Welcome back to On/Offcall!

🚨 We’re throwing our first live event, and you’re invited!

AI is the single most disruptive healthcare technology of our lifetime… And yet nearly every day, we hear from a new physician asking, “How can I learn about AI?” and “How do I not get left behind?”

So we’re hosting an URGENT webinar on June 3rd from 5-6pm PT for all healthcare clinicians to teach you everything you need to know about AI. 

You’ll get to learn from two of the country’s leading experts who are actively using AI as part of their daily workflows: Offcall co-founder Graham Walker, MD and Validara Health founder Sarah Gebauer, MD. What’s more: Our first 250 attendees will also receive a special VIP invite to our upcoming clinician event in San Francisco!

Graham and Sarah will share:
- What AI does well and what it does poorly in healthcare today
- Best use cases for incorporating AI into your practice immediately
- Best tools on the market and what to watch out for when evaluating new tools
- 3 important takeaways every clinician needs to know about AI’s potential
- And they’ll also answer your questions!

Register at the link below and share this opportunity with your network! Graham and Sarah also want to hear from you: What’s your biggest question about AI that you’d like them to answer? Reply directly (they read every message) or add your question directly in the comments on social media. See you on June 3rd!

Register here →

Know someone who would benefit from joining us? Help us grow our tent by forwarding this newsletter to your physician colleagues and subscribing here.

The Mid-Career Physician Crisis No One Talks About

This week on How I Doctor, we tackled one of medicine's deeply personal struggles that few people ever talk about: the mid-career physician crisis. Graham sat down with Dr. Kaveh Hoda, a practicing gastroenterologist, podcaster, and self-described member of the “Gen X of medicine,” to explore what happens when doctors hit a crossroads in their career after years of relentless dedication to this profession.

As Dr. Hoda put it: "We see the rest of our lives unfolding and we recognize there is a finite amount of time left for us. Everyone starts to wonder if they're doing exactly what they want."

The episode has already parked a passionate conversation on social media and covers these important topics:

- The emotional reckoning that hits in your 40s and 50s
- Why many physicians are stepping back and asking, “Is this the life I still want?”
- Why taking the blinders off might just be the most freeing thing you’ll ever do

Listen to the full episode →

P.S. If you’re enjoying the How I Doctor podcast, be sure to hit the follow button on your platform of choice so we can continue bringing you more great episodes every week!

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0xxGLwAiTWgeYgwATRGzfU
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-doctor-with-dr-graham-walker/id1767429315
Also, quick sign up for Offcall: https://www.offcall.com/

Nominate an All-Star Physician For Our Inaugural How I Doctor Award!

We’re excited to announce that we are giving out the inaugural How I Doctor Physician of the Year Award! We’re taking submissions immediately.

What’s this award, you ask? Well, the mission of Offcall is to give doctors back autonomy — through salary and workload transparency. And closely connected to that mission is another important goal that is very much inspired by Graham’s career: Helping physicians break out of the cookie cutter version of “what a doctor looks like” or “what a doctor’s supposed to do.”

That’s exactly why we created this How I Doctor award: We believe medicine needs more creativity, and we want to showcase the country’s most creative physicians who are rewriting the job description. So we’re asking you: Who is a physician role model you would like to nominate who is charting a new career path and using their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to inspire other physicians?

You have until June 13th to fill out this form and make your nomination. We will announce the winner in the newsletter and on the How I Doctor podcast. And we will also award this person with $1,000 to recognize their contributions to medicine.

Nomination criteria:
1. You can’t nominate yourself.
2. Must be a physician who exemplifies the mission of How I Doctor (tell us why this person does in the nomination form below).
3. The winner will be the physician who receives the most independent nominations.

Nominate an all-star physician here!

3 Things to Read This Week

Does the physician payment system favor large hospital systems? (Becker’s)
3 spine surgeons (Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, Dr. Praveen Mummaneni, and Dr. Luis Tumialan) discuss why it’s becoming harder for small physician-owned health systems to get paid.

Burnout dips, but pressures remain (Becker’s)
A new Stanford study found physicians are 82.3% more likely to experience burnout than employees in other jobs.

Atrium Health execs get hefty pay raises amid record revenues (North Carolina Health News)
A 2024 compensation report reveals 41 percent average pay increases for hospital leadership. But what about for the physicians themselves?

Physician Builder Spotlight: Spencer Dorn

We’re shining light on MD-entrepreneurs! Each week, we feature an entrepreneurial doctor who’s building a cool product, company, or working on a big idea that you definitely want to know about. This week, meet Spencer Dorn, Vice Chair & Processor of Medicine at UNC. You may remember Spencer because he was a previous guest on How I Doctor which you can listen to here. He is also a member of the ML for MDs Slack Group, which you can learn more about and apply to join here (physicians only). Connect with Spencer on LinkedIn here.

1. Spencer, what inspired you to become a physician thought leader? Throughout my academic career, I’ve published in peer-reviewed journals. But after becoming a tenured professor, I felt freer to write in a more conversational voice and publish in less traditional venues — places where I could reach broader, more diverse audiences. I’m naturally curious and read a lot. Writing helps me process what I’m learning, sharpen my thinking, and surface insights I might otherwise miss. As Leslie Lamport wrote, "If you're thinking without writing, you only think you're thinking." Just as important, it creates opportunities to engage with others working in and around healthcare and technology.

