August 15, 2025 • 40 mins
Join us in this episode of the AHF Podcast as host Joe Schwab sits down with Dr. Khalid Yousuf, an accomplished orthopedic surgeon based in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Yousuf shares his inspiring journey from his early struggles with choosing a career, to excelling in orthopedic surgery, specifically through the anterior approach total hip replacement. Learn about the pivotal moments, mentorship, and challenges that shaped his career. Discover the importance of thoughtful decision-making, lifelong learning, and the role of the Anterior Hip Foundation (AHF) in his development. Don't miss this insightful discussion filled with valuable advice for both new and seasoned orthopedic surgeons! 🏥💉🦴👨⚕️👩⚕️💪✨
This episode is sponsored by ZimmerBiomet. Visit https://www.zimmerbiomet.com for more information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joseph M. Schwab (00:24):
Hello and welcome to this episode of the A
HF Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Schwab.
Today we're honored to sit downwith Dr.
Khalid Yusef, an accomplishedorthopedic surgeon, educator,
and leader, to talk not justabout what he does, but who he's
become.
Over the course of an evolving,and some might even say
(00:46):
brilliant career.
If you're in the middle of yourjourney in orthopedic surgery or
if you're just starting out,this is an episode you'll wanna
listen to all the way through.
Dr.
Yusef, welcome to the A HFPodcast.
Khalid Yousuf (01:01):
Thanks for having me here, Joe.
Uh, nice seeing you.
Joseph M. Schwab (01:05):
Great seeing you.
Before we jump right into theheavy stuff, how about you
introduce yourself to ourlisteners, where you're based?
Maybe tell them a little bitabout your background.
Khalid Yousuf (01:16):
Sure.
Um, so my name's Kaha Yusuf.
I'm in Dallas, Texas now, uh, inthe suburbs of Dallas.
I work with a large healthcaresystem and, uh, my journey, uh,
like most was medical school,orthopedic surgery at University
of Oklahoma.
For residency, Mayo Clinic forfellowship.
Joe and I met along this journeyand, uh, kindled a friendship
(01:39):
from that point.
Uh, and then I took a job inChicago, practiced there for
five years, so we stayed.
Uh, Joe and I stayed in touch.
Uh, and then as Joe transitionedover the pond, I came down to
Texas.
I had some ties to Texas and ithas been a great, um, uh,
transition to my practice.
So I've been in Dallas now foreight years.
(02:01):
And, uh, that's also around thetime I was introduced to the
Anter Hip Foundation.
Uh, and I'm sure we're gonnatalk more about that.
Joseph M. Schwab (02:09):
So tell me a little bit and tell our
listeners a little bit about howyou got interested in
orthopedics in the first place.
Khalid Yousuf (02:17):
Yeah.
Um, being Pakistani, you know,you're kind of born with two
options.
You're gonna be a doc orengineer.
Uh, and I really struggled withthat.
Um, I like the engineering sidemore.
Uh, for sure.
At the same token, my dad's adoc, uh, I have other family
members that are docs, and Ireally was drawn to the human
element of medicine.
(02:38):
Um, and then, so I, you know,almost like by default, I didn't
think too hard about medicalschool.
I, uh, fortunate and was blessedto have good grades and kind of
went down that path almost bydefault.
But as soon as, uh, you startgetting into that.
A finish line of just, Hey, nowI'm really gonna start medical
(02:59):
school.
The finish line of like the preinto the med school part, you
start to say, I gotta pick whatkind of doc I wanna be, and now
the human element, uh, ofillness and sickness and all the
other parts come in.
Um, and so very quickly, uh,conversations with my dad, other
folks, um, uh, I was veryconfused.
(03:21):
I mean, truly, honestly confusedto the point where I was like, I
don't think I should be adoctor.
And fortunately for me, um, thesecond week of Gross anatomy
lab, the orthopedic surgeryresidents would come into our
cadaver lab, um, and uh, do thejoint dissection of the cadaver
just to kind of like show, um,the anatomy.
(03:44):
And it was good for them'causethey were learning the anatomy
themselves.
It was good for medical studentsto learn from, uh, you know,
others.
And right away I was drawn totheir, you know, that, that.
That feel and excitement thatthey had about what they were
showing us and teaching us.
And, uh, lo and behold, that wasmy introduction to Ortho.
Um, and specific, and it's along-winded answer, but really I
(04:06):
think, you know, that's how yourlife is shaped, is these little
interactions that then make a, aamazing, you know, hopefully
experience for you in your life.
And it went from that toresearch in ortho.
Um, and putting little EMGsensors and feline multifidus
muscles to figure out how theirspine works and what makes their
(04:28):
spine hurt to grand rounds andother research opportunities.
And, um, just, that's how I kindof all got started and I'm so
grateful for.
Joseph M. Schwab (04:40):
So given where you're at in your career now and
what you've accomplished, uh,since that time, if you could
sit down with that youngercolleague and, and give him some
advice or answer some of hisquestions, what would you tell
him?
I guess, what would you wish youwould've known?
That the people around youweren't telling you at the time,
or it wasn't the information youwere getting?
Khalid Yousuf (05:03):
Yeah, that's a tough question.
So, you know, I was.
I don't know if I would've givenhim any different advice.
I don't think he understood the,I don't think he understood the,
the life he got placed into, youknow, just he was lucky in that.
And let me ex, uh, exp uh,expound on that a little bit.
(05:26):
So I didn't get into med schoolone of my years, uh, for a
little while.
And so I was guided to go intobusiness and I went in and
gotten healthcare management,um, masters.
And, uh, I, I think theseopportunities that like
sometimes seem like your life isending and you're saying, man, I
wanna be a doc and I didn't getinto med school.
(05:48):
My grades are good.
Why didn't this work?
Sometimes it's just not meant tobe worked out, right?
It's not the right time.
So baking the best of what youhave, I think, and to take that
with a smile, which, uh, I'm notsaying I always did, but at the
same token, luckily for me, thepeople around me, the support
sector helped me smile throughit, put my head down, work
(06:10):
through it, do the best at thatopportunity.
I think that's been the strengthof mine that, uh, I do try to do
the best at whatever sitsituation I'm in.
Um, even if I internally don'tlike it, uh, I know the outward
product is.
It gotta be my best effort.
And uh, and so then, um, youknow, you just dunno.
So what did I learn through allthose?
(06:32):
Is that the business acumen Igained by going to business
school?
The idea of conversations withmy dad saying, I know I thought
I wanted to be a doctor, but nowI realize the sick patient isn't
the patient model.
I might thrive in the hurtpatient model is maybe the model
I would thrive in.
(06:53):
And understanding that there's.
Doctors that take care of sickpatients versus hurt patients.
Um, and I think most orthopedicsurgeons are better at the hurt
patient, um, versus the sickpatient.
And, uh, understanding that veryearly on or having someone
explain that to you,'cause as astudent you don't understand,
there's two different types ofpatients.
(07:13):
Um, so those are the things Iwould tell the young college
that, Hey, you, you got a curveball thrown to you.
Life isn't meant to be just abunch of.
Smooth, uh, straight sailing,um, you know, it's gonna have
its bumps to just take it and dowhat you do.
And when you, when you're hurt,you don't, you know, just talk
to the people around you thatsupport you.
(07:33):
And because we all hurt atdifferent times and it's okay to
hurt you, just work throughthat.
Joseph M. Schwab (07:38):
I haven't heard that distinction between
the, the hurt patient and thesick patient that way.
I think that's a, a fascinatingway to think about.
Not just patients, but differenttypes of physicians.
Right.
What kind of physician you wantto be?
Um, I, I, I haven't heard it inthose terms.
Was there a moment in that earlyjourney where you went from not
(08:00):
just knowing what you wanted todo, but knowing that you were
gonna be able to do it, um,knowing that, um, this was not
just the career path that youwere gonna choose, but that it
was gonna happen for you?
Or was that always, uh, a bituncertain for you
Khalid Yousuf (08:18):
Yeah, I think that question and, and the way I
hear it, uh, for me puts me inresidency.
Um, and there was a time inresidency where, you know, I was
fortunate enough to have anautonomous or semi-autonomous
residency experience and, um.
I was able to, you know, um,nail a sub tr femur.
(08:39):
Uh, it was a trauma case.
I was, uh, you know, upper levelon call faculty was there, but
close by type there, there, youknow, and to a, you know, and I,
and I connected with thepatient.
So there's this, you know, somany aspects of that.
A story in my mind is you, youconnect with the patient.
It's a tougher fracture.
(09:00):
You have to open it.
Um, and, and then.
Successfully accomplished that.
Um, surgery, that's when itculminated.
And, and on that drive home, Iwas, you know, I'm o okay to
say, you know, almost liketeary-eyed that hey, wow, it's
gone from where I couldn't evenmaybe, you know, do a vertical
mattress suture to now I, I tookthis person who got in a car
(09:24):
wreck, you know, and now myself.
