November 21, 2024 • 27 mins
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What happens when a doctor leaves clinical medicine to pursue a passion for medical education and digital strategy?
Dr. Brad Block interviews Dr. Kyan Lynch, exploring his journey from a traditional medical career to a pioneering focus on medical education and digital strategy. He opens up about battling debilitating anxiety and depression during residency, which led him to step away from clinical practice and discover his passion for education content creation.
The discussion emphasizes the power of personal branding for physicians, offering practical advice on building authority in medical education and utilizing platforms like LinkedIn. Dr. Lynch also highlights tools like Beehive and Carrd for creating impactful content and encourages physicians to embrace their individuality to reclaim their professional identities and connect authentically with their audience.
Bio
Dr. Kyan Lynch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Rochester, specializing in medical education and digital content strategy. As the founder and CEO of ALOE Digital Solutions, Dr. Lynch creates innovative software solutions to simplify and enhance the work of medical educators.
With over eight years of experience in medical education, Dr. Lynch merges expertise in software development, digital strategy, and educational consulting to empower physicians in building personal brands and educational businesses. He also authors The MedEdge, a free weekly newsletter offering practical tips and tools for medical educators.
Social Links:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyan-lynch/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyan_lynch/
Website:https://kyanlynch.com/
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You can also be a guest on our show? Please email me at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more about the show!
Socials:
@physiciansguidetodoctoring on FB
@physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube
@physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Bradley Block (00:01.398)Welcome back to the podcast. On today's episode, we have a special guest, Dr. Kyan Lynch, who is an assistant professor in the department of OBGYN at the University of Rochester, where he focuses on medical education and digital content strategy. So for all our course creators out there and anyone who's in medical education, which you're all in medical education because you teach your patients as the founder and CEO of Allo Digital Solutions, kind builds software solutions to make the lives of the medical educators us easier.
(00:01):
With over eight years of experience in medical education, he combines his expertise in software development, digital content strategy, and educational consulting to empower physicians to build successful personal brands and educational businesses. He also writes the MedEdge, a free weekly newsletter that provides practical tips and tools for medical educators. And you can learn more at kyanlinch.com. Dr. Lynch, or Kai as you prefer to be called. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Kyan (00:56.037)Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Bradley Block (00:59.744)So let's start with your MedEd journey. Give us the short version of your journey into this very specific space.
Kyan (01:08.677)Happy to do so. I'll try to keep it brief. It is the kind of story where it was like uber traditional until I took a right turn and everything since then has been non-traditional. Like was the kid who knew in high school I wanted to be a doctor. All lines led there. Had a great experience in medical school at Stony Brook. Decided I wanted to do women's health, reproductive health, and also full spectrum LGBT health. And so chose family medicine. Matched in my top ranked.
program up here in Rochester, New York started and within a couple of months struggled with debilitating anxiety and depression. Really struggled. I was incredibly lucky though that I chose the program I did. Very supportive, could not have asked for a better program director and APDs and administrators and co-residents. Took time away, got the help I needed and while I was out, it just became clear that
As scary as it was to leave medicine before I even really, you know, before I really earned any money doing this thing that I had spent, you know, a decade trying to achieve, as scary as it was to just walk away from that, it was actually scarier to me to stay. And that just, you know, spoke volumes. So I left clinical practice, left residency. I started my very first job that I got.
out of residency. was also lucky. It was called academic detailing for PrEP. So pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV and post-exposure prophylaxis PrEP and PEP. It was a lot less well known at that point, PrEP and PEP. We had a lot less options. We didn't have the injectables we do now. was just the pill. And academic detailing is like the goody two shoes version of what Pharma has been doing for a long time.
where you show up at a doctor's office and you bring food and you try to get them to listen to you. But I was doing it on behalf of the New York State Department of Health. And so I traveled around New York State and literally just met with clinicians.
Bradley Block (03:16.295)So less of a budget. That's what you're saying. So same idea, less money.
Kyan (03:18.52)Yeah.
Yeah, it was more like Panera than steak dinners, but it works. And a lot of people were relieved to know that I was one of them and I was not, you know, representing some sort of pharmaceutical company. And I just got, yeah, fast cars, none of that. So I learned A, that I really loved education. I love talking about medicine still. It wasn't that medicine as a...
Bradley Block (03:22.801)Yeah.
Bradley Block (03:33.198)Yeah, you're not showing up in the fancy pinstripe suit and yeah.
Kyan (03:49.271)know, field I had lost love for. It was just the practice of it and the responsibility for so many patients who had so few resources. I learned that I was also good at it, which is still, I'm still getting used to saying out loud things like I was good at it, but I was good at it. And I just got a ton of practice, whether it was one-on-one with a physician or to a room of hundreds doing, you know, grand rounds. I got just reps in and really built up my...
understanding of how to educate, but also how to persuade. Cause it's all about changing someone's behavior, going from someone who never talks about HIV to prescribing prevention for HIV. It's a big behavior change and I was doing it through education. Moved from there to doing some work also with the CDC, where I would go into other states and help them battle the HIV epidemic and STI outbreaks through education. And then a position opened up within the department of OB-GYN here at U of R.
to just focus on medical education from our clerkship all the way through professional development. And I've been doing that for the last six years or so and absolutely love it. So again, very traditional, like I knew exactly what I wanted to do and then suddenly all of that fell apart. And yet I'm incredibly grateful for all of it. I'm very lucky for how everything turned out.
