Conversations with Shem: Episode One
Shem is joined by Drs. Martin, Campbell, and Al-Agba, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Live, unscripted conversation between “Shem”, legendary author of ‘The House of God’, a rotating physician panel, & an interactive home audience. Discussion: how do we put the HUMAN back into medicine?
Event Doctors Need Life Lessons: Season I (Promo)
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Live, unscripted conversation between “Shem”, legendary author of ‘The House of God’, a rotating physician panel, & an interactive home audience. Discussion: how do we put the HUMAN back into medicine?
Shem is joined by Drs. Martin, Campbell, and Al-Agba, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Shem is joined by Drs. Washington, Shillcutt, and Burch, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Shem is joined by Drs. Lincoln, Smith, and Natter, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Shem is joined by Drs. Sepah, Tait, and Profeta, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Episode 5: Shem is joined by Drs. Khan, Greene-Liebowitz, and Hoda, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
Shem is joined by Drs. Sabry, Bryan, and Drummond, to discuss how we can put the HUMAN back into healthcare. More Shem conversations.
From The House of God to Man’s 4th Best Hospital, a medicine legend joins SoMeDocs. Samuel Shem (pen name), a Professor of Medical Humanities at NYU Medical Center and the psychiatrist behind the iconic book so many in medicine have read, joins our show. A rotating panel of physicians, along with an audience interacting from their homes, discuss putting the HUMAN back into medicine.
A lot of magic – time, energy, effort – goes on behind the scenes in order to create a project of this nature. Here are the humans behind this project. Contact SoMeDocs anytime to infuse magic into your own work.
Shem (our host’s title of preference) is a novelist, playwright and activist. Education: Harvard, Phi Beta Kappa; Rhodes Scholar at Oxford Ph.D.; Harvard MedicalSchool, M.D. with honors. He is Professor of Medicine in Medical Humanities at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. In 2020 he published his new novel, Man’s 4th Best Hospital, sequel to The House of God, which has sold 3 million copies.
Read more about him in his profile.
Dr. Dana Corriel is a board-certified internist who took drastic, and unusual, pivot from seeing patients in the office to building creative entrepreneurial ventures. She founded SoMeDocs in an effort to promote the autonomy of doctors, by empowering and showcasing them using her skills as fuel, and tools that she regularly builds to accomplish this. Dr. Corriel now regularly consults with both individuals and companies, produces series, and helps to build, shape, and market thought leaders. You can check her our inside her profile.
Shem and I linked up in late 2020, in the midst of a pandemic. We were connected through a mutual contact, in that magical way social media has for bringing people together who would not have otherwise met. We instantaneously clicked, unified by the healthcare field we had dabbled in and our love of the arts. Yada, yada, yada, several vent sessions later, we had ourselves a plan. We would join forces on the project, and use each of our talents to spread the word.
That’s how Conversations with Shem was born.
Each episode brings together an eclectic group of accomplished physicians. We simply bring them on, tell them the topic, and let personalities get to work. Our goal: an open-ended discussion on how to put the HUMAN back into healthcare.
Dr. Kimmery Martin is an ER doctor-turned novelist whose works of medical fiction have been praised by The Harvard Crimson, Southern Living, and The New York Times, among others. A lifelong literary nerd, she speaks frequently at bookstores, conferences, and medical schools around the United States. Kimmery completed her medical training at the University of Louisville School of Medicine and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. She lives with her husband and three children in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the last two years, she’s been working on a novel about a group of female doctors on the frontlines during an emerging viral pandemic; it will be released from Penguin Random House in Fall 2021. Her latest novel, The Antidote for Everything, is available now.
Dr. Jason Campbell is a graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine and a former Division III All-American track and field athlete at Emory University. He currently is an anesthesiology resident in Portland, Oregon. Known as the “Tik Tok Doc” he uses his platform to connect with young people and lift up underrepresented members of the medical community. Dr. Campbell speaks on topics from overcoming adversity, Black men in medicine, mental health and more. In addition to his regular Blog articles, he is a guest editorial writer with publications in the Chicago Tribune, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian and on http://Cleveland.com.
Dr. Niran Al-Agba has been a pediatrician in private practice in her hometown for 19 years. She writes an op-ed column about politics and medicine for the Kitsap Sun newspaper. She is a board member of Practicing Physicians of America and has four elementary aged children.
