Social Rounds

In this episode of Social Rounds, Tony, Frances Mei, and returning “friend of the pod” Ryan Montoya get honest about joy—how medical training erodes it, how it’s weaponized against trainees, and what it actually takes to reclaim it.

From phone detoxes and small daily creative rituals to reading fantasy novels in secret and hiding cultural lunches in elementary school bathrooms, this conversation moves from playful chaos to deeply personal territory. The trio also debuts a new segment, Majority / Minority, unpacking the first moments they realized they were “different” and how those moments shape identity, ambition, and survival in medicine.

Funny, uncomfortable, and unexpectedly tender, this episode is a reminder that joy isn’t frivolous—it’s protective.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Ryan Montoya: @ryan_montoya_art

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

Tony shares a moment that restored his faith in humanity: a vaccine discussion in a parents’ group chat that didn’t implode.

From there, he and Frances Mei unpack why rational health conversations feel so hard to come by, especially in the U.S.—and why community matters more than ever. The episode winds down with real-life holiday talk: family traditions, work-life tension, vision boards, and how people actually reset for the year ahead.

In this episode of Social Rounds, Frances Mei and Tony take on a dynamic that almost every woman doctor has felt but few talk about openly: dating while out-earning your partner. They dig into the cultural scripts that still tell women to downplay ambition, the discomfort some men feel around female success, and the quiet identity negotiations that happen inside modern relationships.

Instead of offering tidy answers, they share real stories, ask better questions, and explore what it means to build relationships that can hold two full, complex people. It’s a sharp, honest conversation about money, ego, partnership, and the freedom that comes from refusing to shrink.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat  

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd  

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this week’s Social Rounds, Tony & Frances Mei pull back the curtain on one of medicine’s worst-kept secrets: sycophancy. Why do so many trainees learn to smile, nod, and swallow their opinions? And how did we get to a place where disagreeing with an attending feels riskier than doing the wrong thing?

They unpack the unwritten rules of hierarchy — the quiet calculations trainees make to stay safe, the way questionable comments get brushed aside, and how all of this chips away at psychological safety and moral clarity. Along the way, they swap stories, compare notes, and even draw parallels between medical trainees and AI: two systems trained to please instead of push back.

It’s honest, a little uncomfortable, and very on-brand for Social Rounds — a conversation about power, integrity, and whether medicine is finally ready for a culture where people can say the quiet truth out loud.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat  

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd  

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

This week on Social Rounds, Frances Mei, Tony, and the self-appointed “voice of the people,” Dr. Ryan Montoya, descend into absolute chaos.

What starts as a simple Thanksgiving check-in becomes a masterclass in disastrous feedback stories, violent revenge fantasies in hospital hallways, and the single worst metaphor ever uttered on this show (“Plantation Rock”… yeah, we go there).

We debut a new segment — Friendly Fire — where Ryan grills the hosts with increasingly deranged rapid-fire questions.

Superpowers, worst movies, seat-choice ethics on airplanes, January 6 alibis, and which specialty you want in your pandemic bunker… it only gets more unhinged.

If you’ve ever wondered how doctors actually talk to each other, or what happens when three people with no business podcasting together decide to do exactly that, this is the episode.

Chaos, confession, loyalty tests, and a little holiday peacekeeping. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat  

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd

Ryan Montoya: @ryan_montoya_art  

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this episode, we dig into the exploding trend of breast-milk sharing—an underground practice driven by desperation, inequity, and a system that leaves new mothers to fend for themselves. We trace how social pressure, economic strain, and impossible postpartum expectations push parents to seek milk from strangers online, often without any medical screening or safety oversight.

We talk openly about the real risks: contamination, harmful substances, and the absence of public health protections. But the larger question is the one no one wants to touch—why do women have to rely on unregulated networks in the first place? This episode pulls back the curtain on a growing public health crisis and asks what it would take to build a society that actually cares for mothers and infants.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat  

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd  

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

On this week’s Social Rounds, Tony and Frances Mei go from the universal pain of long-haul flights (and the rise of the Butt Donut Brotherhood) to one of the biggest breakthroughs in women’s mental health: a new blood test that can predict postpartum depression with over 80% accuracy. They break down the biology, the stigma, and why so many women suffer in silence.

Then, the conversation turns to stigma in medicine—how weakness is weaponized, how shame gets baked into training, and why physicians are conditioned to hide anything that looks like vulnerability.

Finally, Tony shares a rare, raw story about a capital-F failure from med school—walking at graduation with an empty diploma folder after failing a rotation during a major depressive episode—and how it reshaped his understanding of shame, resilience, and what failure actually looks like in medicine.

Oh—and yes, they absolutely cover the Kentucky woman who opened a package full of severed fingers (???), because of course they do.

