Episode Description:

In this episode of High Impact Medicine, we speak with Dr. Carl Otto Schell, a senior consultant physician, global health researcher, and co-inventor of the Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) movement. With extensive experience across emergency medicine, internal medicine, cardiology, and critical care, Dr. Schell brings a rare blend of clinical insight, systems thinking, and policy leadership to this conversation.

We explore how Dr. Schell’s work-from Sweden to Tanzania, Malawi, and Sri Lanka, has led to a global reimagining of critical care: not high-tech ICUs, but low-cost, life-saving basics delivered system-wide. Through EECC, he’s helping shift the global health agenda toward universal access to vital emergency interventions, no matter the setting or resources.

This conversation is essential listening for anyone interested in health system transformation, global health equity, and how data-driven clinical work can save lives at scale.

What We Cover:

✅ The origins of EECC and why it's revolutionizing critical care
✅ How misconceptions about ICU care undermine global health
✅ Why vital signs, oxygen, and fluids save more lives than most realize
✅ The challenge of getting leaders to prioritize low-cost interventions
✅ Advice for medics seeking to combine clinical work and global systems change

Key Takeaways:

Most critically ill patients never reach an ICU, and many die without basic care.
EECC focuses on simple, cost-effective actions that can be implemented anywhere.
Impact requires systems change, not just individual brilliance.
Progress happens when clinicians use data to challenge assumptions.
A fulfilling career can combine clinical work, research, and advocacy, but not all at once.

Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction: From Sweden to Global Health
03:12 – What Sparked Dr. Schell’s Interest in Medicine
07:20 – Early Research in Ethiopia and Global Health Exposure
11:46 – Founding the EECC Movement
17:32 – What Is EECC and Why Does It Matter?
22:51 – Misconceptions About Critical Care Globally
28:43 – The Tanzania Implementation Project
33:05 – Balancing Research, Clinical Work & Systems Thinking
38:21 – Key Challenges in Global Health Delivery
44:50 – Advice for Future Medical Changemakers
49:00 – Books & Resources That Inspired the Journey

Referenced Resources:

🌐 Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC)
📚 How I Learned to Understand the World – Hans Rosling
📈 Gapminder – Global Health Visualizations
📄 Dr. Schell’s Peer-Reviewed Research

Dr Michael Greger is a physician and internationally recognized speaker on nutrition. His science-based nonprofit, NutritionFacts.org, offers a free online portal hosting more than 2,000 videos and articles on myriad health topics. Dr. Greger is a sought-after lecturer and has presented at the Conference on World Affairs and the World Bank. 

A graduate of Cornell University School of Agriculture and Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Greger is also an acclaimed author with more than a million copies of How Not to Die have been sold.

In this conversation, we discuss: 

Dr Greger’s personal story behind his path into lifestyle medicine 

The effects of lifestyle on health - with his recommendations to enhance health 

Multiplying his impact through books, lectures, and audio format 

Links 

Nutrition Facts.org (Dr Greger’s website) 

How Not to Die book 

Effective Altruism 

80,000 hours 

Give Well 

*Recorded Talk*

Dr. Akhil Bansal is a UK-based medical doctor and global health researcher. He is a research advisor for the Help Women and Girls Fund at The Life You Can Save. In this podcast, Dr. Bansal discusses his journey from treating victims of violence in emergency rooms to advocating for cost-effective, impactful interventions that aim to prevent violence against women and girls.

In this episode, we listen to a recording of Dr. Bansal covering the following:

 Links: 

https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/cause-funds/women-and-girls-fund/

https://www.charityentrepreneurship.com/

https://www.effectivealtruism.org/

https://www.whatworks.co.za/

Dr Keyur Doolabh is an Australian doctor, with a background in Emergency Medicine. He has interests in philosophy and making positive social change. He is the co-founder of a global health charity, Healthy Futures Global, that works to end congenital syphilis. 

