checklist project. Makary has published more than 250 scientific articles, including articles on payment reform, vulnerable populations, and opioid prescribing guidelines. He is also an advocate for treating medical conditions when possible with healthy foods and lifestyle medicine. Dr. Makary has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine and named one of America's 20 most influential people in health care by Health Leaders magazine. Lastly, his book Unaccountable was adapted for television into the hit medical series The Resident. His newest book, The Price We Pay, now available for order online and in stores on September 10, 2019, tells the stories of health care's disruptive innovators and the new movement to restore medicine to its mission.
Get a free audiobook along with a free 30-day Audible trial membership at www.audibletrial.com/TUMS Dr. Tamar Shafran Dr. Shafran is an attending general and pediatric ophthalmologist in Cleveland, OH. Dr. Shafran received her medical degree from the Sackler School of Medicine in 2010; completed residency training in Ophthalmology at University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 2014, followed by a fellowship in Pediatric Ophthalmology at Rainbow Babies & Children's (also here at Case Western) in 2015. Dr. Shafran now practices both general and Pediatric Ophthalmology. She is also a diplomate of the American Board of Ophthalmology and a published author in medical literature with a strong background in teaching. She is married to a pediatrician, Dr. David Shafran, Dean of the Physician Assistant Program at Case Western, and resides in the Cleveland area with her children. Please enjoy with Dr. Tamar Shafran!
The topic of today's show is not a specialty, but rather a new podcast that I am very excited to help introduce to the world called All Access: Med School Admissions, and the person here to tell us about it is its creator and host, Christian Essman, the Director of Admissions at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. From the All Access website: Applying to medical school can be a very complex and confusing process! On top of that, finding reliable and accurate information about the application process can be even more challenging. With nearly 15 years of admissions experience, Christian Essman of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, gives the listener a unique view into the medical school admissions world through a series of revealing interviews with key admissions figures from around the country. All Access: Med School Admissions brings the listeners into informative and entertaining conversations between admissions colleagues. Listeners will learn about a variety of medical schools, what makes their programs unique, and what they are looking for in their prospective students. Most importantly, Christian will lead the discussion on a variety of medical school admissions-related topics where you will get insight directly from the most authoritative sources out there - his admissions friends. Subscribe on iTunes and Spotify. Email Director Essman at [email protected].
This episode is sponsored by Audible! Head over to www.audibletrial.com/TUMS for a free audiobook when you sign up for a free 30 day trial membership! Check out the TUMS Resources page for a complete list of book recommendations made by guests on this show (as well as other goodies). Dr. Janani Krishnaswami Dr. Krishnaswami is the Program Director of the Preventive Medicine Residency at the University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine. Dr. Krishnaswami received her medical degree from the University of Michigan in 2008; completed residency training in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente, as well as completed a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of California –Berkeley all by 2012, eventually taking the job as Program Director in 2015. Since completing her training, Dr. Krishnaswami's research has center on the cultural context of wellness and measuring "best practices" of community engaged programs focusing on preventing sedentary behavior and obesity. In support of this effort, Dr. Krishnaswami's has focused on building health "outside the hospital" by engaging students, community members and trainees in community-based, participatory efforts to promote wellness, prevent chronic disease, and sustain health. Prior to her role as Program Director at Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Krishnaswami served as the Associate Program Director for Preventive Medicine at the University of California – Los Angeles, where she led curriculum development on community engagement and quality improvement. In addition, she developed and taught a novel health policy curriculum for the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Internal Medicine residency program, and mentored Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residents through the program's first community-engaged research elective. Based on her work in curriculum design and medical education, she was invited to serve on the national steering committee directing the creation of a novel inter-residency health policy fellowship, led by George Washington University and Kaiser Permanente. Importantly, this work led Dr. Krishnaswami to establish the Preventive Medicine program at Rio Grande Valley as the first ACGME-accredited residency based on the "Community-Engaged Lifestyle Medicine" curriculum, which aims to build health equity and local health in the training of residents. In her spare time, Dr. Krishnaswami tends to her own wellness through her hobbies of writing, singing and fitness, and spending time with her husband and young son. Please enjoy with Dr. Janani Krishnaswami!