Are you a woman surgeon interested in our Cabo retreat? Click here before we fill our cohort!

Today I’m talking with financial activist, author, and viral TEDx speaker Mel Dorman about how to create wealth in a way that’s simple, sustainable, and rooted in community. This conversation will stick with you long after you listen.

Watch their TEDx talk [here], grab their book [here], and explore the Seller Finance Academy [here].

Ready to join Empowered Surgeons? Click here.

Women Surgeons interested in the Self-Concept Weekend in Cabo, click here to schedule a 15 min interview with me.

In this episode, my guest, Dr. Priya Kothapalli, and I discuss the beauty and power of intuition, the challenges of corporate medicine, imposter syndrome, don't know mind, and what it's like to have the courage to design a life true to oneself.

Priya Kothapalli, MD, is a coronary and structural heart disease interventional cardiologist based in the Dallas Fort Worth area, model, yogi, and host of the Open Heart podcast.

Follow Priya on instagram here. Follow her podcast, which debuts this fall, here.

Join Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Check out Hippocratic Collective here.

After a tragic car crash in 1983 changed the course of his family forever, Dr. Brian Hoeflinger pursued neurosurgery with a new sense of purpose. Decades later, when his teenage son died suddenly in a car accident, he found himself once again reshaped by grief. In this episode, Dr. Hoeflinger shares how these experiences inform the way he practices medicine: communicating with clarity, leading with empathy, and honoring the reality that it’s families who must live with the consequences of life-and-death decisions. He and his son, Kevin, open up about what it means to carry unimaginable loss, and how they've chosen to turn tragedy into a source of hope, compassion, and human connection.

You’ll hear:

• How loss reshaped their family and his career as a physician
• Why talking about death matters more than avoiding it
• The art of skillful empathy and being present without absorbing every tragedy
• Why doctors should guide, not decide, for families

Dr. Hoeflinger's words of wisdom for physicians:

"The world’s not on your shoulders…Don't expect so much of yourself."

"Spend more time away from the hospital."

Follow the Hoeflinger podcast on Apple podcasts here and on YouTube here.

Get on the Dr. Hoeflinger newsletter here.

Follow Dr. Hoeflinger on instagram here.

Join Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Check out Hippocratic Collective here.

Are you a woman surgeon interested in the Cabo retreat Jan 9-11? Click here to learn more about it. Click here if you're serious and get on my calendar for a 15 min interview.

Dr. Karuna Dewan was accepted to medical school at just 16 and knew early on she wanted to be a laryngologist. Today she is an Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, the Jonathan Glass, MD & Cherie-Ann Nathan, MD Endowed Professor in Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, and Director of the Ark-La-Tex Voice, Airway and Swallow Center at LSU Health Shreveport.

But her path was anything but straightforward. In this conversation, she opens up about the bullying, rumors, and systemic failures she endured during residency, and the long shadow of trauma, PTSD, and professional stigma that followed.

Dr. Dewan speaks candidly about:

• How residency culture can mirror high school bullying.
• The “weaponization of professionalism” and the absence of true advocacy for residents.
• Why labeling trainees as “problem residents” causes lasting harm.
• The power of mentorship, and what anti-mentors teach us.
• Concrete ways faculty can offer curiosity, specificity, and constructive feedback instead of dehumanizing criticism.

She also shares how she rebuilt her confidence, thrived in a new residency, and now fiercely supports her own residents with kindness and compassion. Her story is one of resilience, advocacy, and a vision for a future where training doesn’t come at the cost of humanity.

“I didn’t get here by magic. I earned this.” – Dr. Karuna Dewan

Follow Karuna on instagram here.

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Learn more about the Hippocratic-Collective here.

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.

Join Empowered Surgeons group here.

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.”

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

Master storyteller and fellow disrupter, Dr. Frances Mei Hardin comes on the podcast to discuss the article The Impossible Oath.

We talk about what the Hippocratic Oath is and, perhaps more importantly, is not.

You'll learn how the system grooms us for "betrayal blindness" and why a better-you-than-me, cut throat mentality isn't good for anyone.

Dr. Hardin recounts a residency moment when she was wrongly reprimanded, an experience many of you will recognize.

Finally, we address the disproportionate number of women and minorities placed on remediation plans.

Learn more about the Hippocratic Collective here.

Join Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Frances Mei Hardin, MD, is a reformed gunner. She survived ENT residency, practiced solo in the rural South, and then peaced out of medicine entirely to start the Hippocratic Collective. She decoupled her self-worth from her identity as a surgeon, survived an ego death, and is now entering her mogul era—writing her first book, building a physician-led media empire, and making the kind of stuff she wishes existed back when she was white-knuckling her way through surgical training. She no longer thinks being a doctor is her whole personality. You shouldn't either.

Are you a woman surgeon ready for a transformative January (1/9/26-1/11/26) retreat in Cabo? Click here to book your call and see if it’s the perfect fit for you.

Your self-concept is the story you tell yourself about who you are. It shapes everything: the decisions you make, the risks you take (or avoid), and the way you show up in the world. But most of us never consciously choose it. Instead, we inherit it from cultural messages, past experiences, and unconscious beliefs we’ve never questioned.