Reduced it.
Fixed it, and you know,hopefully he'll have a union.
Um, I didn't get follow up, youknow, residency always get
follow up.
But, but the, but the point isthat that was a transformative,
uh, realization in my life.
Uh, and uh, I think that's whenit became, um, a reality that,
(09:45):
hey, this is gonna happen.
Uh, and, and, and soon enoughI'll be a board certified
orthopedic surgeon.
And, and I, the responsibilitiesI should be able to.
As long as I keep doing whatI've done to this point.
Joseph M. Schwab (09:59):
you know, we had a former chairman, uh, in,
in my program who used to saynothing kills enthusiasm, like,
follow up.
So.
A good thing you didn't getfollow up on that patient.
Right.
That's just, you just run therisk of killing the enthusiasm.
Khalid Yousuf (10:14):
Yeah, for sure.
Tough university patients forsure.
Joseph M. Schwab (10:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, so then you end up at theMayo Clinic with, um, a
fellowship in adultreconstruction.
Tell me about how you ended upin adult reconstruction when now
you've gone from n knowingwhether you want, uh, to deal
with sick patients or hurtpatients.
To certain types of hurtpatients.
How, what was that like?
Khalid Yousuf (10:39):
Yeah.
And so that required for me, um,um, uh, a lot of my peers at in
residency were saying, Hey,you're putting the cart before
the horse.
Course, but I honestly, um, forme, that's just how my mind was
working.
And it was, I was torn betweenspine joints, uh, maybe even
trauma.
I, I kinda liked some of thebigger surgeries that came with
(11:00):
trauma.
Joseph M. Schwab (11:00):
Mm-hmm.
Khalid Yousuf (11:02):
And then, so I, I basically said I wanna live in
Dallas, Texas.
That was the goal at the time.
And, uh, so kind of workedbackwards and I said, Hey, what
kind of jobs are out there inDallas?
And, and going back to.
Circa 2010, right?
Like joints was not as popularas it is today.
(11:23):
And the, the patients were inhospitals for, um, at the VA for
our rotation.
They were at the hospital foreasily three to five days.
Um, and the, we had a greatprivate practice experience as
part of our residency.
So even in the private sector,they were in the hospital for,
uh, you know, one night forsure, maybe even two nights.
Uh, the Medicare two night rulewas like, you know, full effect,
(11:46):
all these types of things.
So the job market told me jointsis gonna lead to maybe a better,
um, uh, you know, salary and,and that type of situation.
Um, having a family, uh, orhaving family of family doctors.
'cause we have a lot of familydoc in our pri uh, in our
family, in the use of family.
(12:07):
Um, and seeing how.
They were always connected topatients.
I think I always did betterwith, um, chronic, uh, patients,
chronic ailment patients.
From that standpoint, I bondedwith them better, so I was drawn
to, um, joints and spine forthat reason.
And then the surgery of joints,uh, just fit my, uh, like, um.
(12:31):
My engineering mind a lotbetter.
I, I, I really felt like, uh, Iunderstand these concepts
better.
The materials are exciting to me'cause it was not being taught
well at the time.
To me, not, not a fault of theresidency, but in na in general,
we didn't understand metals andplastics and ceramics.
(12:51):
So I liked reading about thatand just understanding that.
Um, and so that was theattraction, um, into joints.
And then the business side of mymind really kicked into, and I
don't think this is a negative,but the business mind, the mind
said okay.
If I do this operation well, uh,and one of my mentors did do it
(13:11):
well, um, and efficiently.
I was like, wow, he's doing,like at that time there was, you
know, Charlie, uh, Charlie wasprobably not even in residency.
He was probably in med schooltoo.
Yeah.
Charlie's only four years aheadof me.
So at that point, uh, Charliemaybe was in residency, I guess.
Um, there's no 12 by 12, I meanDr.
(13:31):
Ache would do sticks in the day.
And was doing very wellfinancially.
And, um, I looked up to him andI thought, man, I could do six
of these a day also.
Um, and that means x and thatmeans, you know, paying off debt
in school and all of that kindof stuff.
So I said, why not do this?
(13:53):
And my attention span, uh, isbetter for, you know, a good
hour and a half'cause that's howlong joints took about at that
time, versus a three hour, youknow, spine case or something
like that.
Joseph M. Schwab (14:04):
or a five hour trauma
Khalid Yousuf (14:05):
again, a lot of reflection I made.
I'm very deliberate with mydecision that I'm grateful for
that.
Sometimes I'm slow making mydecisions.
Um, but those deliberatethoughts and conversations with
people led me to joints andthat's kind of what led me to
Joseph M. Schwab (14:21):
this is, it's interesting you mentioned this,
'cause this is what alwaysstruck me about you.
Um, in, uh, when we first meteach other, uh, on, I, I think
even looking at residencyprograms, right?
We were, we were interviewingfor residency programs together
was how thoughtful anddeliberate and contemplative you
(14:42):
were.
Um, and I, you know, the.
Uh, in one sense that could beviewed as making, um, decisions
slowly in another sense.
Like that's kind of what youwant in a doctor who's you're
putting, you know, a portion ofyour livelihood in their hands.
So that was something thatalways struck me about the way
you approach things and, and oneof those areas that we
(15:04):
reconnected in.
Was you were a few years intoyour practice before you decided
to do anterior approach, totalhips.
Tell me a little bit about that.
That must have been adeliberative process for you as
well.
Khalid Yousuf (15:19):
Yeah, for sure.
So, um, Rob Trusdale, who manyknow, um, just amazing surgeon,
right?
Such a charismatic individual.
I really am grateful that hetaught me so much and was part
of our life.
I wrapped up fellowship with hisrotation near the end by design.
Everyone spoke highly of him andI didn't want to rotate with him
(15:43):
early on'cause I wanted my handsto be better.
I wanted the program to know mebetter, so I get to have more
autonomy, especially at a placelike the clinic where autonomy,
something is you really gottaearn your chance at autonomy,
rightfully so.
So, um, I wrap up.
I'm doing, you know, it's, hi,uh, it's him for six weeks and
(16:05):
PAGs for six weeks.
And I'm saying, man, I'm aposterior approach.
This is it.
These guys are master surgeons.
And Robbie just said, Rob goes,so what do you think of anterior
approach?
Because I'd done Mike ton'srotation prior.
Mike's a amazing individual andgreat up and coming leader now,
and just great guy.
(16:26):
And at that time.
Even in his first two years, he,you know, got me through
anterior approach and helped me,taught me so much.
I mean, so much of it allstarted with m right, and I
gotta give him credit.
So, uh, a Trusdale said, you,you do the approach you end your
rotation with, and.
(16:50):
So that's what, you know, um, hesaid that just'cause you're most
comfortable, you're gonna leaveand this is gonna be your memory
and you're gonna go intopractice and that's what you
might do.
So, um, my other co-fellow, NateNelms was at the meeting this
past year and Nate's amazing,smart individual, and Nate was
all in on the anterior approach.
(17:11):
Jamie, the other co-fellow wasall in on the anterior approach
and I was like, I don't know.
I'm not sure.
So go.
Uh, so that's where I ended.
Now, I did go 50 51st year out.
So full disclosure, first yearout I was 50 50.
And um, ironically, I did thehard hips from the front.
And so everyone said, why areyou doing the hard hips from the
(17:33):
front?
Again, my crazy mind said, thehard hips are the ones that.
I don't have a pa, I get like ahospital assigned, you know,
retractor holder and they don'tknow how to control the thigh
and the leg and it's hard for meto bro, but they can hold
retractors when they're on theother side of the bed.
And so, um, so the approachwhich is harder for me at that
(17:57):
age, the releases, which areharder for me at that point in
my career.
Are me problems I can fix meproblems I can't fix, Hey, hold
the leg this way, or beintuitive and know that I'm
doing this or do that.
You know?
'cause your body's moving thisway and you're like, today my PA
just looks at how I stand.
She knows, okay, move this way'cause he's doing that.
(18:18):
I didn't have that luxury, thatand so, so hard hips anterior
approach.
So my hips, my anteriorapproaches were like two hour,
you know, um, just challenges,but good outcomes.
Um, that's how I did it.
So for me it was 50 50'causecouldn't go through a day of
multiple hips that were twohours long for me at that time,
(18:41):
but got better and better andbetter.
So that was that.
Again, thinking through theprocess and solve the problems
that are in your control.
Maybe don't worry about theproblems that are not in your
control.
It's, um, what I would teach tothe audience or remind the
audience that's listening tothis podcast, we get so caught
up on, you know, other people'sproblems and that's not our
(19:02):
problem's.
Just do, do you?
Joseph M. Schwab (19:04):
Right, right.
