Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Certified Physician Executive | Adjunct Professor | Author

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Category(ies): Healthcare Management | Physician | Psychiatry

Arthur Lazarus is a certified physician executive and career advisor for physicians and healthcare professionals experiencing various challenges in life, career, business and family. He has a degree in psychology from Boston University and attained his medical and business degrees from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The author of over a dozen books, including many related to the field of narrative medicine, Dr. Lazarus discovered the power of creative writing late in his career following decades of traditional academic publishing. His essays can be found online at KevinMD, MedPage Today and Doximity, where he was among a select group of leaders in medical news curation, storytelling and content creation. Arthur Lazarus’ narratives have reached a large and diverse readership including clinicians, patients, medical trainees and healthcare leaders.

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Physician and author of stories that ignite passion.

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician and author of stories that ignite passion.

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My SoMeDocs Content

Can Doctors Ever Stop Being Doctors?

From progressive rock to retirement, a physician reflects on five decades in medicine and why the profession still dominates his conversations.

If I Can Publish It on Amazon, Why Do I Need a Publisher?

A Publisher Offered to Publish My Book for $3,000. I Said No.

What is the purpose of a publisher when authors are asked to do the marketing and bring a ready-made audience.. and the money?

From Retirement to Rewirement: How I Rebooted My Medical Mojo

Medicine, writing, and meaning (not job titles) now sit at the center of my days. A retired physicians shares his thoughts.

Trust the AI.. But Don’t Ask How It Works (A Trusted AI Source with Trust Issues)

Can You Trust a Medical AI That Won’t Tell You What it’s Built On?

When a “trusted medical source” refuses to reveal how its AI works, one physician’s comic interrogation becomes a sharp warning about transparency, accountability, and trust in the age of algorithmic medicine.

The Ancient Wisdom Behind Three Words Every Doctor Needs to Say: “I Don’t Know”

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes about how imposter syndrome may explain why some doctors are afraid to ask a question.

The Slippery Slope Between Editing and Promotion

A physician’s refusal to turn his essay into an endorsement for an AI platform becomes a sharp, ironic argument for editorial integrity and professional independence.

You Can Spell the Diagnosis. Can You Deliver It?

Dr. Arthur Lazarus explains why spelling bees build essential analytical and linguistic skills for future doctors, yet fail to foster the crucial empathy and collaborative teamwork required for patient care.

Becoming an “N of 1” in a System Built for the Many

Dr. Arthur Lazarus writes about how true healthcare reform does not require dismantling medicine but reorienting it so that systems serve populations while remembering that every patient experiences illness as an irreducible “n of 1.”

The New Normal in Healthcare

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes that in an era where AI supplies confident answers, the physician’s irreplaceable role is to provide context, judgment, and accountability. It’s human work that turns information into care.

Drinks, and Lessons, Served Below Street Level

Dr. Arthur Lazarus shares a reflection on how a long-standing college campus bar taught him enduring lessons about personal limits, professional memory, and communal belonging.

How Medicine Teaches Us to See And What It Makes Us Miss

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA on how breast surgery training reveals how specialization shapes what physicians see, and why no single perspective is ever enough.

When the Listener Becomes the Record: What Ambient AI Is Really Changing in Medicine

Ambient AI may ease documentation and restore eye contact, writes Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA, but it shifts authority, reflection, and trust in medicine, making it essential that clinicians actively protect the human relationship at the core of care.

Unpaid Labor, Paid Access: How Academic Publishing Became Medicine’s Quiet Exploitation

Physicians design, write, review, and fund research, then pay to access it. Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA offers a critical look at how academic publishing relies on unpaid clinical labor and why the model persists.

The Keepers

Dr. Arthur Lazarus’ essay on quiet collectors, unrecognized labor, and the private acts of preservation that shape medicine, memory, and meaning long before anyone notices.

Cassandra and Semmelweis Meet After Hours

A darkly humorous parable in which Cassandra and Semmelweis reveal how modern medicine no longer rejects uncomfortable truths but politely absorbs and justifies them by following procedure, allowing harm to persist with a clear conscience.

