The Medicine Mentors Podcast

Diane Reidy-Lagunes, MD, is the Vice Chair of Oncology Operations, Regional Cancer Network at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In the past, she has served as the President of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Medical Staff. Dr. Reidy-Lagunes’ primary focus is treating gastrointestinal cancers and developing methods to integrate molecular-based therapies into the treatment of neuroendocrine tumors, as well as designing and conducting clinical trials to better treatment strategies for patients with this uncommon cancer type. At a national level, she is a member of the National Cancer Institute neuroendocrine tumor task force and the Neuroendocrine Tumor Biospecimen Consortium. She is also the Creator and Host of Cancer Straight Talk Podcast which brings together national experts and patients with cancer to have straightforward, evidence-based conversations.

"I was caring for an amazing woman who understood her sickness, but her husband was upset. She often asked him to leave the room when she spoke with the medical team. She ultimately opted for hospice and passed away after three months. Her husband called and said that I killed his wife. I didn't hear anything for a few months, and then, one Saturday morning, a floor head nurse calls and says, ‘Dr. Reidy, there's a protest outside and they have your picture on the poster.' I wanted to die...I couldn't get over that this was happening. I immediately called my mentor Dr. Lenny Saltz....” Join us for this special episode with oncologist and host of the Cancer Straight Talk Podcast Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes as she shares the impact mentors can have, not only professionally, but in dealing with major life crises.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. Let passion lead your innovation. Anybody can have a smart idea, but actually executing on the plan and following up takes passion. Passion takes commitment so it’s important to ask yourself if you’re happy with where you’re at in life and where you’ll be in 5-10 years. 2. Innovation is not just coming up with a new plan for something, it takes building and testing. If you’re told that your idea won’t work but you believe in it, try it out and see if the final product doesn’t change minds.  3. Sometimes we can think of teamwork as the opposite of leadership, but true teamwork and true leadership both have the same thing in common; groups of people working together toward a singular goal. Good leadership and good teamwork come from setting good examples for each other.  4. In your career as a physician, you’ll make mistakes or be blamed for things out of your control. It’s important in these moments to have people you can call for clarity, but also to know that mistakes are portals to discovery and action.

Rachna Shroff, MD, is the Chief of the division of Hematology/Oncology and Associate Director for Clinical Research at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She is a clinical and translational investigator focused on developing novel targeted therapies and immunotherapies for pancreatic and hepatobiliary cancers and has led multiple clinical trials including the first randomized phase 3 trial in biliary cancers in the US. An internationally recognized expert, she is one of three women to achieve the prestigious 2022 Women in Oncology Award.

“You have to understand your why and then let that drive you… be open-minded and try all kinds of different activities and opportunities. It’s a little bit of throwing darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks, and then going with your gut. Ask yourself, ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’ Once you understand your legacy, you can create metrics for [your] success." In this episode of The Medicine Mentors, we discuss discovering our why and creating a long-lasting legacy with Dr. Rachna Shroff.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1.  ‘What do you want your legacy to be?’ is a different question than ‘What is your why?’ Once we understand what we want our legacy to be, we can start creating the metrics for success. 2. It’s essential to have the right people on board and maintain that network of mentors. One of the secrets to maintaining this network is to stay connected with them and keep them updated with what's going on in our lives. 3. If we can first learn how to take good care of patients, we’ll identify the needs because the paramount questions come from the clinic. It will take a while, but our persistence, diligence, hard work, and patience will pay off.

Elizabeth Jaffee, MD, is an internationally recognized expert in cancer immunology and pancreatic cancer. She is the Deputy Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Co-director of the Skip Viragh Center for Pancreatic Cancer and Associate Director of the Bloomberg Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Her research focuses on developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment and prevention of pancreatic cancer. Dr. Jaffee is a past president of AACR. She has served on a number of committees at the National Cancer Institute including the Co-chair of the Biden Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel which identified high research priorities for the NCI.