My, uh, my wife was reading abook called, I think it was
called Let Them, and it wasabout, uh, you know, when other
people get worked up and tellyou what you should do.
All right.
Let'em, let'em tell you, youknow, let, let them get worked
up.
That's just fine.
(20:25):
So in that journey of youbecoming an anterior approach
predominant surgeon, um, youreached out to the anterior hip
foundation, and if I'm mis ifI'm, unless I'm mistaken, you
pioneered the idea of thetraveling fellowship for the a
HF You were the f essentiallythe first or one of the first
(20:48):
formal traveling fellows for thea HF.
Isn't that right?
Khalid Yousuf (20:52):
I, I, um, I think I was the inaugural traveling
fellow, and I think the ideacame again.
Having a connection with you andCharlie.
The idea was, so I came to themeeting and really, um, enjoyed
the meeting.
And then as I went home, soprobably at this point in my
career, I'm um, um, probably 7030 inch here posterior.
(21:17):
Um, and really it was only 70 30at that point because of
limitations and resources at thehospital.
So if I had two, if I had tworooms, I had one table.
It was hard to like move thetable and that kind of stuff.
So, so I would still doposterior, but for sure I didn't
do revisions posteriorly and Iwanted to.
(21:38):
And I was transitioning mypractice from a, uh, purely
employed hospital practice inChicago to a private emic
practice in Dallas, uh, atBaylor.
So the Baylor in Dallas isdifferent than the Baylor in
Houston.
The Baylor in Houston's a bigacademic center at the Texas
Medical Center versus the Baylorin Dallas is a more of a, uh.
(22:01):
PRI private demo is what wewould call it.
We've got residency, we've got,uh, a foot and ankle fellowship.
Um, but you can also just be aemployee of Baylor as an
orthopedic surgeon.
Just do that life if you want,or you can have what I have,
which is, uh, exposure to, toresidents, uh, uh, which I
enjoy.
So this transition's about tohappen and I'm coming to a new
(22:23):
market and, uh, everything is.
Bigger, faster wilder in Texas.
So I knew I didn't want to comeinto this market, um, and not
be, uh, the best, uh, surgeon Ican be.
And, and I wanted to take sometime at that point to, to get
better.
And that doesn't happen fromtextbooks, I don't believe.
(22:43):
I think it's very important totake the time and go travel and,
and reflect and learn and, andhave those inter meaningful
interactions with.
Other leaders in this space.
Um, so, uh, fortunately I talkedto Joe, uh, I talked to you and,
and, uh, and basically said,I've got this idea that I wanna
(23:04):
travel, but, um, I can go do avisitation with a industry
sponsor trip.
I can go do that on my own.
Um, but I don't wanna just do itthat way.
I wanna make it more formal.
Um, that's what I want.
I want it, I want it to be aline item on my CV that I really
put the time into it, whichdeserves the, the
(23:25):
memorialization of it on, on aresume.
So we worked through all ofthat, that goes into that.
We, uh, you guys helped meidentify people like Nick Maths,
that, you know, the name wasvery, uh, known to me through
literature, but I didn't knowhim personally at all, and his
name was given to me.
Of course Dr.
De Cook, Jonathan, you asked meis Charlie, who, who now all
(23:47):
three are so close to me.
Um, you know, their names weregiven to me.
Tom Bradbury, what a great guyand stud surgeon.
Um, but, you know, a deficiencyof mine.
But I didn't know him at thetime.
I didn't know his name, hisliterature, but you guys
introduced me to him.
Um, George Gale, I mean he,George was a year behind me at
(24:10):
LSU.
Um, but we didn't know eachother well.
'cause George was out therepartying of course, as you would
know, and, and driving fastcars.
And I don't, I don't wanna sayhe's married now, but maybe
chasing women.
Who knows, right?
I don't know.
But I didn't know him at thattime, even though he was a year
behind me at LSU and Katrina.
The years you get to know your,the junior class in the senior
(24:30):
class, like the, the two yearsthat get to know each other is
the clinical years.
And in my clinical year, I gotshipped out'cause Hurricane
Katrina hit.
So I really didn't get to bondwith them.
And I meet him at that trip andwe connect and say, Hey, wow,
we're both at LLU.
We're both from New Orleans.
Like what a small world.
And learning how to do hipresurfacing from the front,
which is what he taught me.
(24:52):
I mean, these were theinteractions I gained in that
traveling fellowship.
So formative for my career.
Honestly, I think put me on themap.
'cause at that point, um, I'mbeing asked to talk about
anterior approach, how I dorevisions from the front of
coming back and doing thingsthat are uncomfortable again,
but better for patient care andworking through that.
(25:13):
So, so that is really whenyou're all in now, right?
You can't go be the anterior hipfellow, the first one and then
come back and say, Yeah, I'mgonna book a poster approach.
But no, it doesn't work thatway.
You're all in, everyone knowsyou took time off work.
Um.
My partners knew I went and didthis.
They're excited and they'resaying, wow, you, you're, let me
(25:33):
send you this VMI 50.
You're gonna do it from thefront.
And I'm like, Yep.
I am bikini incision from thefront.
You know, let me send you thisrevision.
And I'm like, yep.
Uh, your pelvis looks good onthe backside.
I don't think I need to get backthere.
Everything's in the front.
I'm gonna go through the front.
I can use fluoro to myadvantage.
I can take that new cup out,keep my hip center where I want.
(25:54):
It's not blind for me.
Absolutely.
You know, then you're presentingit in residents or.
They're looking at you alwayskeeping you honest.
And um, so that was such a, that12 months meant a lot happened
for me in 20 17, 20 18, um,sorry, 27, uh, 20 18, 20 19.
(26:15):
A lot happened for me in those12 months.
Um, um, so very grateful forthat opportunity and highly,
highly, highly recommend allsurgeons.
Probably every six years, fiveyears, maybe even.
You should stop.
It takes some time to go watchother people learn from other
people.
Um, and specifically like theAnter Foundation, we have such a
(26:37):
great opportunity now.
We take four fellows a year.
Um, it's international flavored.
I mean, it's, it's just a greatopportunity for, for anyone
who's trying to get better attheir craft.
Um, you know, another thing thatcomes to mind, I think you're
gonna appreciate this joke.
We're surgeons, right?
We call each, we we, we aresurgeons.
(26:58):
Absolutely we're surgeons, butin a way we're artisans, right?
We, we are crafting something.
So if you go back to like theRenaissance and you wanted to
learn how to make the best likearm law, you'd find the guy who
makes it the best and learn someskill sets from him.
And then what if you figured outthat, hey, there's someone else
(27:20):
who makes really good metalhinges.
And because your arm wall'sgotta have doors, then you go to
like this metal guy and learnhow to like craft metal.
'cause you want your doorhandles to be more intricate and
um, and the hinges to be justseamless and soft clothes or
whatever.
I don't know, I'm just, well Ipicked Armo wall.
I don't even know I picked ourarm wall, but my, that's the
(27:40):
example that comes to mind rightnow that we are artisans would
wanna learn our craft from thebest.
So I think the point of mycareer I'm at now is I talk to
certain people when I see them.
About, you know, cup and Ireally think they understand the
cup so well and I wanna knowabout the cup from them.
And then there's others I runinto and I say, Hey, talk to me
(28:01):
about femur.
Others I talked to aboutapproach, uh, others.
I talked about bearings andimplants and get to that.
I'm excited about that phase inmy career where I'm at, where
I'm trying to say, Hey, you arethe artisan of acetabular, you
know, understanding.
I wanna learn that from you.
'cause the best version of me isa, is a combination.
(28:23):
I'm very proud of my Pakistaniheritage, so I'm not gonna call
it Jamal.
I'm gonna call it Biani.
So the biani, which is rice andspice and meat and everything in
one pop and tastes amazing.
If you haven't tried it, youshould go try some biani
tonight.
But, uh, uh, you can't just getfrom one person.
You just can't.
You gotta get your best.
(28:43):
Bani is gonna happen when you gopick up everything from everyone
different, sorry for the longanswer, but
Joseph M. Schwab (28:50):
no, I uh, I love it.
It's fantastic.
Um, as you've gained thatexperience, did your definition
of success change?
Khalid Yousuf (29:02):
Uh, Yeah.
I think, uh, yes.
I think the answer is yes.
Uh, have I reflected upon thatat that time?
I, I'm sure I did.
Right?
Success at that time wasmeasured in terms of, um, big
picture things.
I was measuring my success of.
Hey, did I accomplish thisrevision from the front and
dysplasia, which was scary forme, and I was seeing a lot of
(29:23):
dysplasia, and so it was very,um, uh, uh, success.
Uh, I measured success whenCharlie and Jonathan would
respond back to my post-opx-rays because I would shoot on
my pre-op x-rays and say, thisis my challenge.
Can I do this from the front?
Question number one, the answersounds so obvious right now.