In this episode, we explore the hidden beliefs that quietly steer your career, relationships, and happiness as well as the behaviors and emotions of imposter syndrome, people-pleasing, or perfectionism.

Because changing your self-concept is not about waiting for confidence to arrive; it's about deciding to become the person you want to be, and then stepping into your power.

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Learn more about Pearson Ravitz here.

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective here.

What happens when the surgeon becomes the patient? When the body you relied on to do your life’s work… stops cooperating?

Today’s guest, Dr. Stephanie Pearson, walks us through her powerful, often painful journey, from aspiring pediatrician to ObGyn surgeon to founder of PearsonRavitz, a physician disability insurance firm born from lived experience.

This episode is a raw, inspiring conversation about loss, identity, reinvention, and the deep cracks in our medical system that no one talks about until it’s too late.

We cover:

🔹 Wanting to be just like her childhood pediatrician, and realizing in med school she couldn't make kids cry

🔹 The inappropriate OR moment that changed her surgical trajectory (and the perfect clapback that still lives rent-free)

🔹 Falling in love with ObGyn by accident and matching into her dream program

🔹 The career-ending injury: torn labrum, frozen shoulder, being called a “pussy” by an orthopedic surgeon, and ultimately losing her surgical identity

🔹 The spiral that followed, and how a puppy and her husband saved her life

🔹 What happens when physicians become the meanest part of your grief

🔹 Losing everything that brought joy: martial arts, rock climbing, her career

🔹 Trying to rebuild through med mal, biotech, editing, until nothing lit her up

🔹 The disability insurance nightmare (rejected workman’s comp, denied group policy), and why she sued the state of Pennsylvania

🔹 Getting licensed in insurance and crying in her car when she passed... because she didn’t get an A

🔹 Why musculoskeletal injuries are just the tip of the iceberg for physician disability

🔹 The “emotional ergonomics” of surgery and why we need an ergonomic time-out

🔹 What it means to “protect the asset”

🔹 People-pleasing, perfectionism, and the impossible standard for woman surgeons

🔹 How understanding both medicine and insurance is her value add

🔹 Building a mission-driven business (Pearson Ravitz just turned 8!)

🔹 Why she won’t be satisfied until every resident is covered

🔹 The quiet truth: Physicians are human. Health issues happen. And identity can evolve.

Medicine often forgets the people who live just beyond the call room: the spouses, the partners, the ones holding it together while the system pulls physicians apart. In this conversation, we meet Hannah and Chris, a couple who turned conflict into clarity.

As the husband of a physician, Chris found himself isolated and invisible during Hannah’s residency. What followed were hard conversations, conscious choices, and a shared commitment to rewrite the rules. Together, they challenge the unspoken norms of medicine, from toxic gratitude and performative suffering to the misplaced belief that having a family somehow weakens you as a physician.

They also introduce their project, The Other Side Med, aimed at supporting the often-ignored partners of those in medicine and building a new vision of success that includes relationships, rest, and real human connection.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• The origin story of The Other Side Med and why male spouses of doctors need their own space
• Chris’s emotional turning point, and the conversation that changed everything
• The unspoken rules in medicine that quietly punish anyone who colors outside the lines
• The cultural gaslighting of residents: ‘if you can’t deal with it, change your choices’
• How Hannah protected herself during pregnancy without asking permission
• Why 70% of what happens in medicine would get you fired anywhere else
• You don’t need to leave your personal life at the door, and why integration makes doctors better
• The difference between transactional and relational medicine
• Their personal non-negotiables and how you can start defining your own
• Learning to say “no” with intention, knowing it will get easier every time

Key Takeaways:

• “You're not alone.” Whether you’re getting married, raising kids, or prioritizing your health, there’s no one right way to do medicine.
• Define your non-negotiables. What do you need (relationally, physically, emotionally, spiritually) to feel whole? Those are your anchors.
• You don’t need permission. From scheduling OB visits while pregnant to creating boundaries, advocacy doesn’t require approval.
• Toxic appreciation is real. Gratitude shouldn’t be used to normalize exhaustion or mistreatment.
• Say no, and mean it. If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no. Protecting your time and energy isn’t selfish; it’s essential.

Follow Other Side Med on instagram here.

Learn more about the Hippocratic Collective here.

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

If you enjoyed this topic, you're going to want to join Empowered Surgeons. There’s a dedicated classroom to this topic in the “Surgeon Self-Concept” module. Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Watch Charles Duhigg's TEDx talk here.

Get his book, Supercommunicators: how to unlock the secret languange of connection here.

To recap

Supercommunicators:

1. Listen closely to what’s said and unsaid
2. Ask the right questions
3. Recognize and match others’ moods
4. Make their feelings easy to read

The four types of conversations are:

1. Social
2. Emotional
3. Experiential
4. Practical

Social conversations answer the question, "Who are we?" The goal=acknowledgement.

Emotional conversations answer the question, "How do we feel?" The goal=empathy.

Experiential conversations answer the question, "What was that like?" The goal=understanding.

Practical conversations answer the question, "What's the solution?" The goal=decision making.

The more we match and synchronize with the person we’re communicating with, the more effective the communication becomes. Doctors often try to jump straight into practical conversations with patients, believing it saves time. In reality, first matching the patient’s style of communication and then gently guiding them into a practical discussion is a far more efficient—and effective—approach.