Book: Patients at Risk: The Rise of the Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant in Healthcare
Dr. Nicole Washington is a board certified psychiatrist who has spent most of her career caring for and being an advocate for those who are not typically consumers of mental health services, namely underserved communities, those with severe mental illness and high performing professionals. Through her private practice, podcast, speaking and writing, she seeks to provide education in efforts to decrease the stigma associated with psychiatric illness.
Dr. Draion Burch is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist. Dr. Drai is a nationally recognized bestselling author, international speaker, medical business consultant, media personality, owner of Amare Concierge, and the founder and chief medical advisor of DrDrai.com. Additionally, Dr. Drai is the creator of Momentum Intimacy, a company that provides personal lubrication and condoms for men and women who want to add more excitement to their relationships. Born and raised in Southern Mississippi, Dr. Drai earned his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Xavier University of Louisiana, his Doctorate of Osteopathic Medicine degree from The Ohio University and completed his internship and residency at Michigan State University.
Books: The Making of a Medical Mogul, From Medicine to Mogul: 7 Stpes to 7 Figures
Dr. Sasha K. Shillcutt is a tenured Professor and Vice Chair in the Department ofAnesthesiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). She is a board-certified cardiac anesthesiologist and holds national leadership positions in several health care organizations. Sasha is an author of Between Grit and Grace, a gender equity researcher, and a TEDx speaker. She is the founder and CEO of Brave Enough, a company that empowers thousands of women. Her proudest role is being mother to her four amazing children and her favorite time is spent on the sideline of many basketball, soccer and dance events cheering on her squad.
Book: Between Grit and Grace
Dr. Mike Natter identifies as an artist, a patient, a humanist, and a doctor. He is a native of New York City to which he attributes much of his initial creative influence. Growing up blocks away from beacons of culture, such as Lincoln Center and the MoMA, exposed him to the arts early on as a child. A type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at age 9, Mike always felt drawn to the medical field, however, was steered toward the arts, which came more naturally to him. He went on to study studio art and neuropsychology at Skidmore College where he first began to recognize the parallels between art and science and is also where he gained the academic curiosity to realize his dream of becoming a physician. Mike graduated from Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 2017, and went on to complete his Internal Medicine Resident at NYU Langone Medical Center and is currently a first year endocrinology fellow at NYU. His goal is to help others who share his disease and infuse art into medical training, education, and practice. His work has been featured in media outlets such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annals of Internal Medicine, Medscape, Osmosis Blog, Buzzfeed, among others.
Book: Captain Langerhans
Dr. Sunny Smith is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and Founder of Empowering Women Physicians podcast coaching and retreats. She is the recipient of multiple teaching awards including Humanism in Medicine, Excellence in Teaching, and being an Outstanding Community Leader. She has been an outspoken advocate for medical student and physician wellness for years and now advocates for this work in her comprehensive and collaborative coaching program where she seeks to change the culture of medicine by normalizing and humanizing the experience of being a physician. She encourages us to finally enjoy this life we worked so hard to create and live life on our own terms.
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln is a board-certified generalist obstetrician/gynecologist and attending physician. She primarily works on labor and delivery as an OB Hospitalist and loves the excitement and pace this work brings. Dr. Lincoln is also an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant. Dr. Lincoln enjoys educating women about their bodies and their pregnancies, and is passionate about utilizing social media to provide evidence-based information. She has particular interests in adolescent medicine, breastfeeding advocacy, and supporting women in labor in an informed, relaxed manner. She is happily married to a pediatrician and has two sons, one in elementary school and the other a preschooler, who teach her more everyday than any textbook could. Her hobbies include hiking and reading for fun.
Dr. Torie Sepah straddles several worlds: primary care, journalism, psychiatry and activism. Her route to medicine has been a circuitous one. She graduated from UCLA with a BA in Political Science, magna cum laude and went to work as a journalist, becoming the Assistant Editor of Ms. Magazine where she wrote the health column sparking her interest in medicine. Dr. Sepah is the founder of, Physician to Physician: Healing the Practice of Medicine and also sits on the Board of Directors for the International Society of Reproductive Psychiatry and the Committee for Diversity at the APA’s Southern California chapter. She can be reached at her self-titled site, Torie Sepah, MD, and on Twitter @toriesepahmd.