“You can be an amazing scientist, but what's most important is that whatever you do in science has implications for the patient.” From being inspired by Dr. Marie Curie’s biography as a child to now becoming one of the leading names in pancreatic cancer research internationally, Dr. Elizabeth Jaffee helps us re-focus on the patient and our role as ‘physician’ scientists. Tune in to this episode of The Medicine Mentors as we journey with Dr. Jaffee to connect the science with the patient.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. Regardless of the direction we take in our professional journey, we have to keep the implications of our actions and research focused on our patients and how we can help them. 2. While leadership is a forefront activity and mentorship an educational activity, both can be thought of as similar in that you’re helping someone become the best version of themselves. That means taking into account each individual’s strengths and weaknesses and tailoring that to the intended outcome. 3. Don’t have just one mentor. It’s futile hoping that one person can teach you everything you’ll need to know. Find a network of individuals that can help you, which starts by putting yourself out there as someone who wants to do more and wants help.

 

Robert Mayer, MD, is the Faculty Vice President for Academic Affairs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Stephen B. Kay Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he serves as the Faculty Associate Dean for Admissions. He directed the Dana Farber’s Medical Oncology Fellowship Program for over thirty years, overseeing the training of several hundred oncologists and established the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Mayer is a past president of American Society of Clinical Oncology and has been a recipient of numerous awards including ASCO’s Distinguished Achievement Award and the prestigious Giants of Cancer Care award.

“Medicine is complicated now, [but] it's still the basic principle of people caring for people, trying to do good and making their lives better. I always tell people, ‘Put your feet in the water and see what there might be.’ Try different things; don't think you know the answer before you really have a chance to see what all the opportunities are. When people give you a chance, take an interest in you, advise you, or guide you, say yes, listen, and go for it. Those are opportunities that are very special.” Having been provided rare opportunities by his mentors, Dr. Robert Mayer now does the same for his mentees. Tune into this episode of The Medicine Mentors to learn more.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. Availability is the key value of implementing a patient-first attitude because we have less time to get to know the patient and yet still have a responsibility to build the same level of comfort for their care. 2. Instead of looking for success in accolades and accomplishments, true success for physicians is knowing your patients and treating them over time. Caring for someone and keeping them priority means being a successful physician. 3. If somebody takes a chance on us, the least we can do is put our foot in the water and say yes, because those are opportunities that are very special.

Charles W. Sorenson, MD, is the President and CEO Emeritus of Intermountain Healthcare and the Founding Director of the Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute. Intermountain Healthcare is a not-for-profit system of 33 hospitals (including virtual hospitals), a Medical Group with more than 3,800 physicians and advanced practice clinicians at about 385 clinics. Prior to that, he served for eleven years as Intermountain’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Currently he serves as an Executive Coach at MEDI, the largest executive coaching firm in the nation dedicated exclusively to the healthcare industry. Additionally, he is an Adjunct Professor of Surgery at the University of Utah. He has been noted amongst 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare.

“Be capable, be affable, and be available. You've got to first become a very capable physician, and just going to medical school or even doing residency doesn't do it. So, do your best to become a doctor's doctor.” Dr. Charles Sorenson, the Founding Director of Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute, has been at the forefront of medicine’s leadership for decades now. Join us in this episode of The Medicine Mentors as Dr. Charles Sorenson shares his transformation from being a surgeon to becoming an influential healthcare leader, the elements needed for tomorrow’s physician leader, and how to be a force of trust in healthcare.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. Try to employ a ‘success without side effects’ mentality, where putting the interests of your patients before your own becomes the point of success and not whatever outcome you expected.  2. A professional is one who is cognisant of how they affect a team or a patient. The patient’s best interest is also a professional’s best interest.  3. A leader doesn’t always need a professional title or role. Learn to lead in the role you have now. In other words, learn to harness the referent power you have everyday to influence and change things for the better. Improve upon your character and competence follows.  4. Leadership means being affable, available, and capable. Being affable means having the humility to recognize your own limitations and knowing when to seek out advice or help. Being available means saying yes to opportunities and being open to risk. Being capable means to not only be a competent physician but learning to be a ‘doctor’s doctor.’