Yes, you can do it from thefront, but at that time it
(29:45):
wasn't obvious.
You know, that was the reality.
And that was a, again, a mething.
Like, Hey, can I,'cause they'dmet me, they'd worked with me.
So the question was very.
And I think that's so importantwhen people say, can I do this?
I don't know you yet.
I don't know if you can do ityet, you know, but those guys
knew me and they were saying, Iknow you, I know you can do this
(30:05):
from the front.
And that is so powerful.
And, and again, I, I would, Iwish everyone have people like
that in your life.
Um, um, even your spouses, Ihope are doing that for you in
your life.
You know, be that for your kids,right?
Hey, I know you can do that.
You know,'cause I know youreally well.
Now I would go do it and, andthen they would be honest with
me and say, why did your cup endup where it ended up?
(30:28):
Could have been lower.
No, it couldn't have been.
Well, tell me why you think itcouldn't have been And that
reflection was such a, a helpfulthing.
So I magic success like that forsure.
At that point.
And then I measured success withreferrals because when non
Baylor doctors in Dallas werecalling me saying, I have a
problem.
I've heard about you and I wannasend this to you.
(30:50):
Can you help this person?
I felt like that was success.
Like these two things.
I, I think I was measuringsuccess with these two readily,
real time, um, uh, weekly,monthly, you know, at that time
for sure.
Joseph M. Schwab (31:02):
You mentioned that you're always working to
get better, um, always workingto make yourself a better
surgeon to learn more.
What's, what's the motivation,um, to pushing yourself toward
becoming the best version of ofyou
Khalid Yousuf (31:19):
Uh, yeah, I think probably again, family, right?
Two parts of the family.
One, I think, uh, my dad.
The sacrifices that he made, thesacrifices that my mom made to
get to this country and being animmigrant family, um, I think,
um, means so much was put intome.
(31:40):
And so what's gonna, you know,what's the product of that?
And that product better bereally good.
So that pressure, uh, I put onmyself, I think is, um, um, part
of it.
And now I got, um, now on theother hand, there's, uh.
There's a potential echochamber, right?
Those are your kids.
So are they gonna echo?
(32:01):
I I and I definitely, um, Idon't have any pressure on them.
Hey, you need to be anorthopedic surgeon, or even a
physician for that matter.
But for sure the echo that Iwould love to see.
Is they are the best, bestversion of themselves.
We all want that for our familyand kids and, and people around
us that we love.
And so actions are what makethat happen and verbalizing that
(32:24):
commitment, I think it's soimportant to verbalize that
intent.
For me to come out here and saythat to you, Um, in a vulnerable
space and do that puts me on thespot, right?
Same thing like going on theanterior foundation.
You verbalize that commitment.
Not everyone knows your intent.
You gotta, you know, shut up orput up, right?
And so at that point, like, youknow, I, I love these things,
(32:45):
right?
Um, uh, and so these are thetypes of things I think that
motivate me to be the bestversion of me.
And for sure, we can neverforget the patients that entrust
in us that, you know, we, thatthey, they need care.
And they, they truly, honestlysay, you know, I trusted you.
Please help me.
There's a lot to that one simplesentence when they say, I
(33:07):
trusted you.
Trusted you for what?
Just that 30 minutes to do thehip or trusted you that the
journey you've taken to this isthe best version of you today.
Hence the next 30 minuteoperation will be the best
output.
Right?
And that's how I hear thatquestion.
Joseph M. Schwab (33:24):
Um, if you could, so first of all, I want
to thank you for your time.
You've been more than generouswith us, and as always, your
ability to be contemplative, tobe thoughtful and um, to be
measured and well-spoken and,and defend what you say.
I, I, I always, it's one of thethings I appreciate the most
(33:46):
about you and have appreciatedabout.
Our friendship, the, the, if Icould ask one last question.
If you could write a note, um,to the next generation of
orthopedic surgeons and, um,leave it in every or locker room
all around the world, what wouldit say?
Khalid Yousuf (34:10):
Hmm.
So the surgeons in the or Iwould say?
turn a tough problem into asimple problem.
Um, it's what I told myselfrepeatedly.
Every time I saw revisions andthey were hard and I turned a
revision, I, I wanted to turnthat revision into a primary.
Um, so turn simple problemsinto, uh, turn tough problems.
(34:33):
Into simple problems.
Joseph M. Schwab (34:35):
Not the other way around.
Khalid Yousuf (34:36):
yeah, Not the other way around.
Absolutely.
I hope, I hope what they takefrom that is, you know, when
you're seeing, if you're atrauma guy and you see a bunch
of pieces, make'em intocombination of pieces and, and,
and, you know, six turns intofour, it turns into two type of
thing.
If you're doing a, a primaryhip, break it down into, let me
(34:57):
get my approach right.
Let me get my cut right, let meget my exposure, you know,
releases.
Right.
Simplify it in your life and,and, and do that.
Um.
Then I would tell, uh, if Icould leave a message to, to
anyone or something I share witheveryone is you just really
can't be the best at everything.
And so just remember for every,everything that's a yes,
(35:18):
something's a no, and it's okayto pick your top, you know,
three, four, or five things.
Be the best at those, right?
And so, uh, prioritize those,verbalize those intent.
Be intentional in the thingsthat you do.
And I think, um, uh, at the endof the day, at the, I hope that
you're, uh, happy with, uh, whatyou're doing at that point
Joseph M. Schwab (35:41):
What
Khalid Yousuf (35:42):
and love the people in your life.
I think friendship is such, Imean, that's, this is where this
all comes from, friendship and,and sincerity.
So I appreciate you for justhaving me on here and, and love
the people in your life forthat.
Joseph M. Schwab (35:53):
I, I, uh, I said it was one last question,
but I, I lied and I actually,you, you made me think of
another one.
So for all the things, tell methe number one thing that you
wanted to say yes to, and thenumber one most difficult thing
you had to say no to
Khalid Yousuf (36:13):
Eh, ally, it's a easy question.
My mind goes to non-orthopedicthere, but, but orthopedically,
it's easy.
I really wanted to say yes toshoulder replacements.
um, really wanted to do shoulderreplacement.
The, the, the 12 by 12 to in myworld was, uh, Dr.
Sperling at the Mayo Clinicshoulder guy, and he would do 18
(36:36):
shoulders, uh, on an operativeday.
And so 18 shoulders, um, that'snot me.
Uh, sorry.
So I'll pause and go back.
So the, the, the Charlie in mylife before Charlie's 12 by 12
was Dr.
Sperling at the Mayo Clinic.
He was a shoulder arthroplastysurgeon and he would do 12, uh,
18 shoulders on an operativeday.
(36:57):
And, uh, and I just saw how welloiled his machine was.
The average shoulder replacementwas about 20 minutes for sure.
He had resources like fellowsand three rooms and all that
kind of stuff, but.
I saw efficiency and I reallylove shoulders and unfortunately
I had to say no to shoulders,uh, in our practice because of
how it's, that's the first thingthat's to know that was hard to
(37:20):
do, um, in life.
Um, I think I had to say no toChicago.
That was really tough.
I'm a big Chicago guy.
I love Chicago, and I had to sayyes to my career.
Um, and so Chicago, I've gotfamily.
I love the Chi Chicago, I lovethe Midwest.
I love Chicago itself.
Um, uh, and uh, I was there justtwo weeks ago and, um, to say no
(37:46):
to Chicago because I'm sayingyes to my career, my practice,
my passion, my love for that,um, was really tough.
But.
Said, um, I said yes to thething I love the most, which is,
uh, hip and knee surgery in my,in my practice.
Um, which meant I said no toChicago.
So those are my kind of answersI guess.
(38:09):
You got me thinking I day aboutthis one now.
Yeah.
Joseph M. Schwab (38:13):
well you'll, you'll find the video.
You can always leave it in thecomments below afterwards,
right.
Khalid Yousuf (38:18):
Yeah.
Don't be surprised.
I might.
Joseph M. Schwab (38:21):
And any updates are always appreciated.
Well, uh, Dr.
Yusef, um, it's been too longsince we've seen each other in
person, but I really appreciatehaving the opportunity to talk
with you today and again, to getto experience your
thoughtfulness, your, your, yourmeasured attitude, um, and, um,
(38:43):
just be able to enjoy ourfriendship for a, a, a couple of
minutes here.
Khalid Yousuf (38:48):
Joe, thanks for having me.
It's an honor to be, uh,involved with the Your Hip
Foundation.
Uh, I highly, highly support thetraveling fellowship and the
work that you guys do.
Um, thank you so much and I hopeeveryone has a great weekend the
rest of the weekend.
Joseph M. Schwab (39:03):
Alright, thanks.
Thank you for joining me forthis episode of the A HF
Podcast.
As always, please take a momentto like and subscribe so we can
keep the lights on.
And keep sharing great content.