Bradley Block (05:10.648)Well, I think luck might be part of it as it is with many things, but it seems like there's a lot that you've earned there too. You know, it's, always like in getting off a moving train, like stopping what we're doing in the practice of medicine to do something completely different is like, you know, we're on this path. And part of the reason we got on this path is because it's a clear path. You'd go to medical school.
Kyan (05:36.815)Mm-hmm.
Bradley Block (05:38.457)You get a residency, maybe a fellowship, you become an attending and you have a job and that's it, right? Like it's everything's set out for you as long as you do what you're supposed to and to get off and do something else is like getting off of a moving train. So, I mean, I think it took a lot of courage to do what you did as well. And so I think, you know, kudos to you for all that you've accomplished.
Kyan (06:00.827)Well thank you. I certainly appreciate that. But like I said, it really was... the decision was sort of made for me. was... I couldn't really imagine a future in which I was healthy and practicing medicine. And ultimately that had to come before everything. It is still... it's like going to weddings and trying to explain to people briefly that I'm just meeting for one night, like they don't know me or really care, we're just seated around the table and they ask me what I do. It was easier back when I was just a family medicine resident. So that part's still hard.
Bradley Block (06:13.656)Yeah.
(00:22):
Bradley Block (06:28.204)Well, there are so many, there are so many jobs out there. Like anyone in the financial services industry, they tell me what they do. I'm like, I, I have no idea what you're talking about right now. It's like doctor, lawyer, fireman, policeman, you know, anything else. I'm going to have a tough time understanding what you do. So, okay. So let's talk about this, this specific space, right? The medical education space. Cause right now what you're doing is you are
you're helping people build their brands within the med-ed space, right? Now that you've done that, you're helping other people to do that. And so let's start off with like, what's specific about brand building in this space, right? You hear about all about brand building in, you know, in general terms, kind of like SEO. Yeah. But you're trying to get the attention of physicians specifically. So how is that different?
Kyan (07:24.793)I really appreciate the question. I think I'm gonna slightly change it to allow me to give a more of a pitch for why I think the two go together, personal branding and med-ed, which is sort of the same question, but a slightly different spin, because...
Bradley Block (07:39.224)Sure, be a politician and just say what you want to say rather than asking the question you were asked. No, sorry, good.
Kyan (07:44.975)No, you asked a beautiful question. just, I, I am hoping that the physicians listening don't think of it as a foreign concept, but realize that it makes perfect sense and that they're like, they're already starting a race miles ahead of other people out there. They're just not aware of it. So there are, as you know, a ton of people on any social media platform, on all of the podcast charts on YouTube, et cetera, who
are building their own personal brand and are selling courses, content, communities, or are using affiliate links and influencing people to sell products, right? And usually what those people have to do is they have to decide where an audience is, build up credibility enough to make that audience believe them, and then they can start actually taking hold and doing something.
Physicians are this group of people that have an incredibly valuable, hard to access, and desirable knowledge set that they're just walking around with. Cause we're not even just talking about book knowledge. Like there are just some things that you don't learn unless you're at the bedside and see what it's like to try to find a vein when it's hard. just like, they're just things you had to live through and you went through all of that and you have this vast amount of knowledge that people really want. And the...
Internet and all of these tools we have make it increasingly easy for you just to open up a little bit and share that and become known for someone who has the information that you already have to have patients trust you more to have colleagues recognize your work and maybe reach out to you for a research collaboration or to, you know, join forces with you in an educational endeavor. I, I think that this concept of a med ed brand of being someone known for educating people about medicine, it's
you know, right there for the taking for physicians. And I also think it's where all of this is headed. I think that the CV, as we currently know it, the promotional CV is just already outdated and building your presence out in the open online as an expert, because you are one, just sets you up for success in so many different areas of your life. So I don't know if I was too politician-y. You can catch me if not.
Bradley Block (10:03.51)No, no, no. just, I was just kidding. It sounds like what you're saying almost is that the link tree is your new CV, right? Like accessing, here's all my online content, which might include my journal articles, blah, blah. But like, you know, here's instead, here's my QR code, right? Here's my QR code with all my stuff linked up in there, right? Make it easy, make it easy for everybody. And in a way that you want it presented.
Kyan (10:21.765)Yeah.
Kyan (10:25.691)Absolutely.
Kyan (10:30.331)Absolutely, absolutely.
Bradley Block (10:32.416)Why don't I have, I need that. I need to do that.
Kyan (10:35.161)I would be honored to help you make that happen. Yeah, I mean, and it's easier than ever before to do that. You know, I will admit I've taken extra time to teach myself how to code things and program, but honestly to set up the kind of thing you're talking about, even if you don't use Linktree, you use something that looks a little bit more put together and professional and sort of static, you know, its own real online shop that is just you.
Bradley Block (10:37.263)Whoa! Awesome!
Bradley Block (10:43.383)Yeah.