Walking Away Without Apology

A fictional narrative in which a former physician faces public criticism after leaving clinical medicine, sparking a powerful conversation about identity, autonomy, and the stigma surrounding doctors who choose a new path.

The Sound of Silence

A fictional story, by Dr. Arthur Lazarus, about the quiet sorrow of a mother realizing the irreversible consequences of her decision.

Mutual Dislike, Mutual Duty

In Dr. Lazarus’ fictional short story, a doctor absorbs the emotional complexity of care when mutual dislike challenges the clinical relationship.

The Art of War (and Medicine)

A doctor is pressed on the limits of evidence-based medicine in this fictional pivotal courtroom exchange.

House Calls and Hashtags

In this fictional short essay, two doctors reflect on the shifting culture of medicine and a bygone era’s ideal.

Old School: An Excerpt from My Book

This fictional short story from Real Medicine, Unreal Stories: Volume 2 explores the quiet power of old-school clinical wisdom, challenging ageist assumptions in modern medical training through the lens of mentorship and humility.

The Edge of the Map

An excerpt from Dr. Arthur Lazarus’ book, in which he confronts the reality that some doctors wait for life to happen, while others chart their own course.

The Sock Puppet Rebellion

Government scientists push back against a proposed publication ban they fear will muzzle scientific truth, in a fictional writeup by Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA.

Undercover MD: The Camacho Protocol

A retired physician goes undercover as a “medical mystery shopper,” using his clinical expertise and biting wit to expose the alarming shortcuts and absurdities of modern healthcare. A fictional story.

Optional Oaths and Other Catastrophes

A doctor’s bravado and ethics clash in a moment of professional reckoning, in this fictional story by Dr. Arthur Lazarus.

The First and Final 100 Days

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA shares a symbolic end to one of the darkest chapters in a hospital’s history.

The MoCA Mirage: When Medicine Meets Make-Believe

A physician abandons objectivity to serve a master and risks becoming a tool rather than a healer. (A satirical piece that says more about doctors than it does dignitaries.)

The Trial of Trust

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes a fictional story to address a poignant question: Who will volunteer for clinical trials if the erosion of trust in medicine continues?

Madness Before the Fall: Trump’s War on Science and Public Health

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA, opines that Donald Trump’s second-term war on public health will hasten his political demise while causing harm to the very people he was elected to serve.

Star Trek and the Burning House of Healthcare: Navigating Crisis with Kirk and Kang

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA, explores the wisdom of peaceful conflict resolution in medicine, drawing parallels to a legendary Star Trek episode in which the Enterprise crew is forced into a brutal battle with the Klingons.

Hospitals Are the New Coliseum

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA traces the enduring allure of violence as spectacle from the arena to the football field to the hospital.

Artificial Intelligence for Time’s Person of the Year?

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA explores the transformative potential of artificial general intelligence and its parallels to visionary themes in science fiction, going where no person has gone before – not even Time magazine.

Storykeepers: The Hidden Duty of Doctors

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes about how “No patient left behind” encompasses the duality of mortality and memory, and of physicians ensuring patient legacies endure through the narrative.

10 Strategies for Healthcare Practitioners to Re-Engage with Patients

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes that attending funerals and strolling through cemeteries may instill empathy and compassion in doctors, but there’s much more that can be done to rekindle emotions.

Political Discussions in the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA writes about how to give identity politics a proper voice in the doctor-patient relationship.

Inquiries

Business inquiries only please: journalists looking for quotes, businesses looking for advisors/consultants, podcasts looking for guests, or events looking for speakers. Be sure to include your best contact details so they may easily get back to you. NO MEDICAL ADVICE OR INQUIRIES please.

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Can Doctors Ever Stop Being Doctors?

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When Patients Think You’re Rich and the System Knows You’re Replaceable

Physician compensation reality is more complex than public perception. A look at the gap between how doctors are viewed financially and how institutions actually treat them.