2. Tell us about your focus and the problem or gap you're solving or filling. I’m focused on how information technologies are reshaping medicine — both for better and for worse. Tech is often seen through extremes: utopian or dystopian. But history — and experience — suggest something more complex. Most technologies come with tradeoffs: real gains alongside real downsides. Tech does not advance in a straight line. I aim to offer a more nuanced perspective grounded in my experiences as a practicing gastroenterologist, academic, physician leader, clinical operator, and regular human.

3. What's your advice to anyone who's thinking about thought leadership or pursuing a nontraditional career in medicine? While my own path has been fairly traditional — 25+ years in academic medical centers — I absolutely encourage clinicians to share their ideas more publicly. Writing and speaking beyond the clinic or classroom sharpens your thinking, invites valuable feedback, and often leads to meaningful connections. There are so many ways to contribute — short posts, essays, talks, and podcasts. And while we don’t have a monopoly on insight, clinicians do have a privileged perspective. As Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote in Hamilton, we’re in “the room where it happens.” We should speak up.

4. What's one lesson you've learned since beginning your writing and thought leadership that wasn't obvious to you before? That it’s worth sharing ideas even when they’re imperfect. Especially when they’re imperfect. Putting thoughts into words — publicly — invites dialogue, challenges, and revisions. It helps us learn and improve. No one has a monopoly on correct views or good ideas.

Know someone else who should be featured? Reply or tag them and their company in the comments!

Highlights From Our Community

Each week, we celebrate career milestones, launches, & other goings-on in the physician community. Have something to promote? Reply and we’ll feature you.

🔥 You’re on fire, Sarah Gebauer!
Beyond hosting awesome webinars 😀Dr. Sarah Gebauer is also launching the AI Consult Clinic, a “virtual virtual walk-in clinic for your biggest questions about AI.” Learn more and ask her a question here.

✅ Take this AI Scribes survey, X=Primary Care
One of our partners X=Primary Care, led by Dr. Paulius Mui is trying to get smarter from people in the trenches of AI Scribe implementation. They’re asking for you to please share any learnings in this short survey here. Thanks for participating!

🎙️ Hot new podcast alert, Tiffany Moon and Nicole Martin
Previous How I Doctor guest Dr. Tiffany Moon and Dr. Nicole Martin released a new podcast “Scrubs to Stilletos” from “saving lives to spilling tea.” Check it out here!

🗓️ Don’t miss this event, with Jung Hoon Son
Dr. Jung Hoon Son is a prolific tinkerer with healthcare data and is showcasing some of his most recent projects on May 28 in a virtual event called “How Physician Hack In Healthcare.” Learn more and register here!

🚀 New course alert, Jared Dashevsky
Dr. Jared Dashevsky launched a new course launching July 1 about the business of medicine called, “How Healthcare Really Works: What They Don’t Teach You in Training." Learn more and pre-enroll to get $50 off now.

🚀 Another great course alert, Letizia Alto
Interested in getting started with real estate investing? Dr. Letizia Alto is offering a free introductory crash course in real estate rentals. Check it out and sign up here.

❗Excellent opportunity to help shape healthcare policy, Sebastian Caliri
Calling all providers: CMS and ASTP ONC have some exciting ideas to finally make it possible to access and share medical records with everyone you want to have them. If you’re a provider, they’re asking for you to make your perspective known by responding to this RFI, making a Loom with a product demo, or writing a letter and mailing it. Learn more from Sebastian Caliri here.

📒 Worth the read, Lee Scheinbart
Dr. Lee Scheinbart’s AAPL article about how Dr. Sam Monroe’s quick adaptation as a CMO by understanding both the clinical and financial aspects of the system is well-worth the read. Check it out here.

👏 Well done, San Francisco doctors!
Several physician leaders were instrumental in supporting SF mayor Daniel Lurie’s legislation to support people in recovery and tackle the city’s behavioral health and homelessness crisis, including: Dr. Jason Nau, Dr Heyman Oo, Dr. John Maa, Dr. Anthony DiGiorgio, and Dr. Christina Wang and staff member Adam Francis. Learn more here.

🎉 Congratulations, Vishesh Agarwal
Dr. Vishesh Agarwal has been appointed Chief of Addiction Services for ChristianaCare to help foster innovative, compassionate, and comprehensive addiction care across our system. Congrats and learn more here!

👏 Keep it up, Bo Gu
Dr. Bo Gu’s startup Youlify was featured by Forbes for how they’re helping physicians take back control of medical billing, revenue, and money flows in healthcare. Read it here.

👍 Great job opportunity for neurologists, Saratoga Hospital Medical Group
The Saratoga Hospital Medical Group is recruiting for a neuromuscular specialist. Learn more about the opportunity from Dr. Kathrin LaFaver and apply here.

💬 Post of the week, Graham Walker
Graham’s post reacting to a new WSJ story about chronic disease went viral and sparked a big conversation about how we got here. Read it here.

Be Sure to Sign Up for Offcall!

At Offcall, we believe physicians deserve to be heard, valued, and treated fairly. Everything we do is driven by our commitment to empowering doctors with accurate, reliable, and trustworthy data — to advocate confidently for themselves and ensure their compensation truly reflects their worth.

Learn more and sign up here

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