Kyan (11:04.731)You know, you can use probably card is what I would recommend, C-A-R-R-D. think it's like $19 for a year. And you use a template, you type in your name and you're ready to go. So it is just, you know, a layup that I want more physicians to know they can access. And even academic institutions are going to recognize that when you're a frequently invited speaker to events, because people are finding you more online, that's going to help you in your promotion. It's not just these, you know,
Bradley Block (11:17.816)Yeah.
Kyan (11:33.061)digital natives who are out there trying to mix things up. It's just how people are, you know, recognized and noticed and get to participate more in the world, both of medicine and more broadly. So, you know, get out there.
Bradley Block (11:49.272)All right. So that makes sense to me for physicians as authority when patient facing. Right. And I think, you know, you that was a great like hype session for those who have imposter syndrome. Right. They're like, well, I didn't write the chapter in Harrison's, so I'm not the authority. Like, no, you are. You are. You're a you're a thought leader. You know why you're telling me because people come to you every day asking you advice. Right. Like that that
(00:43):
Kyan (12:14.971)Mm-hmm.
Bradley Block (12:17.834)Okay, so I get that piece, but then there's the physician to physician space, right? Which is a little different. And so how do you establish yourself as an authority there? Right? Cause there are, there are a lot of coaches out there, there are business coaches, there are life coaches. and they're trying to establish themselves in this patient, in this physician facing space. So how do they do that?
Kyan (12:46.455)I the way you do that is to focus a little bit less, and this is, think, foreign to physicians, is to focus a little bit less on the book knowledge, what you could write out, literally saying, I did an RCT that found that sodium does this now or something. It's less about that. Education is so much about communication and about finding the right way to explain to someone
Bradley Block (13:07.831)Yeah.
Kyan (13:15.907)at the exact right time for them when they need it. And so you can be literally the foremost expert in the world on a very specific medical topic. If you can't communicate it to other people in the way they need to hear it, it doesn't matter in terms of medical education. So, you you might not have this very deep, very specific knowledge on a topic. Maybe you're more of a generalist, an internist, and you're also someone who follows sports really closely.
Maybe you're the guy that uses sports metaphors to finally explain certain concepts that other people don't get, right? It's bringing yourself into it and using that as a tool to communicate. And because the internet is the internet, you don't have to find, you know, 20 people like your one institution who are interested in sports metaphors, explaining concepts. There's literally like billions of people out there that you could reach. And I guarantee you will find an audience that will, you know, be delighted to follow you and either pay you or, you know,
ingest your content in a way that you get paid otherwise. So it's not necessarily that you have to have this like mile deep knowledge of a very specific thing that only you are the authority on. It's how can you, you know, bring that into the world and show up in spaces that people actually learn from it and take away what they need to take away from it. If you are a, maybe a primary care physician, you don't necessarily need to know everything about, you know, dialysis and how you're going to choose to.
It's been a long time since I've been in the dialysis unit, right? You don't need to know all of the details.
Bradley Block (14:46.249)No, no, no. But you, I hear what you're saying, right? You're not the nephrologist. However, you need to know, you need to be able to communicate what the patient needs to know and what they need to know about it. Not every glass glomerular, glomerular. Yes, I'm an otolaryngologist. Sorry. I don't remember that either. okay. yeah, I think that's perfect because I'm, I'm picturing a lot of my colleagues in this space and the ones who really put themselves out there are the ones that are excellent communicators. And so
You don't, you don't need to be the one that wrote the trial, but you need to be able, you need to be the one that can communicate what needs to be communicated in the trial. So if you're trying to work on your abilities, they're work on like sci-com work on science communication, listen to them, but I've got some excellent back episodes on science communication. And so that'll, that'll help you. You know, when, building yourself and I had an episode recently, I'm not sure if it's going to come out before or after you, with Dr. Anne song, who talked about.
you know, finding her superpower, she asked a bunch of people around her. So rather than, you know, figuring out yourself, like you said, sports metaphors for explaining health conditions, right? Like you might not realize that you're really good at it. So ask a couple of your close friends what you're really good at, and that can help you figure out what your niche really is.
Kyan (16:07.875)Absolutely. Or be willing to actually take to heart what people have already been telling you, which I think is another thing that we all struggle with. Right. It was, it was the one line in the evaluation that said you needed to read more that you focused on, not all of the other glowing comments, right? That's one of our shared pathologies as physicians. But, you know, if you think about it for a second, you're like, man, every single one of my colleagues comes to me when they have questions about billing.
Bradley Block (16:15.047)Yes.
Bradley Block (16:25.639)Yes.
Kyan (16:34.809)I wonder if other people out there have questions about billing and might like the way I explain it, right? So it might also just be willing to accept the flowers that people have already given you and recognize that there's something special there.
Bradley Block (16:35.122)There you go.
Bradley Block (16:46.233)You know, my wife and I were talking about that the other day because we're not great at taking compliments. Like, thank you so much for, you know, emptying the dishwasher. actually there was a pot in there that I really needed. So I just figured I would like instead of like, you're welcome. Right. Like, so same, same, same idea there. Okay. But a lot of the, a lot of the content that we discuss, and this is kind of a side com question, a lot of the content we discuss can be pretty mundane. So.
How do you add, what are some of your secrets for adding some, I can't believe I'm saying this, pizzazz.
Bradley Block (17:26.558)No, those were spirit fingers. Jazz hands are... There you go.