Please also drop any topic ideasor feedback in the comments
(39:24):
below.
You can find the ahf podcast onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or in
any of your favorite podcastapps, as well as in video form
on YouTube slash at anterior hipfoundation.
All one word.
episode of the A HF Podcast comeout on Fridays.
(39:46):
I'm your host, Joe Schwab,asking you to keep those hips
happy and healthy andcontemplative.
Hello and welcome to this episode of the A
HF Podcast.
I'm your host, Joe Schwab.
Today we're honored to sit downwith Dr.
Khalid Yusef, an accomplishedorthopedic surgeon, educator,
and leader, to talk not justabout what he does, but who he's
become.
Over the course of an evolving,and some might even say
(00:46):
brilliant career.
If you're in the middle of yourjourney in orthopedic surgery or
if you're just starting out,this is an episode you'll wanna
listen to all the way through.
Dr.
Yusef, welcome to the A HFPodcast.
Khalid Yousuf (01:01):
Thanks for having me here, Joe.
Uh, nice seeing you.
Joseph M. Schwab (01:05):
Great seeing you.
Before we jump right into theheavy stuff, how about you
introduce yourself to ourlisteners, where you're based?
Maybe tell them a little bitabout your background.
Khalid Yousuf (01:16):
Sure.
Um, so my name's Kaha Yusuf.
I'm in Dallas, Texas now, uh, inthe suburbs of Dallas.
I work with a large healthcaresystem and, uh, my journey, uh,
like most was medical school,orthopedic surgery at University
of Oklahoma.
For residency, Mayo Clinic forfellowship.
Joe and I met along this journeyand, uh, kindled a friendship
(01:39):
from that point.
Uh, and then I took a job inChicago, practiced there for
five years, so we stayed.
Uh, Joe and I stayed in touch.
Uh, and then as Joe transitionedover the pond, I came down to
Texas.
I had some ties to Texas and ithas been a great, um, uh,
transition to my practice.
So I've been in Dallas now foreight years.
(02:01):
And, uh, that's also around thetime I was introduced to the
Anter Hip Foundation.
Uh, and I'm sure we're gonnatalk more about that.
Joseph M. Schwab (02:09):
So tell me a little bit and tell our
listeners a little bit about howyou got interested in
orthopedics in the first place.
Khalid Yousuf (02:17):
Yeah.
Um, being Pakistani, you know,you're kind of born with two
options.
You're gonna be a doc orengineer.
Uh, and I really struggled withthat.
Um, I like the engineering sidemore.
Uh, for sure.
At the same token, my dad's adoc, uh, I have other family
members that are docs, and Ireally was drawn to the human
element of medicine.
(02:38):
Um, and then, so I, you know,almost like by default, I didn't
think too hard about medicalschool.
I, uh, fortunate and was blessedto have good grades and kind of
went down that path almost bydefault.
But as soon as, uh, you startgetting into that.
A finish line of just, Hey, nowI'm really gonna start medical
(02:59):
school.
The finish line of like the preinto the med school part, you
start to say, I gotta pick whatkind of doc I wanna be, and now
the human element, uh, ofillness and sickness and all the
other parts come in.
Um, and so very quickly, uh,conversations with my dad, other
folks, um, uh, I was veryconfused.
(03:21):
I mean, truly, honestly confusedto the point where I was like, I
don't think I should be adoctor.
And fortunately for me, um, thesecond week of Gross anatomy
lab, the orthopedic surgeryresidents would come into our
cadaver lab, um, and uh, do thejoint dissection of the cadaver
just to kind of like show, um,the anatomy.
(03:44):
And it was good for them'causethey were learning the anatomy
themselves.
It was good for medical studentsto learn from, uh, you know,
others.
And right away I was drawn totheir, you know, that, that.
That feel and excitement thatthey had about what they were
showing us and teaching us.
And, uh, lo and behold, that wasmy introduction to Ortho.
Um, and specific, and it's along-winded answer, but really I
(04:06):
think, you know, that's how yourlife is shaped, is these little
interactions that then make a, aamazing, you know, hopefully
experience for you in your life.
And it went from that toresearch in ortho.
Um, and putting little EMGsensors and feline multifidus
muscles to figure out how theirspine works and what makes their
(04:28):
spine hurt to grand rounds andother research opportunities.
And, um, just, that's how I kindof all got started and I'm so
grateful for.
Joseph M. Schwab (04:40):
So given where you're at in your career now and
what you've accomplished, uh,since that time, if you could
sit down with that youngercolleague and, and give him some
advice or answer some of hisquestions, what would you tell
him?
I guess, what would you wish youwould've known?
That the people around youweren't telling you at the time,
or it wasn't the information youwere getting?
Khalid Yousuf (05:03):
Yeah, that's a tough question.
So, you know, I was.
I don't know if I would've givenhim any different advice.
I don't think he understood the,I don't think he understood the,
the life he got placed into, youknow, just he was lucky in that.
And let me ex, uh, exp uh,expound on that a little bit.
(05:26):
So I didn't get into med schoolone of my years, uh, for a
little while.
And so I was guided to go intobusiness and I went in and
gotten healthcare management,um, masters.
And, uh, I, I think theseopportunities that like
sometimes seem like your life isending and you're saying, man, I
wanna be a doc and I didn't getinto med school.
(05:48):
My grades are good.
Why didn't this work?
Sometimes it's just not meant tobe worked out, right?
It's not the right time.
So baking the best of what youhave, I think, and to take that
with a smile, which, uh, I'm notsaying I always did, but at the
same token, luckily for me, thepeople around me, the support
sector helped me smile throughit, put my head down, work
(06:10):
through it, do the best at thatopportunity.
I think that's been the strengthof mine that, uh, I do try to do
the best at whatever sitsituation I'm in.
Um, even if I internally don'tlike it, uh, I know the outward
product is.
It gotta be my best effort.
And uh, and so then, um, youknow, you just dunno.
So what did I learn through allthose?
(06:32):
Is that the business acumen Igained by going to business
school?
The idea of conversations withmy dad saying, I know I thought
I wanted to be a doctor, but nowI realize the sick patient isn't
the patient model.
I might thrive in the hurtpatient model is maybe the model
I would thrive in.
(06:53):
And understanding that there's.
Doctors that take care of sickpatients versus hurt patients.
Um, and I think most orthopedicsurgeons are better at the hurt
patient, um, versus the sickpatient.
And, uh, understanding that veryearly on or having someone
explain that to you,'cause as astudent you don't understand,
there's two different types ofpatients.
(07:13):
Um, so those are the things Iwould tell the young college
that, Hey, you, you got a curveball thrown to you.
Life isn't meant to be just abunch of.
Smooth, uh, straight sailing,um, you know, it's gonna have
its bumps to just take it and dowhat you do.
And when you, when you're hurt,you don't, you know, just talk
to the people around you thatsupport you.
(07:33):
And because we all hurt atdifferent times and it's okay to
hurt you, just work throughthat.
Joseph M. Schwab (07:38):
I haven't heard that distinction between
the, the hurt patient and thesick patient that way.
I think that's a, a fascinatingway to think about.
Not just patients, but differenttypes of physicians.
Right.
What kind of physician you wantto be?
Um, I, I, I haven't heard it inthose terms.
Was there a moment in that earlyjourney where you went from not
(08:00):
just knowing what you wanted todo, but knowing that you were
gonna be able to do it, um,knowing that, um, this was not
just the career path that youwere gonna choose, but that it
was gonna happen for you?
Or was that always, uh, a bituncertain for you
Khalid Yousuf (08:18):
Yeah, I think that question and, and the way I
hear it, uh, for me puts me inresidency.
Um, and there was a time inresidency where, you know, I was
fortunate enough to have anautonomous or semi-autonomous
residency experience and, um.
I was able to, you know, um,nail a sub tr femur.
(08:39):
Uh, it was a trauma case.
I was, uh, you know, upper levelon call faculty was there, but
close by type there, there, youknow, and to a, you know, and I,
and I connected with thepatient.
So there's this, you know, somany aspects of that.
A story in my mind is you, youconnect with the patient.
It's a tougher fracture.
(09:00):
You have to open it.
Um, and, and then.
Successfully accomplished that.
Um, surgery, that's when itculminated.
And, and on that drive home, Iwas, you know, I'm o okay to
say, you know, almost liketeary-eyed that hey, wow, it's
gone from where I couldn't evenmaybe, you know, do a vertical
mattress suture to now I, I tookthis person who got in a car
(09:24):
wreck, you know, and now myself.
Reduced it.
Fixed it, and you know,hopefully he'll have a union.
Um, I didn't get follow up, youknow, residency always get
follow up.
But, but the, but the point isthat that was a transformative,
uh, realization in my life.
Uh, and uh, I think that's whenit became, um, a reality that,
(09:45):
hey, this is gonna happen.
