In spring of 2020, Cornelia Griggs, MD was finishing her nearly decade-long training to become a pediatric surgeon in New York City, when COVID-19 struck and life fell apart. The hospital was flooded with mysteriously sick patients for whom no known treatments existed, basic supplies disappeared from shelves, and each day at work took on an existential burden as she wondered if this would be the day she caught the deadly disease herself.

Dr. Griggs describes these dramatic stories from the early days of the pandemic in her 2024 memoir, The Sky Was Falling. Today, she is a triple board-certified pediatric surgeon, having completed medical school and pediatric surgery fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center, and her adult general surgery residency and surgical critical care fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she currently practices.

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Griggs describes the course of her challenging training in medicine, why it takes “a little crazy” to succeed as a surgeon, harrowing moments that defined heroism amid the throes of the pandemic, how she continued working even when giving up was the easy option, and more.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:26 - What initially drew Dr. Griggs into the field of medicine and to the speciality of pediatric surgery

14:35 - Why the operating room is a “safe space” for Dr. Griggs

19:36 - The sense of alarm that Dr. Griggs experienced in the early days of the pandemic that drove her to write her viral New York Times op-ed, The Sky is Falling

28:26 - How Dr. Griggs fell into an “investigative reporter” headspace as the pandemic raged around her in New York City

30:26 - The sense of fear that enveloped both patients and the medical community during the first months of the pandemic

40:27 - A moment during the early pandemic when Dr. Griggs seriously considered leaving the city and her post in the hospital

46:30 - How ICU nurses brought dignity and humanity when tending to seriously ill COVID-19 patients

51:16 - The hopefulness Dr. Griggs carries in seeing the large number of people who have entered medicine since the pandemic

Dr. Cornelia Griggs can be found on Twitter/X at @CorneliaLG.

Dr. Griggs is the author of The Sky Was Falling (2024).

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2024

To many health economists, the growing aging population is the greatest public health challenge facing America. The current fragmented and costly healthcare system is simply incapable of dealing with the complex medical and socioeconomic needs of this population, especially in an equitable way.

Our guest on this episode, Linda Fried, MD, MPH, has dedicated her life to rethinking how we can create better health futures for older adults. Her pioneering research has expanded our notions of aging and longevity in the 21st century. Dr. Fried, a geriatrician and epidemiologist, is Dean of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Senior Vice President of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and former Founding Director of the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Fried shares how her early experiences as a caseworker drove her to study medicine, surprising lessons from the martial arts aikido, what frailty means in the context of caring for older adults, why America is one of the most age segregated societies in the world, the flaws of over medicalizing health issues, redefining the roles of older adults in society, the importance of meaning and community in sustaining happiness in life, and more.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:30 - What Dr. Fried’s early experiences in social work taught her about justice, social inequity, and taking care of another person

11:47 - How an awareness of the social determinants of health shaped Dr. Fried as a clinician

16:46 - Why physicians need to stop “medicalizing” all aspects of a patient’s life

25:00 - How Dr. Fried came to be interested in geriatrics

28:19 - Dr. Fried’s dedication to extending “healthspan” as well as “lifespan” in our society

31:08 - The clinical definition of “frailty”

34:15 - The value that an older population could bring to our society

38:49 - The United States’ unique culture of age segregation and how it contributes to poor health outcomes for the elderly

45:38 - What the healthcare system and society at large can do to better serve elderly populations

50:55 - Dr. Fried’s advice for keeping true to your purpose as a medical professional

Dr. Linda Fried can be found on LinkedIn.

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2024

The history of cardiac surgery is filled with tales of intrepid surgeons with larger-than-life personalities who pushed the limits of the human body and the bounds of what were then considered acceptable medical practices. The result? Heart transplants, pacemakers, artificial heart valves, heart-lung machines, and other once-unthinkable and experimental procedures that have now saved millions of lives.

Our guest in this episode, Gerald Imber, MD, charts these remarkable developments in his 2024 book Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery. While not writing books on the history of medicine, Dr. Imber is a practicing plastic surgeon who specializes in cosmetic surgery. Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Imber talks about the challenging yet rewarding training he underwent as a surgery resident, what it means to have an “eye for aesthetics,” why he decided to write a book on the history of heart surgery, stories of daring surgeons from this history, how he reconciles the drive to push the frontiers of medicine with a regard for patient safety, and more.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:15 - What drew Dr. Imber to a career in surgery

7:55 - Dr. Imber’s grueling experiences as a general surgery resident

11:52 - Dr. Imber’s transition into plastic surgery and the aesthetic sensibilities necessary for this speciality

22:46 - What Dr. Imber’s current plastic surgery practice looks like

24:28 - How Dr. Imber finds fulfillment and meaning in his work

25:21 - What motivated Dr. Imber to write Cardiac Cowboys, a book about the history of open heart surgery

30:47 - Balancing risks to patient lives with medical and surgical experimentation

34:25 - A brief history of open heart surgery

40:02 - Key milestones in the development of open heart surgery

45:24 - What Dr. Imber hopes readers take away from Cardiac Cowboys

Dr. Gerald Imber is the author of Cardiac Cowboys: The Heroic Invention of Heart Surgery (2024) and Genius on the Edge: The Bizarre Double Life of Dr. William Stewart Halsted (2010).

Dr. Imber can be found on Instagram at @geraldimbermd.

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2024