Scrubs to Startups

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast for surgical professionals who are building something beyond the bedside, a business, a brand, a movement, or a new chapter entirely. Each episode is a candid conversation with a clinician or healthcare professional who took a different path, what pushed them to make the move, what the difficult parts actually looked like, and what they learned along the way.

Our Guest

Kristin Burton, PA-C, is a practicing physician assistant, entrepreneur, financial educator, author, and founder of Millionaires in Medicine, a personal finance platform built to help medical professionals take control of their money, build wealth, and create greater freedom in their careers.

Kristin graduated PA school with $161,000 in student loan debt and initially focused almost entirely on becoming debt free. After reaching that goal, she realized eliminating debt was only one part of the equation. She began studying investing, business, asset ownership, and financial independence, eventually turning her own experience into the resource she wished she had as a new graduate.

In this episode, Kristin and Dan talk about the financial blind spots many healthcare professionals face, why paying off debt is different from building wealth, and why clinicians need to spend time learning about money and business just as seriously as they learned medicine. Kristin also explains why the first years of a medical career can be so important financially and how increasing income, investing intentionally, and understanding your long term goals can change the trajectory of your career.

The conversation also explores side hustles, entrepreneurship, and ownership. Kristin shares how networking led her to opportunities including expert witness work and speaking engagements, and how clinical income combined with nonclinical side hustles helped her build her first seven figures before her business became a major source of wealth.

Kristin also challenges the idea that healthcare professionals need extraordinary physician level incomes to become wealthy. She explains how PAs, NPs, pharmacists, and other medical professionals can achieve financial independence, while also discussing why moving beyond simply trading time for money can create another level of freedom and opportunity.

The episode also dives into her book, The PA Millionaire Path, why she decided to write a personal finance book specifically for PAs, and the importance of creating financial education for clinicians who have traditionally been left out of the wealth building conversation.

Your Host

Dan Payson is the CEO of All-Stars Surgical Assist, the nation's leading physician owned platform supporting surgical first assistants. His career spans more than a decade at the intersection of clinical care and business, from clinical neurophysiology and neuromodulation at Medtronic, to spine sales at NuVasive, to founding Payson Partners, a healthcare management and growth consulting firm.

Dan has spent his career inside the OR and in the boardroom, giving him a unique perspective on what it takes to turn clinical experience into new opportunities.

Connect With All-Stars

allstarssurgicalassist.com

Reach out at [email protected].

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast by All-Stars Surgical Assist, produced and edited by Niche & Needle Marketing.

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast for surgical professionals who are building something beyond the bedside, a business, a brand, a movement, or a new chapter entirely. Each episode is a candid conversation with a clinician or healthcare professional who took a different path, what pushed them to make the move, what the difficult parts actually looked like, and what they learned along the way.

Lou Magrone, DPT, is an entrepreneur, healthcare business leader, real estate investor, and cofounder of All-Stars Surgical Assist.

Lou began his career as a physical therapist before financial pressure and a willingness to take a risk pushed him into medical device sales. With no operating room background, he entered a new territory, learned the business from the ground up, and eventually built a successful career working with surgeons and healthcare systems.

In this episode, Lou talks openly about nearly facing bankruptcy early in his career, leaving the security of clinical practice, learning sales through experience, investing in real estate, recovering from setbacks, and developing the discipline required to continue moving forward when things do not go as planned.

The conversation also goes inside the creation of All-Stars Surgical Assist. Lou and Dan discuss identifying a real need among independent surgical first assists, building the company without a traditional playbook, managing rapid growth, hiring too late, creating infrastructure, and learning how to build a company with a business partner whose skills and personality are very different from your own.

Lou also shares one of his biggest lessons for clinicians considering entrepreneurship: start taking calculated risks early, build something on the side, create revenue before walking away from your primary career, and understand that there is no replacement for consistent work.

New episodes drop monthly.

Dan Payson is the CEO of All-Stars Surgical Assist, the nation's leading physician owned platform supporting surgical first assistants. His career spans more than a decade at the intersection of clinical care and business, from clinical neurophysiology and neuromodulation at Medtronic, to spine sales at NuVasive, to founding Payson Partners, a healthcare management and growth consulting firm.

Dan has spent his career inside the OR and in the boardroom, giving him a unique perspective on what it takes to turn clinical experience into new opportunities.

