Success in Medicine Drs. Rajani Katta and Samir Desai

Dr. Hardeep Singh is Co-Chief of the Health Policy, Quality, and Informatics Program at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine.

--He is a patient safety researcher and Professor of Medicine, and is committed to researching and developing resources to promote patient safety and diagnostic excellence in clinical practice. 

--His research on how to improve missed or delayed diagnoses has impacted many, and his research on how to improve the use of electronic health records (EHRs) has been used as the basis for policy changes by the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). He has also worked with the World Health Organization on patient safety issues. --One of the things that struck me during our conversation was how his career has been so mission-driven, starting with his observation of missed diagnoses during his years of practice as an internist in rural East Texas. Those experiences inspired him to seek out a research career, and later helped guide his efforts to impact policy.--At the same time, although he is very mission-driven, he describes how important perseverance and discipline have been throughout his career.--For anyone struggling to make an impact in an area about which they are passionate, his career path is inspiring.  In this episode, he shares the story of how he transitioned from clinical practice to a research career. Although he has a storied career now,  his early failures are an important part of his story. 

--As he explains, it took him several years and 12 failed grant applications before he was finally able to move into his career as a researcher.

--When I asked him what kept him going, he described his passion for the area of patient safety, but he also emphasized the importance of perseverance and the discipline to keep submitting grant applications.

--He is also deeply committed to translating research findings into policy change, and he talks about the associated challenges.

 --He describes several ways in which his groups' research findings have been used to guide policy and practice.

--He and his colleagues developed a checklist for health systems on how to implement and use EHRs more effectively. In 2021, this work was adopted by the CMS as a quality measure to assess implementation of the EHR.

--For students or physicians who are seeking to impact the systemic forces shaping medical care, this is an inspiring episode.

--This was an enlightening and inspiring conversation with Dr. Lavannya Pandit, a Physician-Scientist at the Baylor College of Medicine. --Dr. Pandit is a clinician who also performs scientific research. She is a Pulmonary Critical Care physician on staff at the Michael E. DeBakey Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Houston. She is Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program there and serves as an Associate Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine.--Her research centers on the physiologic and molecular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease.--Her mission is to advance understanding of vascular disease.

--In this episode, Dr. Pandit describes her work, which is focused on serving her patients, particularly the veterans who have fought for our country. As a scientist, she also spends time applying for competitive grant funding, mentoring, reviewing, and conducting research.--An overview of physician-scientists has noted that their numbers in the United States are decreasing rapidly for several reasons. However, clinicians who are closely involved in understanding the challenges of a particular disease have important insights into research questions.

--In this episode, Dr. Pandit describes her path to becoming a physician-scientist and provides advice to medical students.

More on Dr. Lavannya Pandit

Published research by Dr. Pandit

Dr. Monica Huang is a Diagnostic Radiologist and researcher in the area of minimally invasive breast cancer treatment with cryoablation. This episode provides some great insights into crafting a career that connects deeply to your mission.   



Dr. Huang began her career as a faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine, and later was in private practice for over a decade. She then returned to training to complete a fellowship in breast imaging at the MD Anderson Cancer Center.  



In speaking with her, it is clear that she has a deep commitment to developing minimally invasive treatments for breast cancer, and she is now the founder and Director of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Breast Imaging Breast Cryoablation Program. 



This episode also provides some great insights into how a physician can overcome burnout.  Although Dr. Huang was in a very successful private practice, she felt that she was getting burned out. This was not due to the amount of work, but rather because her goals had changed.  She found herself wanting to change the world a little bit, and specifically the world of breast imaging and breast cancer treatment.  She explains that working through that process has made her practice of medicine ultimately stronger. She worked to evaluate several areas: What were the sources of her discomfort? What brought her satisfaction? What could she change? Was there something new she could add?



This process ultimately led her to return to training and now, as a faculty member, she treats breast cancer patients with minimally invasive treatments while running clinical trials.