Uh, and, and, and soon enoughI'll be a board certified
orthopedic surgeon.
And, and I, the responsibilitiesI should be able to.
As long as I keep doing whatI've done to this point.
Joseph M. Schwab (09:59):
you know, we had a former chairman, uh, in,
in my program who used to saynothing kills enthusiasm, like,
follow up.
So.
A good thing you didn't getfollow up on that patient.
Right.
That's just, you just run therisk of killing the enthusiasm.
Khalid Yousuf (10:14):
Yeah, for sure.
Tough university patients forsure.
Joseph M. Schwab (10:17):
Yeah, for sure.
Um, so then you end up at theMayo Clinic with, um, a
fellowship in adultreconstruction.
Tell me about how you ended upin adult reconstruction when now
you've gone from n knowingwhether you want, uh, to deal
with sick patients or hurtpatients.
To certain types of hurtpatients.
How, what was that like?
Khalid Yousuf (10:39):
Yeah.
And so that required for me, um,um, uh, a lot of my peers at in
residency were saying, Hey,you're putting the cart before
the horse.
Course, but I honestly, um, forme, that's just how my mind was
working.
And it was, I was torn betweenspine joints, uh, maybe even
trauma.
I, I kinda liked some of thebigger surgeries that came with
(11:00):
trauma.
Joseph M. Schwab (11:00):
Mm-hmm.
Khalid Yousuf (11:02):
And then, so I, I basically said I wanna live in
Dallas, Texas.
That was the goal at the time.
And, uh, so kind of workedbackwards and I said, Hey, what
kind of jobs are out there inDallas?
And, and going back to.
Circa 2010, right?
Like joints was not as popularas it is today.
(11:23):
And the, the patients were inhospitals for, um, at the VA for
our rotation.
They were at the hospital foreasily three to five days.
Um, and the, we had a greatprivate practice experience as
part of our residency.
So even in the private sector,they were in the hospital for,
uh, you know, one night forsure, maybe even two nights.
Uh, the Medicare two night rulewas like, you know, full effect,
(11:46):
all these types of things.
So the job market told me jointsis gonna lead to maybe a better,
um, uh, you know, salary and,and that type of situation.
Um, having a family, uh, orhaving family of family doctors.
'cause we have a lot of familydoc in our pri uh, in our
family, in the use of family.
(12:07):
Um, and seeing how.
They were always connected topatients.
I think I always did betterwith, um, chronic, uh, patients,
chronic ailment patients.
From that standpoint, I bondedwith them better, so I was drawn
to, um, joints and spine forthat reason.
And then the surgery of joints,uh, just fit my, uh, like, um.
(12:31):
My engineering mind a lotbetter.
I, I, I really felt like, uh, Iunderstand these concepts
better.
The materials are exciting to me'cause it was not being taught
well at the time.
To me, not, not a fault of theresidency, but in na in general,
we didn't understand metals andplastics and ceramics.
(12:51):
So I liked reading about thatand just understanding that.
Um, and so that was theattraction, um, into joints.
And then the business side of mymind really kicked into, and I
don't think this is a negative,but the business mind, the mind
said okay.
If I do this operation well, uh,and one of my mentors did do it
(13:11):
well, um, and efficiently.
I was like, wow, he's doing,like at that time there was, you
know, Charlie, uh, Charlie wasprobably not even in residency.
He was probably in med schooltoo.
Yeah.
Charlie's only four years aheadof me.
So at that point, uh, Charliemaybe was in residency, I guess.
Um, there's no 12 by 12, I meanDr.
(13:31):
Ache would do sticks in the day.
And was doing very wellfinancially.
And, um, I looked up to him andI thought, man, I could do six
of these a day also.
Um, and that means x and thatmeans, you know, paying off debt
in school and all of that kindof stuff.
So I said, why not do this?
(13:53):
And my attention span, uh, isbetter for, you know, a good
hour and a half'cause that's howlong joints took about at that
time, versus a three hour, youknow, spine case or something
like that.
Joseph M. Schwab (14:04):
or a five hour trauma
Khalid Yousuf (14:05):
again, a lot of reflection I made.
I'm very deliberate with mydecision that I'm grateful for
that.
Sometimes I'm slow making mydecisions.
Um, but those deliberatethoughts and conversations with
people led me to joints andthat's kind of what led me to
Joseph M. Schwab (14:21):
this is, it's interesting you mentioned this,
'cause this is what alwaysstruck me about you.
Um, in, uh, when we first meteach other, uh, on, I, I think
even looking at residencyprograms, right?
We were, we were interviewingfor residency programs together
was how thoughtful anddeliberate and contemplative you
(14:42):
were.
Um, and I, you know, the.
Uh, in one sense that could beviewed as making, um, decisions
slowly in another sense.
Like that's kind of what youwant in a doctor who's you're
putting, you know, a portion ofyour livelihood in their hands.
So that was something thatalways struck me about the way
you approach things and, and oneof those areas that we
(15:04):
reconnected in.
Was you were a few years intoyour practice before you decided
to do anterior approach, totalhips.
Tell me a little bit about that.
That must have been adeliberative process for you as
well.
Khalid Yousuf (15:19):
Yeah, for sure.
So, um, Rob Trusdale, who manyknow, um, just amazing surgeon,
right?
Such a charismatic individual.
I really am grateful that hetaught me so much and was part
of our life.
I wrapped up fellowship with hisrotation near the end by design.
Everyone spoke highly of him andI didn't want to rotate with him
(15:43):
early on'cause I wanted my handsto be better.
I wanted the program to know mebetter, so I get to have more
autonomy, especially at a placelike the clinic where autonomy,
something is you really gottaearn your chance at autonomy,
rightfully so.
So, um, I wrap up.
I'm doing, you know, it's, hi,uh, it's him for six weeks and
(16:05):
PAGs for six weeks.
And I'm saying, man, I'm aposterior approach.
This is it.
These guys are master surgeons.
And Robbie just said, Rob goes,so what do you think of anterior
approach?
Because I'd done Mike ton'srotation prior.
Mike's a amazing individual andgreat up and coming leader now,
and just great guy.
(16:26):
And at that time.
Even in his first two years, he,you know, got me through
anterior approach and helped me,taught me so much.
I mean, so much of it allstarted with m right, and I
gotta give him credit.
So, uh, a Trusdale said, you,you do the approach you end your
rotation with, and.
(16:50):
So that's what, you know, um, hesaid that just'cause you're most
comfortable, you're gonna leaveand this is gonna be your memory
and you're gonna go intopractice and that's what you
might do.
So, um, my other co-fellow, NateNelms was at the meeting this
past year and Nate's amazing,smart individual, and Nate was
all in on the anterior approach.
(17:11):
Jamie, the other co-fellow wasall in on the anterior approach
and I was like, I don't know.
I'm not sure.
So go.
Uh, so that's where I ended.
Now, I did go 50 51st year out.
So full disclosure, first yearout I was 50 50.
And um, ironically, I did thehard hips from the front.
And so everyone said, why areyou doing the hard hips from the
(17:33):
front?
Again, my crazy mind said, thehard hips are the ones that.
I don't have a pa, I get like ahospital assigned, you know,
retractor holder and they don'tknow how to control the thigh
and the leg and it's hard for meto bro, but they can hold
retractors when they're on theother side of the bed.
And so, um, so the approachwhich is harder for me at that
(17:57):
age, the releases, which areharder for me at that point in
my career.
Are me problems I can fix meproblems I can't fix, Hey, hold
the leg this way, or beintuitive and know that I'm
doing this or do that.
You know?
'cause your body's moving thisway and you're like, today my PA
just looks at how I stand.
She knows, okay, move this way'cause he's doing that.
(18:18):
I didn't have that luxury, thatand so, so hard hips anterior
approach.
So my hips, my anteriorapproaches were like two hour,
you know, um, just challenges,but good outcomes.
Um, that's how I did it.
So for me it was 50 50'causecouldn't go through a day of
multiple hips that were twohours long for me at that time,
(18:41):
but got better and better andbetter.
So that was that.
Again, thinking through theprocess and solve the problems
that are in your control.
Maybe don't worry about theproblems that are not in your
control.
It's, um, what I would teach tothe audience or remind the
audience that's listening tothis podcast, we get so caught
up on, you know, other people'sproblems and that's not our
(19:02):
problem's.
Just do, do you?
Joseph M. Schwab (19:04):
Right, right.
My, uh, my wife was reading abook called, I think it was
called Let Them, and it wasabout, uh, you know, when other
people get worked up and tellyou what you should do.
All right.
Let'em, let'em tell you, youknow, let, let them get worked
up.
That's just fine.
(20:25):
So in that journey of youbecoming an anterior approach
predominant surgeon, um, youreached out to the anterior hip
foundation, and if I'm mis ifI'm, unless I'm mistaken, you
pioneered the idea of thetraveling fellowship for the a
HF You were the f essentiallythe first or one of the first
(20:48):
formal traveling fellows for thea HF.