Kyan (17:28.685)sorry. There we go. Yeah. I'm sure that's going to come across on the podcast, the auditory version. Yeah. I think that's obviously a really good question. And I must preface it by saying it's going to be so much about the medium and the audience you're trying to reach. know, the way that you can pizzazz up a video is just going to be different than a long form essay and everything in between.
Bradley Block (17:35.217)In the audio,
(01:04):
Kyan (17:57.179)And the audience that you're speaking to is going to be different as well. I think that the more specific you can make your content to the audience that is going to read it, it doesn't have to be laugh out loud, funny, or a highly produced video. But if it speaks to someone, it makes them stop and say, wait, this like is exactly the problem I had last Tuesday. And now this person is helping me solve it. It will capture attention. So I think we often confuse like entertainment or
or I guess pizzazz for quality or for something that really is going to capture someone's attention and make them engage with you. And, you know, personally, like I would actually sign up for a physical newsletter that came to my house if it gave me solutions to the problems I really had over a bunch of newsletters that come to email that don't solve the problem. So, you know, really being focused in on what your audience needs and wants and how you communicate it to them is going to be the backbone of anything.
I think then beyond that, a lot of it is also thinking about yourself as the recipient. We see this all the time. If you ask someone what their favorite grand rounds are, it's the one when someone was really engaging or told a story or used patient scenarios that were real life that felt like I'm gonna go out, walk out of here and take care of that patient and now know what to do with. And then everyone gets up at the podium and does the same thing where we.
you know, go through trial by trial and sort of bury people in data because it's just what you do. And if you spend a little bit more time thinking about when I'm in the seat, when I'm learning, what is it that captures my attention and keeps me engaged? That goes a long way. you know, worrying a little bit less about making the video pizzazzy or making sure you're cracking jokes left and right. If you're trying to reach a very specific audience and
enact behavior change in them. If you just want to get a lot of followers and likes, that's something different. But if you want to engage learners who are engaging with your content, it's really about understanding who they are, what they're actually curious about, and delivering it in a way that they can actually ingest it.
Bradley Block (20:11.973)So the pain point and how you're solving for it. seems like that's that's it right there. What is their pain point? How are you solving for it? And the you know, the jokes, I feel like that was specifically directed at me. Don't appreciate it. I try to make a lot of jokes, try to. It's kind of a thing.
Kyan (20:27.995)It's actually a reflection of my sense of inadequacy of like, you know, we can't all be you. Cracking these genius jokes, having everyone on the floor. Some of us have to find other ways.
Bradley Block (20:32.835)you
Bradley Block (20:40.323)Now you're making me feel badly about that, but I'm really enjoying this. I'm really, I'm really, this is great. This is great. okay. So the next question is what platform, right? And so are you everywhere or are you making a stand in one specific place? Right.
Kyan (20:59.291)Thank you very much for that question. I am all in on LinkedIn right now. And it took me a long time. Yeah, exactly. It took me a while to get to that point because, you know, I think the common sense is I'm supposed to be everywhere. You know, I'm supposed to be everywhere that my people are. Or I have to be on Instagram or I have to, like, there's these preconceived notions of these are, this is the one platform that if you actually want to make it, you have to go on this. And I just,
Bradley Block (21:03.725)Okay. Well, that's how I found you.
Kyan (21:28.635)I think that it's really terrible advice that gets out there far too much or that we accept too much. I I think the most conservative number I've seen for the least popular platform that we've, that you could think of as the major ones, the major players is LinkedIn. And again, the most conservative estimate I've seen recently is that they have 330 million active users. And so to me, it's like, if you can't find someone who likes your stuff out of 330 million potential people.
Bradley Block (21:50.848)Hahaha!
Kyan (21:58.351)then it doesn't matter if you're reaching a billion, you gotta just work on your content. So the number one thing I would say is the platform that you will actually use and show up on consistently and be interested in developing more skills and growing on, that's the platform for you. I built this like Cosmo Quiz kind of algorithm for my community members, the meta brand builders that I can share with you if you want.
Bradley Block (22:15.769)Yeah, that makes sense.
Kyan (22:26.031)that helps sort of guide people who aren't so familiar with the platforms. Really starting off the number one question is, do you like being on video? Do you feel confident on video? Yes or no. And it's okay if you don't, right?
Bradley Block (22:36.921)No. no, you're not asking me. Yeah. No, this is a great point because I like Instagram. Like I went to a couple of talks where they talked about growing your Instagram following and it was like all the stuff that they that they said, like someone was taking a video of themselves scrubbing before surgery, but they weren't actually scrubbing before surgery because then they had to touch their phone to like stop recording and then they had to re scrub. And like I just I can't envision myself doing that.
Kyan (22:58.841)Right, right.
Bradley Block (23:05.333)making snarky comments on threads, I can envision myself doing. So I'm starting to grow of, you know, my, my, my brand on threads and then, the Instagram gets, you know, I someone that, that she will take the clips and she'll put it up on, Instagram and, know, put it kind of everywhere so people can see the clips of whatever episodes coming out, but like,
You know, what am I actively engaging in? What am I seeing myself on? I think that's an excellent way to put it. Stop feeling bad because you're not doing dances on TikTok. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. Don't force it. Find what works for you organically. That, yeah, that's going to absolve a lot of people of guilt or maybe I'm just projecting. I don't know.