Dr. Eric Tait is a board-certified internist as well as an investment fund manager with Vernonville Asset Management (VAM), LLC. Dr. Tait works in private practice and currently serves on the medical staff of Saint Joseph Medical Center in Downtown Houston. He also founded The Physician’s Road, a physician services platform designed to help doctors and dentists create a well-rounded life inside and outside of medicine.
Dr. Louis M. Profeta is a nationally recognized, award-winning writer and Emergency Physician at St. Vincent Hospital of Indianapolis. He is clinical instructor of Emergency Medicine at Indiana University and Marian University Schools of Medicine. A graduate of Indiana University and its School of Medicine, Dr. Profeta completed his post-graduate training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a dynamic and sought-after public speaker and writer as well as a frequent guest on TV and radio who has gained critical acclaim for his essays on topics such as his eye-opening look at our national preparedness for influenza pandemics in What Scares Me More than Ebola.
Dr. Hafiza Khan is a Board Certified Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist. She is a graduate of UCLA School of Medicine and has trained at UCSF and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She has been in practice for 20 years in the north Dallas area. When not at work she enjoys traveling with her husband of 32 years and her sons aged 24 and 21. She also micro blogs on Instagram as @heart.beat.doctor where she shares science based heart health and Cardiovascular information.
Dr. Kimberly Greene-Liebowitz is an Emergency and Urgent Care Physician with over a decade of clinical experience, and she also holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology. Kim is a writer, editor, and beta reader who recently started a mentoring program for K-12 students. She is active on Twitter but seldom checks her Instagram account. Kim lives with her husband and two children in suburban New York, and in her spare time she is a gluten free/kosher “chef,” a nationally known celiac advocate, a voracious reader, an enthusiastic writing group participant, an occasional home educator, and a reluctant supporter of her family’s baseball habit.
Dr. Kaveh Hoda is a Physician, Musician and Podcast host in San Francisco. His expertise is in Gastroenterology, Hepatology and making fun of medical grifters. He co-hosts the humor-adjacent medical podcast: The House of Pod.
Dr. Hala Sabry is a Board-Certified Emergency Medicine physician, the founder of Physician Moms Group (PMG). Prior to PMG, she frequently fought through fear, negative self-talk, and a recurring desire to quit her job in medicine but she realized that other physicians must have experienced the same struggles. Hala has since expanded her outreach to coaching other women in male-dominated fields to help them excel at their goals. She believes that as a community leader, she has a responsibility to forge a path for other women and the future generations to come.
Dr. Duane Bryan is a noninvasive cardiologist in the Montefiore Health Network. He did his medical school training at Yale University, internship/residency at Weill-Cornell, and cardiology fellowship at Montefiore Medical Center. His primary focus is consultative cardiology and cardiac imaging. He has been in practice for 16 years, initially in a group private practice but currently is employed in a hospital owned multi-specialty group.
Dr. Dike Drummond is a Mayo trained Family Practice physician, burnout survivor, executive coach and founder of TheHappyMD.com. He teaches simple methods to lower stress, build more life balance and a more ideal practice. These tools were discovered and tested via Dr. Drummond’s 3000 hours of physician coaching experience. Since 2010, he has also delivering live burnout prevention training to over 40,000 physicians on behalf of 175 corporate and association clients on four continents.
Book: Stop Physician Burnout
Dr. Jonthan Vitale is the Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer at HappyHealth.
Jonathan is a Family Physician, wherein he treats a diverse patient-body on a daily basis. When Vitale isn’t promoting wellness or treating illness, he is also very active on Twitter as a vocal member of the Patient Advocacy and Primary Care Revolution communities.
Shem and Corriel invite YOU to add your thoughts into the mix. Simply submit your opinion in written form via: our submission form.
Dr. Parastoo Jangouk is dual board certified in Gastroenterology, Internal Medicine and a life coach. She has particular interest in gut health, brain-gut interaction, gut microbiome, fitness, weight loss and mindset work. Dr Jangouk incorporates her coaching skills in promoting gut health, weight loss and treating patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders. She authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in prestigious medical journals. She is currently living in Austin, TX where she practices Gastroenterology.
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