This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Joy & Wholeness Summit in Asheville, North Carolina.

Dhaval Desai was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and completed his undergraduate studies at Emory University. He completed medical school at American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in St. Maarten, performed his clinical years of medical school in New York City, and had the opportunity to rotate through various different community hospitals. He completed his residency at Wright State University School of Medicine in Dayton, Ohio in combined internal medicine & pediatrics and became board certified in internal medicine & pediatrics in 2012. After briefly working in Ohio, he joined Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital in 2012 as a hospitalist and serves currently as the director of hospital medicine. Desai also works at CHOA several times per year as a pediatric hospitalist. Over the past several years, he has developed a passion for the patient and human experience in medicine, focusing on patient-centered care.

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This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Joy & Wholeness Summit in Asheville, North Carolina.

Dr. Xi (Sisi) Hu is a Co-Founder and the Chief Wellbeing Economist of Atalan Tech, a mission-oriented startup focused on using machine learning to predict and prevent clinician burnout and turnover. She is also a Fellow of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and Research Economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research, with a research focus on labor issues. She specializes in modeling disruption and risks in labor markets, and is passionate about protecting the wellbeing of workers in the healthcare industry. Dr. Hu received a National Science Foundation grant to study COVID’s impact on healthcare workers. Her expertise is in risk science where her work has received media attention from around the world including the World Economic Forum, Sky News, the UN, among others.

Dr. Heather Schmidt is a family medicine physician in Fond du Lac, WI, who trained at Midwestern University and completed her residency at Exempla/St.Joseph’s Hospital. She became the Medical Director of Health and Wellness at Agnesian HealthCare in 2013 and transitioned to the System Medical Director of Healthy Work and Well-being for SSM Health in 2020. Dr. Schmidt has collaborated with various partners to integrate well-being into initiatives such as leadership development and employee safety and has been instrumental in implementing the SSM Health Care for Caregivers peer support system and Schwartz Rounds. She continues her medical practice with a focus on weight management and mental health and enjoys spending time with her husband and daughters, skiing and boating in Wisconsin.

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With a background in law, conflict resolution, health advocacy, and stress education, Pennie Sempell, JD, is well-equipped to address the critical issues surrounding burnout prevention in healthcare. As the CEO of StressPal, Pennie is at the forefront of innovation, developing ACCME and ANCC accredited programs that provide participants with a solid foundation of concise intervention strategies to excel in high-pressure situations and interactions. Pennie's educational background includes studies at UC College of Law in San Francisco, where she honed her legal acumen, and UC Berkeley, where she earned the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa distinction. Her diverse experiences and commitment to well-being in the healthcare industry make her a respected and knowledgeable expert in her field, poised to make a meaningful impact with her research.

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Britney Broyhill, DNP, ACNP-BC, FAANP, is the Senior Director of Advanced Practice for Atrium Health.

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Advocating for yourself is a crucial skill for well-being, professional identity formation, and career advancement as women in medicine. In this episode, our guest speakers touch on their RAFFT (Resident and Faculty Females Together) program, where participants learn tangible skills for building their own self-promotion toolkit. The program involves skill breakout groups that include hands-on guidance on crafting your elevator pitch, the art of negotiation,and tangible ways to advocate for yourself and each other professionally. The RAFFT program is a nationally recognized longitudinal professional development and well-being program for women in Emergency Medicine at The Ohio State University.

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Arpita Gupta DePalma, MD founded Thought Work, MD to help physicians and professional women learn how to identify, manage, and then let go of what is not serving them through transformational mindset coaching. She helps powerful women learn how to stay ahead of their anger so that they show up calm, collected and in control, ready to lead and execute with poise. In her one to one and group coaching programs, she provides clients the unique tools they need to optimize how they show up each day in order to accomplish more, while being happier doing so. Arpita specializes in helping clients with anger management, time management, perfectionism and self-worth issues, parenting and cultural disparities, business development, and any other area they want to up-level in their lives. As women, we work hard. We juggle multiple hats. We are tired, yet we delay our own self-care and celebrations in the interest of others, ultimately at our own expense. It’s time for a change. Let me help you empower yourself... to become exceptional.