Kyan (23:45.829)I mean, I felt it. So I have to admit that too. Like I, set up my Instagram and you know, exactly what you would predict to happen, just like you were counseling a patient, you know, motivational interviewing, like, know, okay, you're gonna, every week you're gonna take a mile hike. And it's like, they do it for the first couple of weeks and then they trail off. Cause that was never going to be the thing that worked for them. Right. Is maybe let's go around the block once a day. And so for me, instead of the Instagram, I'm going to be posting really interesting visuals constantly.
(01:25):
Bradley Block (24:06.969)Yes.
Kyan (24:15.853)I really like writing and I really like reading. So LinkedIn just makes so much more sense for the way I like to produce and take in content. And it's worked beautifully for me. I've made great connections like with you. So why fight a good thing?
Bradley Block (24:23.759)Consume. Yeah. Yeah.
Bradley Block (24:33.123)Love it, love it, love it. Okay, so you are clearly very tech savvy, right? So what are some useful tools or technologies that you recommend for creating content?
Kyan (24:46.677)I that question too. I'm going to start by just saying that
I want it to be clear that if you aren't into tech and you're listening to this podcast, I don't want you to feel as though that's a barrier for you to get into this world. because first of all, there's a lot of platforms out there that are, are exceedingly user friendly now, whereas they used to be more challenging, like, you know, back with my space, you had to like know how to code for it to not look terrible. Now that a lot of those limitations are removed, but you don't have to have a tech stack of 10 things.
to break into this, especially since the people listening to this have amazing knowledge and content ready made. They just need to literally hit publish and let other people see it. That being said, I am a bit of a techie. I love seeing what's out there and trying out new things. I mentioned to you already, Card, C-A-R-R-D, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, but it is just the fastest way that you can set yourself up with an
a storefront on the internet that looks really nice, that is easy to maintain. They're, you know, claim to fame is that they're single page sites. So you don't have to battle with complex navigation. You're not going to accidentally get yourself stuck where you have, you know, 300 pages. And now you have to constantly go through and make sure you have updated the information. Cause you just, you know, change the name of your practice or switch to a different institution. And now everything's, you know, all, all over the place.
Bradley Block (26:21.465)Yeah, yeah. Your letterhead, yeah.
Kyan (26:23.387)So setting up a place on the internet that is yours that you can drive people to and connect back to, I would use card or something similar to that. And then I use personally, I have a newsletter as you've mentioned, it's a free weekly newsletter for medical educators. I use B-Hive, B-E-E-H-I-I-V. I tried out a few different options. Are you not familiar with that one?
Bradley Block (26:49.421)No, we use MailChimp, but just the spelling was what I made a face about.
Kyan (26:54.511)Yeah. Yeah. Again, I don't work for them in any capacity or have it say in their name, unaffiliated, but it just, had a nice set of tools that I wanted for myself in starting a newsletter. know, MailChimp is really a email provider. Beehive, Substack, some of these other platforms out there now are really built around a sort of full spectrum newsletter concept. So.
Bradley Block (26:58.962)Yeah, not an affiliate link. Yeah.
Kyan (27:22.917)You know, the difference between like email marketing and newsletters, email marketing is you want to send information out to your followers, the people who gave you their email address because you've got a new podcast you want them to listen to or because, you know, you're coming to their town to give a presentation or whatever. Whereas a newsletter is like appointment television. It's going to come every week. It has maybe a standing format that everyone knows to expect. And it's on a very specific topic that they're, they want to learn about.
Bradley Block (27:34.919)Yeah.
Kyan (27:51.427)And so you want something that can definitely help you keep track of, you know, who's subscribing, really good metrics on who's opening it, who's clicking on links, who's not, how can you re-engage them, a lot of automation so that, you know, if you sign up for my newsletter, you get an automatic email welcoming you and asking you to reply to me and telling me a little bit about who you are. And I read those and I respond to them. That also helps to make sure that the next email actually does show up in your inbox.
I also send a couple an email if you subscribe after the newsletter goes out on Sunday up until Thursday, because it's going to be a while before you hear from me again. And I want to give you a little bit more information since you signed up. So that is something that I was able to set up with just visual programming, just drag, drag and drop onto the workflow. You can embed polls in your newsletters.
Bradley Block (28:37.713)There you go.
Kyan (28:50.021)directly through Beehive, so I frequently will, I have a trivia question every week, just a medical education quiz, and people can click on it and find out if they're right or wrong, and all of that is done through this one platform. So that's why I chose Beehive, but there are other ones out there that people can use.
Bradley Block (29:06.927)Yeah.
Wow, fantastic, fantastic. Well, we're rapidly coming to a close. So, you know, this is an opportunity to just give one more piece of advice to a physician audience that's trying to get themselves out there in medical education. Already amazing advice like, you know, pick your social media platform based on what you would use. You are an authority, you know, lean into what you're good at and what you're going to enjoy. But any any other bits of advice for the audience?