Konstantinos Arnaoutakis, MD, is an Associate Professor of Medicine In the Division of Hematology and Oncology. He also serves as the Program Director of Hematology Oncology fellowship at the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. His primary research interests are lung cancer and novel therapies. He is the Coordinator of the Thoracic Malignancy disease-oriented committee (DOC).

“They say it takes two to tango.” Recognizing the value of the mentoring relationship means understanding both sides have their own perspective. Join us in a discussion on the Medicine Mentors with Dr. Konstantinos Arnaoutakis and his mentee, Dr. Arya Mariam Roy, as we dive into the specifics of mentorship from both sides of the coin. Tune in as we chat about how important it is for mentees to initiate mentorship and how a mentor can help their pupils in more than one way, as Dr. Arnaoutakis says, “successful physicians never became successful on their own.”

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. A self-made man is a flawed concept based in ignorance. Just so, successful physicians never become successful without a mentor.   2. A mentor wears many hats. They should be invested in your professional as well as your personal development. In such a long-standing relationship, they should invest time into the work you’ve put in as well as giving honest feedback.  3. The mentee should  take the first step into the mentoring relationship and be able to follow through with expectations of working hard, being trustworthy, and caring.  4. Trustworthiness comes from caring well for your patients, for yourself, and for the community in general. Don’t worry about your capability, as long as you’re hardworking, honest, and care, capability will come along with that.

Yelena Y. Janjigian, MD, is the Chief of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is an internationally renowned medical oncologist who specializes in the treatment of malignancies of the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Janjigian runs clinical and translational studies designed to develop better prevention, early diagnosis, staging and treatment strategies for patients with esophageal and stomach cancer. She is a recipient of numerous awards and was recently inducted as a member of American Society of Clinical Investigation.

“Oftentimes, fellows will present every detail of how the patient presented, the quality of their dysphagia, what they could eat and not eat for a patient with known biopsy positive gastric cancer and skim over the fact that the patient lives three hours away and can’t participate in a clinical trial or that they are scared to death of having a port placed because they recently had a love one die of cancer who had a port. It's an understanding of barriers, fears, and social background that ultimately guides treatment. As a trainee, learn to get the patient to tell you things that are not in the chart.” Join us on an inspiring journey from Azerbaijan to New York with Dr. Yelena Janjigian, the Chief of GI Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. 

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. We should be closers: People who can who can start and finish a project, bring something to fruition and close on it before progressing to the next stage.  2. The ability to get patients to talk about what’s not in the charts by breaking down barriers will create a sure-fire marker of greatness in a physician.  3. In the world of medicine, leadership is not about dictating or directing, it’s more about serving and supporting the people under us and around us.

Tyler Johnson, MD, is a physician, author, educator, and humanitarian. He is a medical oncologist at Stanford University. He leads Stanford’s inpatient oncology services, and is one of the principal faculty members of the Stanford Educators-4-CARE program. Dr. Johnson is an author with a growing reputation for insightful analysis of the intersection of medicine, ethics, and spirituality; his writings have been featured by Religion News Service, the Salt Lake Tribune, BYU Studies, Dialogue, and The San Jose Mercury News. Dr. Johnson co-hosts "The Doctor's Art," the world's leading podcast dedicated to the examination of humanism in medicine.