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Jenny Michel is the Director of Advanced Practice at Akron Children’s and works clinically as a nurse practitioner in the emergency department. She is currently the co-chair of the provider resilience committee, the Well-Being index APP champion, and an advocate for recognizing the importance of provider wellness and improving the health and wellness of APPs. In 2022, she participated in the Intelligence for Quality Improvement program and completed a project with a focus on increasing APP interactions with the well-being index tool. She has previously presented on the topic of APP wellness both regionally and nationally and recently was recognized for her work to support APP wellness by the Ohio Organization of Nursing leaders as the recipient of the 2023 Workforce Wellness award.

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Amber Orman, MD, DipABLM is a double board-certified radiation oncologist and lifestyle medicine specialist focusing on focusing on breast cancer treatment and prevention, providing holistic care that encompasses mind and body. She is the first ever Chief Wellness Office (CWO) of AdventHealth Medical Group, working to improve the well-being of her colleagues. She is also the co-founder of the HEAL (Healthy Eating and Active Lifestyle) program at AdventHealth in Orlando, Florida. HEAL is an 8-week lifestyle medicine program designed to educate and inspire cancer patients to make positive changes to decrease cancer recurrence and improve overall healthspan. She collaborates with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine as a member of the Health Systems Council and also serves as the Chair of the Cancer Member Interest Group. She is the Medical Director of AdventHealth Lifestyle Ventures as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine.

She is a mother to 3 teenagers and 2 poodles, wife to a witty nephrologist, yogi, and ultrarunner who spends her free time trail running and summiting Colorado’s peaks. She is also well versed in the plant-based kitchen.

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This is Part II of a special two-part series on the Coalition for Physician Well-Being.

Note: This episode was recorded in September 2024, prior to the landfall of Hurricane Helene in the continental United States. The Coalition is dedicated to supporting the residents of western North Carolina and will produce the 2025 Joy & Wholeness Summit responsibly.

Robert M. Rodgers, MD, is a dedicated family medicine specialist based in Altamonte Springs, FL, with over 33 years of experience in the medical field. He completed his medical education at Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1990 and subsequently pursued a residency in Family Medicine at AdventHealth Florida (East Orlando) from 1990 to 1993. Currently, Dr. Rodgers is affiliated with AdventHealth Orlando and Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, Florida. He holds a Florida State Medical License valid through 2025 and is board-certified in Family Medicine. Dr. Rodgers serves as the Chief Medical Officer of the Primary Care Network at AdventHealth and Chairman of the Coalition for Physician Well-Being.

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This is Part I of a special two-part series on the Coalition for Physician Well-Being.

Correction: (9:07) This takes place at AdventHealth Hendersonville in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The original recording erroneously states AdventHealth Shawnee Mission.

About the Speaker
Michael Cacciatore, MD, is Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer for AdventHealth. In this role, he provides leadership and direction for safety and quality programs and the clinical performance of the company. He served as the Chief Clinical officer for West Florida Division from February 2022 - 2024. Previously he served as the Chief Medical Officer for AH Medical Group (AHMG) in Central Florida. He was the cornerstone of calm leadership throughout the pandemic. Under his leadership, Dr. Cacciatore helped create the first AHMG Wellness Committee and appointed the first-ever Chief Wellness Officer. In his 17-year tenure with our organization, Dr. Cacciatore served as Medical Director of the obstetrics hospitalists team in Central Florida and was a clinical faculty member in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for the AH Family Practice Residency Program. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of South Florida. He also completed his medical residency at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. Dr. Cacciatore, who goes by the nickname “Catch,” has a wife, son, and daughter. He was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, and his mother, brother, and sister are still part of the Tampa Bay Community.

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