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Kyan (29:38.043)I very much appreciate that. I think that right now, my biggest goal is to help physicians regain a sense of autonomy and control over their lives and over their own authority. I think there's a lot of trying to make all physicians seem basically the same at a specific institution. And, you know, even though we all had to go through very standardized training and hit our milestones, you are a one of a kind person and you have knowledge and skills that are unique and
people want to know about them. So I think it was beaten out of us a little bit to have any sort of personality, right? It's a little bit of like, you're supposed to be a blank slate and not upset you're attending or anyone else. And now's the time to let yourself be you. I you don't have to be wild and crazy and dressing up and doing TikTok dances, but if you like sports, talk about sports and medicine. If you like music, maybe that influences how you talk about medicine. Maybe you like writing.
in a more storytelling format. Maybe you don't, but show up as yourself and reclaim a sense of individualism in medicine because people want to get helped by other people. They want to trust people, not institutions. And we have all these tools now to allow the world to see us as individuals again. And so I just hope everyone rises up to that and lets themselves be seen.
Bradley Block (31:04.874)I love that. I love that. And I love how like the theme that keeps coming up in this interview is finding ways for you to be you finding ways, like what lights you up? What do you enjoy doing? And that's what you put out in the world. And, you know, we didn't mention burnout once in this interview, but this, that will certainly help. Right. I love it. I love it. So if people want to learn more about you, I mean, certainly
Find you on LinkedIn, that's how I found you. And then your website, kyanlinch.com. That's K-Y-A-N-L-Y-N-C-H.com. And Dr. Lynch, Kai, thank you so much for your time and your expertise and all that you're doing to help our profession.
Kyan (31:44.059)Thank you so much for having me on.
Bradley Block (00:01.398)Welcome back to the podcast. On today's episode, we have a special guest, Dr. Kyan Lynch, who is an assistant professor in the department of OBGYN at the University of Rochester, where he focuses on medical education and digital content strategy. So for all our course creators out there and anyone who's in medical education, which you're all in medical education because you teach your patients as the founder and CEO of Allo Digital Solutions, kind builds software solutions to make the lives of the medical educators us easier.
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With over eight years of experience in medical education, he combines his expertise in software development, digital content strategy, and educational consulting to empower physicians to build successful personal brands and educational businesses. He also writes the MedEdge, a free weekly newsletter that provides practical tips and tools for medical educators. And you can learn more at kyanlinch.com. Dr. Lynch, or Kai as you prefer to be called. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Kyan (00:56.037)Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Bradley Block (00:59.744)So let's start with your MedEd journey. Give us the short version of your journey into this very specific space.
Kyan (01:08.677)Happy to do so. I'll try to keep it brief. It is the kind of story where it was like uber traditional until I took a right turn and everything since then has been non-traditional. Like was the kid who knew in high school I wanted to be a doctor. All lines led there. Had a great experience in medical school at Stony Brook. Decided I wanted to do women's health, reproductive health, and also full spectrum LGBT health. And so chose family medicine. Matched in my top ranked.
program up here in Rochester, New York started and within a couple of months struggled with debilitating anxiety and depression. Really struggled. I was incredibly lucky though that I chose the program I did. Very supportive, could not have asked for a better program director and APDs and administrators and co-residents. Took time away, got the help I needed and while I was out, it just became clear that
As scary as it was to leave medicine before I even really, you know, before I really earned any money doing this thing that I had spent, you know, a decade trying to achieve, as scary as it was to just walk away from that, it was actually scarier to me to stay. And that just, you know, spoke volumes. So I left clinical practice, left residency. I started my very first job that I got.
out of residency. was also lucky. It was called academic detailing for PrEP. So pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV and post-exposure prophylaxis PrEP and PEP. It was a lot less well known at that point, PrEP and PEP. We had a lot less options. We didn't have the injectables we do now. was just the pill. And academic detailing is like the goody two shoes version of what Pharma has been doing for a long time.
where you show up at a doctor's office and you bring food and you try to get them to listen to you. But I was doing it on behalf of the New York State Department of Health. And so I traveled around New York State and literally just met with clinicians.
Bradley Block (03:16.295)So less of a budget. That's what you're saying. So same idea, less money.
Kyan (03:18.52)Yeah.
Yeah, it was more like Panera than steak dinners, but it works. And a lot of people were relieved to know that I was one of them and I was not, you know, representing some sort of pharmaceutical company. And I just got, yeah, fast cars, none of that. So I learned A, that I really loved education. I love talking about medicine still. It wasn't that medicine as a...
Bradley Block (03:22.801)Yeah.
Bradley Block (03:33.198)Yeah, you're not showing up in the fancy pinstripe suit and yeah.
Kyan (03:49.271)know, field I had lost love for. It was just the practice of it and the responsibility for so many patients who had so few resources. I learned that I was also good at it, which is still, I'm still getting used to saying out loud things like I was good at it, but I was good at it. And I just got a ton of practice, whether it was one-on-one with a physician or to a room of hundreds doing, you know, grand rounds. I got just reps in and really built up my...
understanding of how to educate, but also how to persuade. Cause it's all about changing someone's behavior, going from someone who never talks about HIV to prescribing prevention for HIV. It's a big behavior change and I was doing it through education. Moved from there to doing some work also with the CDC, where I would go into other states and help them battle the HIV epidemic and STI outbreaks through education. And then a position opened up within the department of OB-GYN here at U of R.
to just focus on medical education from our clerkship all the way through professional development. And I've been doing that for the last six years or so and absolutely love it. So again, very traditional, like I knew exactly what I wanted to do and then suddenly all of that fell apart. And yet I'm incredibly grateful for all of it. I'm very lucky for how everything turned out.