Topics:

– The science behind postpartum depression

– Why stigma still controls medicine

– Failure as a doctor: the stories people never tell

– Cadaver-lab scandals & severed-finger delivery nightmares

– How to stop letting shame run your life

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: @wheyouat  

Frances Mei Hardin: @francesmeimd  

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

In this episode of Social Rounds, surgeons-turned-dropouts Frances Mei and Tony revisit the myths and realities of what it takes to stay healthy—in and out of medicine. It starts with a story from their first week of residency, when an upper-level told them to “know your alcohol tolerance.” What followed was a crash course in stress, survival, and misplaced wellness advice. From the marketing origins of the 10,000-step myth to the real metrics that matter for health, they explore how doctors—and everyone else—can move, rest, and live without guilt or burnout.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: https://www.instagram.com/wheyouat/

Frances Mei Hardin: https://www.instagram.com/francesmeimd/

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

00:00: The First Week of Residency

04:17: Debunking the Myth of 10,000 Steps

15:59: Health Scares and Life Changes

20:19: Understanding Food Relationships and Coping Mechanisms

34:21: Navigating Professional Ethics: Alcohol and Responsibility

37:31: Navigating Patient Relationships

45:21: The Heist Theme: A New Direction for Social Rounds

It’s Halloween on Social Rounds, and Tony and Frances Mei are in rare form. Between witch hats, hangovers, and parental sleep deprivation, they cover everything from the science of “short sleepers” (can you really thrive on four hours of sleep?) to the most audacious Louvre jewel heist in recent history.

In true Social Rounds fashion, they tie it all back to medicine — what surgeons can learn from jewel thieves about staying cool under pressure, why residency interviews bring out everyone’s inner weirdo, and whether charisma can actually be taught (spoiler: Frances Mei thinks it can, Tony isn’t so sure).

Stay for the unfiltered advice for medical students, residents, and attendings — and maybe a few tips for your next great escape.

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: https://www.instagram.com/wheyouat/

Frances Mei Hardin: https://www.instagram.com/francesmeimd/

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

Chapters:

0:00 Halloween stories & hangovers

5:00 Inside Baseball: short sleepers and residency PTSD

14:50 Outside Baseball: the Louvre heist

25:30 Social Rounds: how to survive interview season

42:00 Why charisma can (maybe) be learned

Welcome back to Social Rounds, the podcast where your two favorite Surgeon Dropouts, Tony and Frances Mei, give their unsolicited opinions on medicine, pop culture, and the world at large.

In Episode 9, Frances Mei is back from her sabbatical in Europe with tales of foreign travel and a mysterious new hat! Tony then delivers a fascinating deep dive into the winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine, breaking down the revolutionary discovery of Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) and the key role they play in autoimmune diseases and cancer treatment. They also discuss their own personal ambitions for a Nobel Prize (Peace vs. Literature).

Finally, the gloves come off in a rapid-fire pop culture segment as Frances Mei delivers her brutally honest take on Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Show Girl! Did the superstar break her own mythology? Tune in to find out!

Hosted by:

Tony Chin-Quee: https://www.instagram.com/wheyouat/

Frances Mei Hardin: https://www.instagram.com/francesmeimd/

Produced by: The Hippocratic Collective

00:00

Intro and Welcome to Social Rounds

00:48

Frances Mei is Back!Sabbatical Reflections and the Story Behind the Hat

02:48

Shoutouts to Devoted Listeners and Guest Hosts (Ryan Montoya, Joan Chan, Janet McMordie)

05:02

The Machiavellian Threat to Guest Hosts: "You come for the king you best not miss."

06:41

Sabbatical Takeaways: Travel, Culture, and the Value of Time Alone

10:36

Looking Ahead to the Social Rounds Halloween Episode

10:48

News Segment: The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine

10:59

The 2025 Nobel Laureates: Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi

11:15

Tony's Science Corner: The Immune System as an Army (Helper T's, Killer T's, and the Thymus Boot Camp)

13:25

The Discovery of Regulatory T Cells (Tregs) and the FoxP3 Gene

14:38

The Impact: Treating Autoimmune Disease, Preventing Organ Rejection, and Fighting Cancer

15:20

The Big Question: If You Won a Nobel Prize, Which Field Would It Be In? (Frances Mei: Peace, Tony: Literature)

25:09

Pop Culture Segment: Taylor Swift's New Album

25:31

The Global Phenomenon and Frances Mei's Critique of The life of a show girl

26:40

Taylor Swift "Broke Her Own Mythology" and the Joe Alwyn/Jack Antonoff Dynamic

28:49

The "No One is Telling Her No" Theory and Director Christopher Nolan

29:13

Discussion of the Song "Wood" (The Travis Kelce/Redwood Penis Analogy)

33:04

The "Writing for Travis's Reading Level" Theory

35:28

Frances Mei's Defense of the Song "Father Figure" (George Michael Sample)

36:31

Is This the Start of the Taylor Swift Fall Off?

39:30

Social Rounds Segment: Predatory Relationships in Medicine

40:49

What Training Level Difference Makes a Relationship "Officially Predatory?"

43:20

Frances Mei's "Five-Year Differential" Rule

43:51

The Med Student/Senior Resident Scenario and the Power Dynamic

47:17

The Importance of Perceived Power (Interns as "Superstars")

49:30

The Advice Paradox: Just Get Out Now (But You'll Do It Anyway)

51:43

Tony's Advice: Look Past the Status and Ask Deeper Questions

53:21

The Litmus Test: "Would I date this person if they weren't a doctor?"

54:50

Wrap-up and Outro (Next Week: Halloween Episode)