Women Surgeons, click here if interested in the retreat in Cabo.

Have you ever considered the creative process of your favorite artist?

I, personally, will never forget the moment I found out that Jerry Seinfeld wrote his jokes on napkins!

Comic book artist and family practice physician, Dr. Ryan Montoya, comes on the show to talk about his evolution as a physician and an artist, how he balances his dual life, and the value of a creative outlet.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• From Rags to Resilience: Growing up on welfare in California and being treated like just another number, then moving to Massachusetts and experiencing a system that valued him as an individual.
• Education & Isolation: How higher-quality education and feeling singled out shaped his perspective and fueled his drive.
• Creativity as Survival: Using art, movement, and creative thinking to solve problems when conventional support systems weren’t enough.
• Capturing Creative Moments: The importance of noticing and preserving moments of creativity in everyday life.
• Learning from the Greats: Insights drawn from creative icons like Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David on harnessing creativity effectively.
• Creativity vs. Anxiety: Why channeling energy into creative outlets is healthier than letting the brain default to anxiety.
• A New Lens on Media: How approaching shows and comics with a creative, analytical mind can unlock new perspectives.
• Balancing Medicine & Art: Managing parental pressure to pursue medicine while following artistic passions, and finding harmony between professional and creative endeavors.
• Preventing Burnout: How maintaining a creative outlet and staying aligned with personal values protects against professional exhaustion.
• Career Wisdom: The pitfalls of overvaluing power, status, or wealth over meaningful experiences, and the importance of self-knowledge before taking leadership roles.
• Introspection & Self-Knowledge: Understanding your conative style, whether you’re a visionary or implementer, and how tools like the Kolbe Index can guide career and creative decisions.
• Creating for Yourself: Embracing imperfection, starting before you’re ready, and why being “paid for your art” transforms you from hobbyist to professional.
• Who Before How: Why understanding yourself and your values is always the first step in any field or endeavor.

Follow Dr. Ryan Montoya on instagram here.

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Learn more about the Hippocratic Collective here.

Dr. Ryan Montoya, MD is a board certified Family Medicine physician. He graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Biology, and completed graduate courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University, before attending medical school and residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Montoya provided full spectrum family medicine care and opioid addiction medication assisted treatment (MAT) at a Federally Qualified Health Center while starting his own direct primary care practice in Massachusetts. He has lived and provided community healthcare in the countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina and India, and acted as the Associate Medical Director of Planned Parenthood in Washington, DC. He currently serves as the Physician Medical Officer for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia.

Aside from the practice of medicine, Dr. Montoya is a professional comic book artist and writer whose works have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine and Scientific American. He received art training from the Massachusetts College of Art, Art Institute of Boston, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Joe Kubert School of Comic Book Art. He has also worked as a luggage and trunk designer for the brand Goyard and a project manager for the CIFF Raven fashion fair in Copenhagen and the Devambez Panorama fashion collective in Paris.

Dr. Montoya’s describes his blog, “Forced Perspectives,” as follows: 

 “I am interested in perspectives: what does the world of medicine look like from the patient’s point of view, and from the provider’s point of view. I’m attracted to stories devoted to the mundane, nuanced experience of receiving medical care in the United States, and I want to write essays and illustrate comics that explore the interface between patient and provider on a small and large scale – whether that means discussing just how informed your “informed consent” might be, to how the color of your skin might affect your medical bill. My hope is that these pieces will be informative, engaging, and fun. If you also find them compelling, transcendent, ground-breaking, and award winning, I won’t be upset.”