Isn't that right?
Khalid Yousuf (20:52):
I, I, um, I think I was the inaugural traveling
fellow, and I think the ideacame again.
Having a connection with you andCharlie.
The idea was, so I came to themeeting and really, um, enjoyed
the meeting.
And then as I went home, soprobably at this point in my
career, I'm um, um, probably 7030 inch here posterior.
(21:17):
Um, and really it was only 70 30at that point because of
limitations and resources at thehospital.
So if I had two, if I had tworooms, I had one table.
It was hard to like move thetable and that kind of stuff.
So, so I would still doposterior, but for sure I didn't
do revisions posteriorly and Iwanted to.
(21:38):
And I was transitioning mypractice from a, uh, purely
employed hospital practice inChicago to a private emic
practice in Dallas, uh, atBaylor.
So the Baylor in Dallas isdifferent than the Baylor in
Houston.
The Baylor in Houston's a bigacademic center at the Texas
Medical Center versus the Baylorin Dallas is a more of a, uh.
(22:01):
PRI private demo is what wewould call it.
We've got residency, we've got,uh, a foot and ankle fellowship.
Um, but you can also just be aemployee of Baylor as an
orthopedic surgeon.
Just do that life if you want,or you can have what I have,
which is, uh, exposure to, toresidents, uh, uh, which I
enjoy.
So this transition's about tohappen and I'm coming to a new
(22:23):
market and, uh, everything is.
Bigger, faster wilder in Texas.
So I knew I didn't want to comeinto this market, um, and not
be, uh, the best, uh, surgeon Ican be.
And, and I wanted to take sometime at that point to, to get
better.
And that doesn't happen fromtextbooks, I don't believe.
(22:43):
I think it's very important totake the time and go travel and,
and reflect and learn and, andhave those inter meaningful
interactions with.
Other leaders in this space.
Um, so, uh, fortunately I talkedto Joe, uh, I talked to you and,
and, uh, and basically said,I've got this idea that I wanna
(23:04):
travel, but, um, I can go do avisitation with a industry
sponsor trip.
I can go do that on my own.
Um, but I don't wanna just do itthat way.
I wanna make it more formal.
Um, that's what I want.
I want it, I want it to be aline item on my CV that I really
put the time into it, whichdeserves the, the
(23:25):
memorialization of it on, on aresume.
So we worked through all ofthat, that goes into that.
We, uh, you guys helped meidentify people like Nick Maths,
that, you know, the name wasvery, uh, known to me through
literature, but I didn't knowhim personally at all, and his
name was given to me.
Of course Dr.
De Cook, Jonathan, you asked meis Charlie, who, who now all
(23:47):
three are so close to me.
Um, you know, their names weregiven to me.
Tom Bradbury, what a great guyand stud surgeon.
Um, but, you know, a deficiencyof mine.
But I didn't know him at thetime.
I didn't know his name, hisliterature, but you guys
introduced me to him.
Um, George Gale, I mean he,George was a year behind me at
(24:10):
LSU.
Um, but we didn't know eachother well.
'cause George was out therepartying of course, as you would
know, and, and driving fastcars.
And I don't, I don't wanna sayhe's married now, but maybe
chasing women.
Who knows, right?
I don't know.
But I didn't know him at thattime, even though he was a year
behind me at LSU and Katrina.
The years you get to know your,the junior class in the senior
(24:30):
class, like the, the two yearsthat get to know each other is
the clinical years.
And in my clinical year, I gotshipped out'cause Hurricane
Katrina hit.
So I really didn't get to bondwith them.
And I meet him at that trip andwe connect and say, Hey, wow,
we're both at LLU.
We're both from New Orleans.
Like what a small world.
And learning how to do hipresurfacing from the front,
which is what he taught me.
(24:52):
I mean, these were theinteractions I gained in that
traveling fellowship.
So formative for my career.
Honestly, I think put me on themap.
'cause at that point, um, I'mbeing asked to talk about
anterior approach, how I dorevisions from the front of
coming back and doing thingsthat are uncomfortable again,
but better for patient care andworking through that.
(25:13):
So, so that is really whenyou're all in now, right?
You can't go be the anterior hipfellow, the first one and then
come back and say, Yeah, I'mgonna book a poster approach.
But no, it doesn't work thatway.
You're all in, everyone knowsyou took time off work.
Um.
My partners knew I went and didthis.
They're excited and they'resaying, wow, you, you're, let me
(25:33):
send you this VMI 50.
You're gonna do it from thefront.
And I'm like, Yep.
I am bikini incision from thefront.
You know, let me send you thisrevision.
And I'm like, yep.
Uh, your pelvis looks good onthe backside.
I don't think I need to get backthere.
Everything's in the front.
I'm gonna go through the front.
I can use fluoro to myadvantage.
I can take that new cup out,keep my hip center where I want.
(25:54):
It's not blind for me.
Absolutely.
You know, then you're presentingit in residents or.
They're looking at you alwayskeeping you honest.
And um, so that was such a, that12 months meant a lot happened
for me in 20 17, 20 18, um,sorry, 27, uh, 20 18, 20 19.
(26:15):
A lot happened for me in those12 months.
Um, um, so very grateful forthat opportunity and highly,
highly, highly recommend allsurgeons.
Probably every six years, fiveyears, maybe even.
You should stop.
It takes some time to go watchother people learn from other
people.
Um, and specifically like theAnter Foundation, we have such a
(26:37):
great opportunity now.
We take four fellows a year.
Um, it's international flavored.
I mean, it's, it's just a greatopportunity for, for anyone
who's trying to get better attheir craft.
Um, you know, another thing thatcomes to mind, I think you're
gonna appreciate this joke.
We're surgeons, right?
We call each, we we, we aresurgeons.
(26:58):
Absolutely we're surgeons, butin a way we're artisans, right?
We, we are crafting something.
So if you go back to like theRenaissance and you wanted to
learn how to make the best likearm law, you'd find the guy who
makes it the best and learn someskill sets from him.
And then what if you figured outthat, hey, there's someone else
(27:20):
who makes really good metalhinges.
And because your arm wall'sgotta have doors, then you go to
like this metal guy and learnhow to like craft metal.
'cause you want your doorhandles to be more intricate and
um, and the hinges to be justseamless and soft clothes or
whatever.
I don't know, I'm just, well Ipicked Armo wall.
I don't even know I picked ourarm wall, but my, that's the
(27:40):
example that comes to mind rightnow that we are artisans would
wanna learn our craft from thebest.
So I think the point of mycareer I'm at now is I talk to
certain people when I see them.
About, you know, cup and Ireally think they understand the
cup so well and I wanna knowabout the cup from them.
And then there's others I runinto and I say, Hey, talk to me
(28:01):
about femur.
Others I talked to aboutapproach, uh, others.
I talked about bearings andimplants and get to that.
I'm excited about that phase inmy career where I'm at, where
I'm trying to say, Hey, you arethe artisan of acetabular, you
know, understanding.
I wanna learn that from you.
'cause the best version of me isa, is a combination.
(28:23):
I'm very proud of my Pakistaniheritage, so I'm not gonna call
it Jamal.
I'm gonna call it Biani.
So the biani, which is rice andspice and meat and everything in
one pop and tastes amazing.
If you haven't tried it, youshould go try some biani
tonight.
But, uh, uh, you can't just getfrom one person.
You just can't.
You gotta get your best.
(28:43):
Bani is gonna happen when you gopick up everything from everyone
different, sorry for the longanswer, but
Joseph M. Schwab (28:50):
no, I uh, I love it.
It's fantastic.
Um, as you've gained thatexperience, did your definition
of success change?
Khalid Yousuf (29:02):
Uh, Yeah.
I think, uh, yes.
I think the answer is yes.
Uh, have I reflected upon thatat that time?
I, I'm sure I did.
Right?
Success at that time wasmeasured in terms of, um, big
picture things.
I was measuring my success of.
Hey, did I accomplish thisrevision from the front and
dysplasia, which was scary forme, and I was seeing a lot of
(29:23):
dysplasia, and so it was very,um, uh, uh, success.
Uh, I measured success whenCharlie and Jonathan would
respond back to my post-opx-rays because I would shoot on
my pre-op x-rays and say, thisis my challenge.
Can I do this from the front?
Question number one, the answersounds so obvious right now.
Yes, you can do it from thefront, but at that time it
(29:45):
wasn't obvious.
You know, that was the reality.
And that was a, again, a mething.
Like, Hey, can I,'cause they'dmet me, they'd worked with me.
So the question was very.
And I think that's so importantwhen people say, can I do this?
I don't know you yet.
I don't know if you can do ityet, you know, but those guys
knew me and they were saying, Iknow you, I know you can do this
(30:05):
from the front.