About Dr. Monica Huang

Dr. Abbey Vandersall is the Vice President of Quality and Clinical Services at AMSURG, an organization that maintains over 250 ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) across the United States. Her work encompasses patient safety and quality, as well as other areas that impact clinical care such as operations, strategy, policy, and government affairs. In this episode, she shares her journey from medical student to consultant to healthcare leader.One of the things that struck me about our conversation was how energized she was about innovation, strategy, and making a positive impact on patient care. She has a lot of wisdom to share for medical students. 

· One of her points that really resonated with me was that your passions at age 18 or age 30 may not be the same as those at age 50, because your passions change, your experiences change, and the world around you changes. It's important to recognize that. 

· When you’re thinking about career decisions, she encourages students to think: “What problem do I want to solve?"

· She also recommends that students investigate areas that intrigue them. For herself, she was absolutely fascinated during a lecture on the business of healthcare in her third year of medical school, and she later explored a summer experience in consulting.

· One final piece of advice that she shared to medical students was to not be afraid to reach out to people that you don’t know. She says that people are often far more willing to help than we would realize.

 

AMSURG: https://amsurg.com/

Dr. Abbey Vandersall LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbey-vandersall-md

Dr. Andru Zeller is a primary care physician who is focused on fair trade medicine. He founded the Simply Salud Clinic in 2004 as a family-centered, fair trade, integrative medical practice for people of limited economic means.

Dr. Zeller completed a family practice residency, followed by a fellowship in rural health. He talks about the strength and power of medicine, but also some of the challenges, especially the cost of healthcare faced by patients of limited economic means. This inspired him to develop a practice focused on fair trade medicine. The clinic is a sustainable business, and continues to serve himself, his family, and his community.  In this episode, he speaks about his mission as well as the associated challenges. 

He has been very intentional about how he wants to make an impact in healthcare, and he has developed several innovations.


The clinic provides primary care, women’s health, and mental health services.


The clinic also provides integrative health services and complex pain assessment.


Dr. Zeller initiated a volunteer health apprentice model, which helps provide direct patient care experience to pre-health students, as well as functioning to keep costs down so that the clinic can continue to function sustainably.


He is also developing Pain Scan, which is a technology-assisted pain evaluation system. He saw the need for such a system, as he treats many low-income, hard-working people. 


He became interested in integrative medicine during residency, and incorporates this into pain management.

To learn more about Dr. Zeller and the Pain Scan System, please see these links:

Simply Saludpainscansystem.com

Dr. Pooja Varshney is a Pediatric Allergist and Immunologist at the Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin Texas. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas Austin, and is Director of the Dell Children’s Food Allergy Center, a clinical research center of distinction. She is the principal investigator on clinical trials that are studying the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of food allergy.

Dr. Varshney has a busy clinical practice, along with teaching and research responsibilities. She conducts clinical research and also teaches students and residents at the bedside and with didactic lectures.

One of the things that struck me about our conversation is that when it comes to her field, she “sometimes feels so lucky – I love everything about it“. She specifically highlights the long-term relationships with her patients, and the ability to follow them throughout their childhood. In her particular field, she also finds the scientific aspects to be fascinating, with an explosion of knowledge in the basic science and clinical aspects of food allergy.

When I asked her how she handled such a busy practice, she highlighted several important strategies. 


One is knowing your priorities, and making sure that you protect time for those priorities. 
Her research days are protected time, meaning that she can focus completely on her clinical research patients during that time. 
She also highlighted that if you are employed, you need to set these goals in your job description.
She also described “earning your autonomy“, meaning that performing at a high level over the years means that with time, you can work your way to a place where you can structure your job duties around your goals.
It’s important to have agency to be able to design the job that you want.
Her entrance into clinical research was really helped by having a mentor in her fellowship, going to professional meetings, presenting her work, and collaborating and networking and committees