Bradley Block (05:10.648)Well, I think luck might be part of it as it is with many things, but it seems like there's a lot that you've earned there too. You know, it's, always like in getting off a moving train, like stopping what we're doing in the practice of medicine to do something completely different is like, you know, we're on this path. And part of the reason we got on this path is because it's a clear path. You'd go to medical school.
Kyan (05:36.815)Mm-hmm.
Bradley Block (05:38.457)You get a residency, maybe a fellowship, you become an attending and you have a job and that's it, right? Like it's everything's set out for you as long as you do what you're supposed to and to get off and do something else is like getting off of a moving train. So, I mean, I think it took a lot of courage to do what you did as well. And so I think, you know, kudos to you for all that you've accomplished.
Kyan (06:00.827)Well thank you. I certainly appreciate that. But like I said, it really was... the decision was sort of made for me. was... I couldn't really imagine a future in which I was healthy and practicing medicine. And ultimately that had to come before everything. It is still... it's like going to weddings and trying to explain to people briefly that I'm just meeting for one night, like they don't know me or really care, we're just seated around the table and they ask me what I do. It was easier back when I was just a family medicine resident. So that part's still hard.
Bradley Block (06:13.656)Yeah.
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Bradley Block (06:28.204)Well, there are so many, there are so many jobs out there. Like anyone in the financial services industry, they tell me what they do. I'm like, I, I have no idea what you're talking about right now. It's like doctor, lawyer, fireman, policeman, you know, anything else. I'm going to have a tough time understanding what you do. So, okay. So let's talk about this, this specific space, right? The medical education space. Cause right now what you're doing is you are
you're helping people build their brands within the med-ed space, right? Now that you've done that, you're helping other people to do that. And so let's start off with like, what's specific about brand building in this space, right? You hear about all about brand building in, you know, in general terms, kind of like SEO. Yeah. But you're trying to get the attention of physicians specifically. So how is that different?
Kyan (07:24.793)I really appreciate the question. I think I'm gonna slightly change it to allow me to give a more of a pitch for why I think the two go together, personal branding and med-ed, which is sort of the same question, but a slightly different spin, because...
Bradley Block (07:39.224)Sure, be a politician and just say what you want to say rather than asking the question you were asked. No, sorry, good.
Kyan (07:44.975)No, you asked a beautiful question. just, I, I am hoping that the physicians listening don't think of it as a foreign concept, but realize that it makes perfect sense and that they're like, they're already starting a race miles ahead of other people out there. They're just not aware of it. So there are, as you know, a ton of people on any social media platform, on all of the podcast charts on YouTube, et cetera, who
are building their own personal brand and are selling courses, content, communities, or are using affiliate links and influencing people to sell products, right? And usually what those people have to do is they have to decide where an audience is, build up credibility enough to make that audience believe them, and then they can start actually taking hold and doing something.
Physicians are this group of people that have an incredibly valuable, hard to access, and desirable knowledge set that they're just walking around with. Cause we're not even just talking about book knowledge. Like there are just some things that you don't learn unless you're at the bedside and see what it's like to try to find a vein when it's hard. just like, they're just things you had to live through and you went through all of that and you have this vast amount of knowledge that people really want. And the...
Internet and all of these tools we have make it increasingly easy for you just to open up a little bit and share that and become known for someone who has the information that you already have to have patients trust you more to have colleagues recognize your work and maybe reach out to you for a research collaboration or to, you know, join forces with you in an educational endeavor. I, I think that this concept of a med ed brand of being someone known for educating people about medicine, it's
you know, right there for the taking for physicians. And I also think it's where all of this is headed. I think that the CV, as we currently know it, the promotional CV is just already outdated and building your presence out in the open online as an expert, because you are one, just sets you up for success in so many different areas of your life. So I don't know if I was too politician-y. You can catch me if not.
Bradley Block (10:03.51)No, no, no. just, I was just kidding. It sounds like what you're saying almost is that the link tree is your new CV, right? Like accessing, here's all my online content, which might include my journal articles, blah, blah. But like, you know, here's instead, here's my QR code, right? Here's my QR code with all my stuff linked up in there, right? Make it easy, make it easy for everybody. And in a way that you want it presented.
Kyan (10:21.765)Yeah.
Kyan (10:25.691)Absolutely.
Kyan (10:30.331)Absolutely, absolutely.
Bradley Block (10:32.416)Why don't I have, I need that. I need to do that.
Kyan (10:35.161)I would be honored to help you make that happen. Yeah, I mean, and it's easier than ever before to do that. You know, I will admit I've taken extra time to teach myself how to code things and program, but honestly to set up the kind of thing you're talking about, even if you don't use Linktree, you use something that looks a little bit more put together and professional and sort of static, you know, its own real online shop that is just you.
Bradley Block (10:37.263)Whoa! Awesome!
Bradley Block (10:43.383)Yeah.
Kyan (11:04.731)You know, you can use probably card is what I would recommend, C-A-R-R-D. think it's like $19 for a year. And you use a template, you type in your name and you're ready to go. So it is just, you know, a layup that I want more physicians to know they can access. And even academic institutions are going to recognize that when you're a frequently invited speaker to events, because people are finding you more online, that's going to help you in your promotion. It's not just these, you know,
Bradley Block (11:17.816)Yeah.