In this podcast episode, we chat about: 

Links 

⁠Healthy Futures Global Website ⁠

⁠Peter Singer EA talk ⁠

⁠Charity Entrepreneurship Programme ⁠

⁠Poor Economics ⁠by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo 

⁠80,000 hours article⁠ on impact of a medical career 

Dr Anemone is a German doctor with a background in global health and infectious diseases. At the time of recording this podcast, she was working as an advisor at the nonprofit organisation 80,000 Hours. She is now pursuing a Masters in Public Health. Prior to all this, she was a clinical trial physician at Alvea, a start-up company aiming to accelerate medical countermeasure development and deployment for pandemic prevention.

Our discussion today covers: 

Articles, books and other media discussed in the show: 

80,000 hours Website and Career Guide 

Apollo Report 

80,000 hours Podcast Dr Tom Inglesby on how to prevent global catastrophic biological risks

Doing Good Better by William MacAskill 

Biosecurity Dilemmas by Christian Enemark

Dr Benjamin Alba is an Emergency Medicine doctor with experience in Expedition Medicine, having recently worked a whole season at Mount Everest. He is now transitioning into humanitarian medicine. He graduated from Cardiff University in 2018 and has gone on to pursue a career path well beyond UK hospitals. He is the founder of ‘Ubuntu Network’ - a space for expedition medical professionals to share experiences from expeditions, collaborate with others working in the field and connect with the wider expedition community.
We discuss:
- How the field of Expedition Medicine is organised
- The highs and lows of his season on Mount Everest
- The Ubuntu Network
- Shifting to a career in Humanitarian Medicine
Links:
For More from Dr Benjamin Alba, check out the ⁠World Expedition Podcast episodes.⁠
⁠The Ubuntu Network ⁠

Book:⁠ ⁠Frances Ashcroft - Life at the Extremes ⁠

Dr Yassen Tcholakov is a Canadian doctor and the Clinical Lead in Infectious Disease at the Nunavik Department of Public Health in Canada. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Public Health at McGill University, and he also currently serves on the Steering Committee of the WHO Youth Council. He has varied advocacy experience in representing organisations like the WHO, World Medical Association, and the International Federation of Medical Students Associations in front of the United Nations.

In this episode we discuss:

Yassen’s recommendations: 

Madhu Pai recommended reading list

Dr Ian Nesbitt is a consultant in anaesthesia and critical care. He has carried out life-saving treatments in some of the most challenging conditions with none of the resources typically available in a UK hospital. Having completed medical school at Newcastle Upon Tyne University, he then trained in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He has volunteered in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones, deployed to the Middle East in 2003 and carried out two tours of duty in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2010.

We discuss: 

Links mentioned: 

Become part of the David Nott Foundation 

Dr Aakash Ganju is a healthcare entrepreneur from India, after completing his medical degree he went on to co-found Saathhealth, an impact-focused digital health company that leverages evidence-based preventive health and financial literacy content to generate awareness, engage with users and drive demand for health products and services. To date, Saathealth has already engaged more than 50 million people in India and in several other countries across southeast and central Asia.  He is the author of ‘A Glass Half Full: Stirring Healthcare Conversations for a Better Future’

We discussed some interesting points:

Note: unfortunately the audio quality of our guest is not ideal (virtual interviewing challenges) nonetheless, I hope you find the content of the discussion as insightful and valuable as I did!

Show notes:

The Citadel - Book by A. J. Cronin
First published in 1937, this book was groundbreaking in its treatment of the contentious theme of medical ethics. It has been credited with laying the foundation in Britain for the introduction of the NHS a decade later.
Annapurna: The First Conquest of an 8000-Metre Peak Book by Maurice Herzog
Book by a French climber about the first expedition to summit and return Annapurna, a mountain in the Himalayas - a classic of mountaineering literature.

Dr Adrian Boyle is an Emergency Medicine Consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital Cambridge, UK. His research interests are about using health data to prevent intentional injury and reducing the harm of Emergency Department crowding. He is also President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine and a member of the Q community.

Resources mentioned in the interview:

1) Professor Jonathan Shepherd - who's field experiments and advocacy on glass injury resulted in a switch to toughened glassware and polycarbonate and plasticware in the UK licensed trade. His information sharing "Cardiff Model" for violence prevention inspired Dr Boyle's own work in Cambridge.