In this episode of The Emergency Mind Podcast, Dan Dworkis sits down with Patrick Pollock, the world’s first Professor of Veterinary Surgery and Remote & Rural Medicine, to explore what really happens when humans, animals, and complex systems collide.

ECMO does not succeed because of a single clinician, team, or device. It succeeds because of systems. In this episode of The Emergency Mind Podcast, Dan talks with Christine Stead, CEO of ELSO, about how innovation in ECMO emerges from networks of people, data, organizations, and shared purpose. From the early days of ECMO development to the global response during COVID-19, they explore how systems enable high-risk, high-complexity care to evolve under pressure.

What do theater, crisis response, military service, and social work have in common?

In this episode of The Emergency Mind Podcast, Dan Dworkis sits down with Adam Milano to explore a powerful idea: high-performance teamwork under pressure looks a lot like ensemble art.

Why do some performers keep improving under pressure while others hit a ceiling? One of the most powerful answers is curiosity. In this episode, Dan talks with Marius Aleksa, a performance advisor who has coached elite performers across professional baseball, special operations, medicine, and high-level athletics. Together they explore how curiosity helps people recognize their strengths, uncover hidden leverage points, and build the kind of solid foundation that supports growth at the edge of their ability.

Part 2 of 2! How do you know if your team is doing a good job? In this second part of a two-part series, we bring together leaders from medicine, the military, and crisis response to explore what team performance really means — and how to measure it beyond outcomes.

How do you know if your team is doing a good job? In this first of a two-part series, we bring together leaders from medicine, neuroscience, and crisis response to explore what team performance really means — and how to measure it beyond outcomes.

What happens when life-and-death decisions must be made by a team rather than an individual? In this episode, Dr. Mark Ramzy — cardiothoracic intensivist, emergency physician, and Co-Editor-in-Chief of REBEL EM — joins us to explore how teams think, decide, and act under pressure inside the ICU

What happens when life depends on perfect coordination between human and machine? In this episode, Thomas Preston — a veteran ECMO expert and executive leader at Integration Health — joins us to explore the high-stakes world of ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) and the complex teamwork it demands.

In this episode, Harry Moffitt shares his insights on human performance and philosophy. Moffitt, a director at Stoughton Group and Mission Critical Teams Institute, and a former SAS member, discusses his new book 'The Fourth Pillar: Modern Stoicism and the Philosophy of High Performance.' He touches on the importance of philosophy alongside physical, psychological, and social aspects of human performance. The conversation also explores the risks of modernity, the importance of maintaining humanity in high-performance environments, and how metaphors influence our understanding of development and growth. Harry challenges listeners to embrace philosophical practices and offers practical steps to maintain a balanced, fulfilling life.

How do complex systems shape the emergencies we face—and how can understanding them help you perform when it matters most?

In this episode, I talk with epidemiologist and emergency responder Geoff Dougherty about how complexity science shows up everywhere from individual patient care to statewide population health. We dig into what makes a system complex, why small changes can have massive effects, and how feedback loops, phase transitions, and path dependence shape what actually happens under pressure.