And that is so powerful.
And, and again, I, I would, Iwish everyone have people like
that in your life.
Um, um, even your spouses, Ihope are doing that for you in
your life.
You know, be that for your kids,right?
Hey, I know you can do that.
You know,'cause I know youreally well.
Now I would go do it and, andthen they would be honest with
me and say, why did your cup endup where it ended up?
(30:28):
Could have been lower.
No, it couldn't have been.
Well, tell me why you think itcouldn't have been And that
reflection was such a, a helpfulthing.
So I magic success like that forsure.
At that point.
And then I measured success withreferrals because when non
Baylor doctors in Dallas werecalling me saying, I have a
problem.
I've heard about you and I wannasend this to you.
(30:50):
Can you help this person?
I felt like that was success.
Like these two things.
I, I think I was measuringsuccess with these two readily,
real time, um, uh, weekly,monthly, you know, at that time
for sure.
Joseph M. Schwab (31:02):
You mentioned that you're always working to
get better, um, always workingto make yourself a better
surgeon to learn more.
What's, what's the motivation,um, to pushing yourself toward
becoming the best version of ofyou
Khalid Yousuf (31:19):
Uh, yeah, I think probably again, family, right?
Two parts of the family.
One, I think, uh, my dad.
The sacrifices that he made, thesacrifices that my mom made to
get to this country and being animmigrant family, um, I think,
um, means so much was put intome.
(31:40):
And so what's gonna, you know,what's the product of that?
And that product better bereally good.
So that pressure, uh, I put onmyself, I think is, um, um, part
of it.
And now I got, um, now on theother hand, there's, uh.
There's a potential echochamber, right?
Those are your kids.
So are they gonna echo?
(32:01):
I I and I definitely, um, Idon't have any pressure on them.
Hey, you need to be anorthopedic surgeon, or even a
physician for that matter.
But for sure the echo that Iwould love to see.
Is they are the best, bestversion of themselves.
We all want that for our familyand kids and, and people around
us that we love.
And so actions are what makethat happen and verbalizing that
(32:24):
commitment, I think it's soimportant to verbalize that
intent.
For me to come out here and saythat to you, Um, in a vulnerable
space and do that puts me on thespot, right?
Same thing like going on theanterior foundation.
You verbalize that commitment.
Not everyone knows your intent.
You gotta, you know, shut up orput up, right?
And so at that point, like, youknow, I, I love these things,
(32:45):
right?
Um, uh, and so these are thetypes of things I think that
motivate me to be the bestversion of me.
And for sure, we can neverforget the patients that entrust
in us that, you know, we, thatthey, they need care.
And they, they truly, honestlysay, you know, I trusted you.
Please help me.
There's a lot to that one simplesentence when they say, I
(33:07):
trusted you.
Trusted you for what?
Just that 30 minutes to do thehip or trusted you that the
journey you've taken to this isthe best version of you today.
Hence the next 30 minuteoperation will be the best
output.
Right?
And that's how I hear thatquestion.
Joseph M. Schwab (33:24):
Um, if you could, so first of all, I want
to thank you for your time.
You've been more than generouswith us, and as always, your
ability to be contemplative, tobe thoughtful and um, to be
measured and well-spoken and,and defend what you say.
I, I, I always, it's one of thethings I appreciate the most
(33:46):
about you and have appreciatedabout.
Our friendship, the, the, if Icould ask one last question.
If you could write a note, um,to the next generation of
orthopedic surgeons and, um,leave it in every or locker room
all around the world, what wouldit say?
Khalid Yousuf (34:10):
Hmm.
So the surgeons in the or Iwould say?
turn a tough problem into asimple problem.
Um, it's what I told myselfrepeatedly.
Every time I saw revisions andthey were hard and I turned a
revision, I, I wanted to turnthat revision into a primary.
Um, so turn simple problemsinto, uh, turn tough problems.
(34:33):
Into simple problems.
Joseph M. Schwab (34:35):
Not the other way around.
Khalid Yousuf (34:36):
yeah, Not the other way around.
Absolutely.
I hope, I hope what they takefrom that is, you know, when
you're seeing, if you're atrauma guy and you see a bunch
of pieces, make'em intocombination of pieces and, and,
and, you know, six turns intofour, it turns into two type of
thing.
If you're doing a, a primaryhip, break it down into, let me
(34:57):
get my approach right.
Let me get my cut right, let meget my exposure, you know,
releases.
Right.
Simplify it in your life and,and, and do that.
Um.
Then I would tell, uh, if Icould leave a message to, to
anyone or something I share witheveryone is you just really
can't be the best at everything.
And so just remember for every,everything that's a yes,
(35:18):
something's a no, and it's okayto pick your top, you know,
three, four, or five things.
Be the best at those, right?
And so, uh, prioritize those,verbalize those intent.
Be intentional in the thingsthat you do.
And I think, um, uh, at the endof the day, at the, I hope that
you're, uh, happy with, uh, whatyou're doing at that point
Joseph M. Schwab (35:41):
What
Khalid Yousuf (35:42):
and love the people in your life.
I think friendship is such, Imean, that's, this is where this
all comes from, friendship and,and sincerity.
So I appreciate you for justhaving me on here and, and love
the people in your life forthat.
Joseph M. Schwab (35:53):
I, I, uh, I said it was one last question,
but I, I lied and I actually,you, you made me think of
another one.
So for all the things, tell methe number one thing that you
wanted to say yes to, and thenumber one most difficult thing
you had to say no to
Khalid Yousuf (36:13):
Eh, ally, it's a easy question.
My mind goes to non-orthopedicthere, but, but orthopedically,
it's easy.
I really wanted to say yes toshoulder replacements.
um, really wanted to do shoulderreplacement.
The, the, the 12 by 12 to in myworld was, uh, Dr.
Sperling at the Mayo Clinicshoulder guy, and he would do 18
(36:36):
shoulders, uh, on an operativeday.
And so 18 shoulders, um, that'snot me.
Uh, sorry.
So I'll pause and go back.
So the, the, the Charlie in mylife before Charlie's 12 by 12
was Dr.
Sperling at the Mayo Clinic.
He was a shoulder arthroplastysurgeon and he would do 12, uh,
18 shoulders on an operativeday.
(36:57):
And, uh, and I just saw how welloiled his machine was.
The average shoulder replacementwas about 20 minutes for sure.
He had resources like fellowsand three rooms and all that
kind of stuff, but.
I saw efficiency and I reallylove shoulders and unfortunately
I had to say no to shoulders,uh, in our practice because of
how it's, that's the first thingthat's to know that was hard to
(37:20):
do, um, in life.
Um, I think I had to say no toChicago.
That was really tough.
I'm a big Chicago guy.
I love Chicago, and I had to sayyes to my career.
Um, and so Chicago, I've gotfamily.
I love the Chi Chicago, I lovethe Midwest.
I love Chicago itself.
Um, uh, and uh, I was there justtwo weeks ago and, um, to say no
(37:46):
to Chicago because I'm sayingyes to my career, my practice,
my passion, my love for that,um, was really tough.
But.
Said, um, I said yes to thething I love the most, which is,
uh, hip and knee surgery in my,in my practice.
Um, which meant I said no toChicago.
So those are my kind of answersI guess.
(38:09):
You got me thinking I day aboutthis one now.
Yeah.
Joseph M. Schwab (38:13):
well you'll, you'll find the video.
You can always leave it in thecomments below afterwards,
right.
Khalid Yousuf (38:18):
Yeah.
Don't be surprised.
I might.
Joseph M. Schwab (38:21):
And any updates are always appreciated.
Well, uh, Dr.
Yusef, um, it's been too longsince we've seen each other in
person, but I really appreciatehaving the opportunity to talk
with you today and again, to getto experience your
thoughtfulness, your, your, yourmeasured attitude, um, and, um,
(38:43):
just be able to enjoy ourfriendship for a, a, a couple of
minutes here.
Khalid Yousuf (38:48):
Joe, thanks for having me.
It's an honor to be, uh,involved with the Your Hip
Foundation.
Uh, I highly, highly support thetraveling fellowship and the
work that you guys do.
Um, thank you so much and I hopeeveryone has a great weekend the
rest of the weekend.
Joseph M. Schwab (39:03):
Alright, thanks.
Thank you for joining me forthis episode of the A HF
Podcast.
As always, please take a momentto like and subscribe so we can
keep the lights on.
And keep sharing great content.
Please also drop any topic ideasor feedback in the comments
(39:24):
below.
You can find the ahf podcast onApple Podcasts, Spotify, or in
any of your favorite podcastapps, as well as in video form
on YouTube slash at anterior hipfoundation.
All one word.
episode of the A HF Podcast comeout on Fridays.
(39:46):
I'm your host, Joe Schwab,asking you to keep those hips
happy and healthy andcontemplative.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.