I wanted to speak with Melicia because her experience of burnout had guided me to know when I was ready to leave academia. But I also knew how hard she still worked to do her research and support her community and I wanted to understand how she coped. I particularly wanted to hear her ideas about systems change and how communities can lead change. Her description of a training program to reduce bias in healthcare was an added bonus I was not expecting and relevant because burnout in physicians can also lead to bias.

Please watch my TEDx talk: https://youtu.be/9YY0gVnVPoQ