Insight_3rd Edition

Doctors today need to be more versatile. You have to learn to practice collaboratively so that you contribute to the team and create relationships that benefit patients. How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? I think it’s mostly resilience. People get burned out and depressed and that’s part of life. On an everyday basis, you will face obstacles. You cannot lose sight of your mission and the appreciation for how it has affected your life positively. You have to keep going and adapt, but it’s easier when you have support systems. I am very lucky that my family has always backed me up — my wife, my kids, and my parents. What are two key behaviors/personality traits that allow you to be effective in your role? You have to think of others before yourself. It’s true in medicine, but it’s also true in medical education. I put students and residents ahead of myself so that the physicians of tomorrow are better equipped than I was. Also, you have to do the right thing not just when all eyes are on you, but when no one is looking. These two things are very important for me and I think they are the core of my leadership style. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry right now? In medicine and medical education, we have lost the ability to take our time to reflect and make decisions. Now, everything is very time-sensitive and needs to be done yesterday. We don’t take the time to actually look at what we are doing — we’re on autopilot sometimes because we don’t allow ourselves enough time. There are a lot of restraints in medicine, a lot of administrative costs, and a lot of burdens affecting care. That’s what I worry about the most because we can only go so fast, and the real challenge we’re facing is not about how long we work, but how fast we have to do the work. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved over time? We used to believe that to learn properly, we had to listen to one almighty professor who would bring his wisdom down upon us. That mindset is totally wrong — physi- cians and teachers are human beings and they have faults. Teachers don’t know everything, and I reinforce this to Third Edition | Marquis Who ’ s Who Insight 9 my residents all the time. If we don’t know the answer to a specific problem, we need to investigate together so that we both emerge more educated. In the last 20 years or so, we have branched out from the basic concepts of medi- cal knowledge. Doctors today need to be more versatile. There are six competencies and interpersonal skills are one of them. You have to learn to practice collaboratively so that you contribute to the team and create relation- ships that benefit patients. What excites you the most about your industry? No two days are alike for me and that’s very exciting on a personal level. I never really know what will be coming my way, either in terms of patient care or with my residents. That makes my profession very exciting and fresh. Ultimately, for me, the greatest reward is deepening connections with patients. I am an infectious disease doctor, so I have quite a few HIV patients and I have had success stories when a lot of other providers have given up on them. Infectious disease has always beenmy passion and I am an improved physician because of COVID-19. I think the pandemic has been the ultimate test to make people better.

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