New episodes drop monthly. Subscribe and leave a review. It helps more surgical professionals discover the show.

Website: allstarssurgicalassist.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allstarssurgical/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/All-Stars-Surgical-Assist/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/all-stars-surgical-assist/

Are you a clinician or healthcare professional who has built something beyond your traditional career? We'd love to hear your story.

Reach out at [email protected].

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast by All-Stars Surgical Assist, produced and edited by Niche & Needle Marketing.

Most clinicians spend years mastering what happens inside the OR. Few talk about what's possible outside of it.

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast for surgical professionals who are building something beyond the bedside, a business, a brand, a movement, or a new chapter entirely. Each episode is a candid conversation with a clinician who made the leap: what drove them there, what the hard part actually looked like, and what they know now that they wish they'd known sooner.

Alyssa Ellis, CSFA is a surgical first assist, educator, and founder of Beyond Assisting, one of the fastest growing educational platforms for surgical professionals. What began as sharing practical OR tips on social media has grown into a thriving business featuring an educational app, children's books introducing careers in the operating room, online resources, and a community reaching hundreds of thousands of healthcare professionals. Alyssa shares how she transformed nearly two decades of OR experience into a mission focused on education, mentorship, and helping the next generation succeed.

New episodes drop monthly.

Dan Payson is the CEO of All-Stars Surgical Assist, the nation's leading physician owned platform supporting surgical first assistants. His career spans over a decade at the intersection of clinical care and business, from clinical neurophysiology and neuromodulation at Medtronic, to spine sales at NuVasive, to founding Payson Partners, a healthcare management and growth consulting firm. Dan has spent his career inside the OR and in the boardroom, making him the rare host who speaks both languages fluently.

New episodes drop monthly. Subscribe and leave a review. It helps more surgical professionals discover the show.

Website: allstarssurgicalassist.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allstarssurgical/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/All-Stars-Surgical-Assist/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/all-stars-surgical-assist/

Are you a clinician who's built something beyond the bedside? We'd love to hear your story. Reach out at [email protected].

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast by All-Stars Surgical Assist, produced and edited by Niche & Needle Marketing.

Most clinicians spend years mastering what happens inside the OR. Few talk about what's possible outside of it.

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast for surgical professionals who are building something beyond the bedside -- a business, a brand, a movement, or a new chapter entirely. Each episode is a candid conversation with a clinician who made the leap: what drove them there, what the hard part actually looked like, and what they know now that they wish they'd known sooner.

Our Guest

Michelle Dellene, Michelle Dellene, PA-C -- Florida-based neurosurgery PA, president of the American Academy of Surgical PAs (ASPA), and founder of Detox to Heal. Michelle's story starts in trauma neurosurgery and takes a turn most clinicians never see coming: a 2020 MS diagnosis that doctors said should have ended her career. Instead of stepping away from medicine, she turned to yoga, transcendental meditation, and an anti-inflammatory protocol rooted in Eastern medicine, and put her MS into remission within eight months. She took everything she learned and built Detox to Heal, a coaching and wellness business helping healthcare providers manage burnout and reclaim their health through online courses, one-on-one coaching, and international wellness retreats. She's also the current president of ASPA, where she leads efforts around surgical CME and advocacy for the PA profession in the OR. https://www.michelledellene.com/

New episodes drop monthly.

Your Host: Dan Payson

Dan Payson is the CEO of All-Stars Surgical Assist, the national surgical staffing company built to support surgical first assistants across the country. His career spans over a decade at the intersection of clinical care and business -- from clinical neurophysiology and neuromodulation at Medtronic, to spine sales at NuVasive, to founding Payson Partners, a healthcare management and growth consulting firm. Dan has spent his career inside the OR and in the boardroom, which makes him the rare host who speaks both languages fluently.

Find the Show

New episodes drop monthly. Subscribe and leave a review -it helps more surgical professionals find the show.

Connect With All-Stars

Website: allstarssurgicalassist.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allstarssurgical/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/All-Stars-Surgical-Assist/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/all-stars-surgical-assist/

Want to Be a Guest?

Are you a clinician who's built something beyond the bedside? We want to hear your story. Reach out at [email protected]

Scrubs to Startups is a podcast by All-Stars Surgical Assist, produced and edited by Niche & Needle Marketing, owned by Camden Olivero.