“There is an element to [being a physician] that you just can’t find good words to describe other than things like spiritual and sacred.” While some have trouble finding the right words for it, Dr. Tyler Johnson provides us with a great one - ineffable. Tune in to an enlightening discussion with author, educator, host of ‘The Doctor’s Art’, and medical oncologist at Stanford University, Dr. Johnson, as we explore the ineffable side of medicine that drives us. Join us as we tap into the spiritual side of medicine, find out why kneeling and being eye-level to a patient can “puncture the aura of arrogance,” and why “we have to hold a space for mystery within medicine” to keep our passion from extinguishing.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. Treat rigorously but care tenderly. In order to care we must relate, and a quick way to puncture the aura of arrogance typified with a doctor is to kneel at a patient’s bedside, or at least be eye level. Seeing someone eye to eye communicates a message that says I’m here to serve you.  2. On the path to achieving great heights, don’t forget to remember the permanent things like relationships and the journey that sustain you. Your promotion or job will not love you back.  3. It doesn’t have to be a church or an organization but lend yourself to a group that holds you accountable to a higher power or standard than yourself. Connect with something bigger than yourself that makes you reflect upon your actions in ways you don’t already.

Marcel van den Brink, MD,  is the Head and Alan N. Houghton Chair of the Division of Hematologic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He is internationally renowned for his work in the field of bone marrow transplantation, the gut microbiome, and immunotherapy. He is also the Co-Director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Chairman of the Board of DKMS, an international nonprofit organization devoted to bone marrow donor registration. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and he has been elected to the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for his contributions in the field of hematologic malignancies.

“Finding solutions is often as simple as shutting up and listening to what people formulate as the problem and what they have thought of as the answer. Without fail, I’m surprised that they’ve got something better than I could have come up with.” Join us in this episode of The Medicine Mentors where Chairman of Heme Malignancies at MSKCC, Dr. Marcel van den Brink, shares tips of effective leadership. Tune in as we learn about the five-minute ‘no talking, only listening’ rule at the start of meetings and why the best leaders find comfort in not knowing everything.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. We will be leaders before we know it, and the simple formula of leadership is listening. When we conduct meetings, all we have to do is be quiet for the first five minutes and listen. 2. To know when we are ready to move on to the next stage, the next level, we have to know what we don’t know, that is, do we know how to prioritize what matters, and if not, are we ready to seek help for it? 3. Failure and success often follow a 9:1 ratio, and so, to increase our chances of success, we should try our hands in different endeavors to see where we can truly shine. 4. Just like listening is the pathway to leadership, respect is the pathway to teamwork, and we should be mindful of it in our day-to-day interactions.

Saby George, MD, FACP, is a Professor of Oncology and Medicine within the Department of Medicine and Director of Network Clinical Trials at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a prominent clinical investigator in the kidney cancer space. Dr George is passionate about teaching and mentoring and is a champion advocate for his fellows.

“I was lucky enough to work with some great mentors and envisioned a career I’d like.” Illustrating the power of mentorship, we sit down with Dr. Saby George in a discussion on mentorship, best practices for researchers, and why it’s important for mentors to be unselfish and encourage independence. Join us on another empowering episode of the Medicine Mentors, as we dive into the fine print of mentorship from a master researcher and lauded mentor. Tune in as Dr. George shares with us the mentors that helped guide him to the position he’s in now, how he actively champions mentees by offering independent opportunities, and how the best piece of advice he got was simply to be more patient.

Pearls of Wisdom:   1. When looking for success in medicine, you must look at the legacy you’re leaving behind. Mentorship helps us create an environment that continuously strives to push the field forward and leave behind a track-record of improving. 2. A few things to keep in mind when looking for mentors are: competing interests between a mentor and mentee should be avoided, and entering the relationship with honesty and truthfulness will prove to provide a strong relationship. 3. When identifying the traits of a great mentor, you should be able to see that your mentor is invested in seeing you succeed, is unselfish, and able to give honest feedback along with reasonable goals and expectations.  4. While it can be comfortable to work under the supervision of a mentor, a good mentee should seek out opportunities for growth and independence. Your mentor should provide you with roles and opportunities that help you feel comfortable in your skin.  5. A small but often overlooked detail for clinical and basic science researchers is to make sure you’re setting realistic timelines and following through. Especially for conferences or studies, be sure to follow through and stay persistent.