Surgeons with Purpose

*****************SENSITIVE CONTENT WARNING******************

This episode contains discussion of suicidal thoughts. Please listen carefully or, if this topic is especially triggering for you, skip this one entirely.

In this episode, Dr. Femi Oyewole shares his deeply personal journey of navigating medical training while living with undiagnosed ADHD. He opens up about how the pressures of residency, coupled with ADHD-related challenge...

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

Get Boyd Varty's book, The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life, access his courses, or retreat with him here.

What if losing your way isn’t a detour, but the only way forward?

In surgery—and in life—we’re taught to crave certainty. A clear path. A guaranteed outcome. But what if that very craving is what keeps us stuck?

In this episode of Surgeons with Purpose, Dr. Mel Thacker invites you into a...

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Plastic surgery isn’t just about appearance—it’s about reinvention. For Dr. Blair Peters, that theme runs through every part of his story.

After coming out before medical school and finding his place within the queer and trans community, Dr. Peters saw firsthand the inequities in gender-affirming care. Patients traveling across continents for surgery, often with no idea who their surgeo...

Tyler Beauchamp is a pediatrician and children’s/YA author from Georgia whose earliest experiences with medicine came not as a student, but as a patient. As a child, Tyler spent years in and out of research clinics searching for answers. He began writing in waiting rooms as a way to cope, and eventually fell in love with both storytelling and medicine.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina, Tyler pursued both writing and me...

Psychologist and reparenting expert, Barlas Günay, comes on the show to reveal why the majority of us are really just children in white coats. Toddlers in scrubs. Babies pretending to be adults. And what we can do about it.

In this powerful episode, we explore why traditional cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) may fall short for high-functioning professionals—especially surgeons—whose deeply ingrained patterns stem from unmet emotio...

In this episode, Dr. Mel Thacker sits down with cardiac surgeon, Dr. Alexandra Kharazi. Together, they explore what it means to operate—literally and figuratively—from a place of purpose rather than fear.

We discuss:

• The emotional rewards of caring for high-risk cardiac patients who have few options left
• The "Black Swan" framework for surgical decision-making: a grounded process for choosing wisely when the stakes are highest
• Why j...

Learn more about Empowered Surgeons Group here.

In a profession that demands perfection and endurance, it’s easy to default to survival mode. But what if the real evolution happens when we shift from self-preservation to purpose?

In this episode, we unpack the 6 core human needs—belonging, autonomy, mastery, esteem, trust, and purpose—and how understanding them can change the way you show up in the OR, in leadership, and in life.

We d...

Dr. Sharon Stein is a colorectal surgeon, professor, coach, and creator of The Intentional Surgeon. In this episode, she shares her unconventional path to medicine—from outdoor education and real estate to academic surgery—and how she carved out a career aligned with her values. We explore her rise through academic leadership, the stresses of trying to fix a broken system, and the moment she realized the job she worked so hard for ...

In this impactful conversation, we dive deep with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Colleen Balkam into the emotional, physical, and cultural terrain of surgical practice—particularly in orthopedics and geriatric care.

What we cover in this episode:

• Coaching, reframing excitement as anxiety, and the importance of pausing when things get hard.
• Facing your first complication as an attending.
• The emotional weight of complications post-training v...

“First Do No Harm” is an impossible oath—a wonderful intention but an unlikely reality. So how do we create safety for ourselves in this profession, knowing we’ll inevitably cause harm?

This episode will teach you actionable steps to go from the “distract and avoid” type of surgeon to the “process and create” type of surgeon. The result for you? Empowerment.

Speaking of empowerment, if this resonates, you are going to want to sign u...

The best way to protect yourself in the profession of surgery is to build real connection with your patients.

People don’t retaliate against physicians they know, like, and trust.

This webinar will teach you how to cultivate know, like, and trust with every human you encounter.

You can take this work deeper by joining Empowered Surgeons Group. Learn more about what's included in the group here. Have questions? Feel free to email me at...

"A pleasured woman is an empowered woman" - Danielle Savory

In this rich and layered conversation, we explore how sex coaching becomes a powerful *pleasure* portal to self-compassion, nervous system regulation, and healing from burnout. Danielle shares how experiencing debilitating physical symptoms in her twenties—and recognizing the abusive dynamics in her own mind—led her to a deeper understanding of the mind-body connec...

In today’s episode, we dive deep into how the systems around us—medicine, culture, even religion—can deplete our humanity when we’re not paying attention.

I’m joined by Dr. Joan Chan, who brings her unique perspective of growing up in a fundamentalist Christian household, deconstructing black-and-white thinking, and navigating her career as a family physician through boundary-setting, and rehumanization.

Together, we explore how dein...

It's normal to fall out of the current in the OR. We know we've fallen out when our brain sends us into anxiety, urgency, and self-doubt.

Getting back into the current is as easy as ABC:

A: Awareness, Allowance, Acceptance, Aligned Action

B: Breathe; Get your Brain Back in your own Business

C: Certainty-->Curiosity-->Creativity

Now...

You learned how to operate.

You learned how to care for patients.

But no one taught you the essenti...

Sign up for Empowered Surgeons Group here.

It's not the prior auths, unfinished charts, or patient messages that are burning you out. While those circumstances need reform, they are merely symptoms of a much bigger problem—a problem that has everything to do with you, which is fantastic news because it means you can do something about it.

In this episode, you’ll:

• Learn how your human animal communicates with you
• Normalize feeling u...

“...it is unsurprising that we surgeons are reluctant to engage the admission—or even contemplation—of failure with the exuberant rapture described by contemporary self-help print and motivational speakers.”

—Dr. Eric Henderson, On Surgical Failures: Onward to Objective Evaluation of Our Less Proud Moments

Failure is required for success—but failing in sur...

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

How do we incentivize surgeons to evolve their techniques? Why hasn’t scarless thyroid surgery taken off in the U.S.?

In this episode, we dive into:

• The disconnect between those who stay stuck in their beliefs and those who have incentive to innovate
• Why we often don’t offer techniques we don’t fully understand
• Rethinking patient counseling for thyroid surgery
• The evolution of surgical...

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Dr. Colleen Plein, an otolaryngologist and coach for gifted adults, joins the podcast to explore the unique challenges of being a gifted or neurodivergent adult—something many of us in medicine and surgery can relate to. Find her on instagram here or email her cpleincoaching@gmail.com. She is resource for all of you gifted docs out there.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Neurodiv...

Surgeons, text topics you want me to cover here.

Dr. Andrew Brunswick, a neurosurgeon at Kaiser Permanente in LA, joins us on the podcast to discuss the psychological challenges and culture in surgery. In this episode, we cover:

• The culture Andrew experienced while working on Wall Street
• The problem with getting stuck on the hedonic treadmill
• The power of the word "enough"
• Why satisfaction is a decision available to all of...