Kyan (11:33.061)digital natives who are out there trying to mix things up. It's just how people are, you know, recognized and noticed and get to participate more in the world, both of medicine and more broadly. So, you know, get out there.
Bradley Block (11:49.272)All right. So that makes sense to me for physicians as authority when patient facing. Right. And I think, you know, you that was a great like hype session for those who have imposter syndrome. Right. They're like, well, I didn't write the chapter in Harrison's, so I'm not the authority. Like, no, you are. You are. You're a you're a thought leader. You know why you're telling me because people come to you every day asking you advice. Right. Like that that
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Kyan (12:14.971)Mm-hmm.
Bradley Block (12:17.834)Okay, so I get that piece, but then there's the physician to physician space, right? Which is a little different. And so how do you establish yourself as an authority there? Right? Cause there are, there are a lot of coaches out there, there are business coaches, there are life coaches. and they're trying to establish themselves in this patient, in this physician facing space. So how do they do that?
Kyan (12:46.455)I the way you do that is to focus a little bit less, and this is, think, foreign to physicians, is to focus a little bit less on the book knowledge, what you could write out, literally saying, I did an RCT that found that sodium does this now or something. It's less about that. Education is so much about communication and about finding the right way to explain to someone
Bradley Block (13:07.831)Yeah.
Kyan (13:15.907)at the exact right time for them when they need it. And so you can be literally the foremost expert in the world on a very specific medical topic. If you can't communicate it to other people in the way they need to hear it, it doesn't matter in terms of medical education. So, you you might not have this very deep, very specific knowledge on a topic. Maybe you're more of a generalist, an internist, and you're also someone who follows sports really closely.
Maybe you're the guy that uses sports metaphors to finally explain certain concepts that other people don't get, right? It's bringing yourself into it and using that as a tool to communicate. And because the internet is the internet, you don't have to find, you know, 20 people like your one institution who are interested in sports metaphors, explaining concepts. There's literally like billions of people out there that you could reach. And I guarantee you will find an audience that will, you know, be delighted to follow you and either pay you or, you know,
ingest your content in a way that you get paid otherwise. So it's not necessarily that you have to have this like mile deep knowledge of a very specific thing that only you are the authority on. It's how can you, you know, bring that into the world and show up in spaces that people actually learn from it and take away what they need to take away from it. If you are a, maybe a primary care physician, you don't necessarily need to know everything about, you know, dialysis and how you're going to choose to.
It's been a long time since I've been in the dialysis unit, right? You don't need to know all of the details.
Bradley Block (14:46.249)No, no, no. But you, I hear what you're saying, right? You're not the nephrologist. However, you need to know, you need to be able to communicate what the patient needs to know and what they need to know about it. Not every glass glomerular, glomerular. Yes, I'm an otolaryngologist. Sorry. I don't remember that either. okay. yeah, I think that's perfect because I'm, I'm picturing a lot of my colleagues in this space and the ones who really put themselves out there are the ones that are excellent communicators. And so
You don't, you don't need to be the one that wrote the trial, but you need to be able, you need to be the one that can communicate what needs to be communicated in the trial. So if you're trying to work on your abilities, they're work on like sci-com work on science communication, listen to them, but I've got some excellent back episodes on science communication. And so that'll, that'll help you. You know, when, building yourself and I had an episode recently, I'm not sure if it's going to come out before or after you, with Dr. Anne song, who talked about.
you know, finding her superpower, she asked a bunch of people around her. So rather than, you know, figuring out yourself, like you said, sports metaphors for explaining health conditions, right? Like you might not realize that you're really good at it. So ask a couple of your close friends what you're really good at, and that can help you figure out what your niche really is.
Kyan (16:07.875)Absolutely. Or be willing to actually take to heart what people have already been telling you, which I think is another thing that we all struggle with. Right. It was, it was the one line in the evaluation that said you needed to read more that you focused on, not all of the other glowing comments, right? That's one of our shared pathologies as physicians. But, you know, if you think about it for a second, you're like, man, every single one of my colleagues comes to me when they have questions about billing.
Bradley Block (16:15.047)Yes.
Bradley Block (16:25.639)Yes.
Kyan (16:34.809)I wonder if other people out there have questions about billing and might like the way I explain it, right? So it might also just be willing to accept the flowers that people have already given you and recognize that there's something special there.
Bradley Block (16:35.122)There you go.
Bradley Block (16:46.233)You know, my wife and I were talking about that the other day because we're not great at taking compliments. Like, thank you so much for, you know, emptying the dishwasher. actually there was a pot in there that I really needed. So I just figured I would like instead of like, you're welcome. Right. Like, so same, same, same idea there. Okay. But a lot of the, a lot of the content that we discuss, and this is kind of a side com question, a lot of the content we discuss can be pretty mundane. So.
How do you add, what are some of your secrets for adding some, I can't believe I'm saying this, pizzazz.
Bradley Block (17:26.558)No, those were spirit fingers. Jazz hands are... There you go.
Kyan (17:28.685)sorry. There we go. Yeah. I'm sure that's going to come across on the podcast, the auditory version. Yeah. I think that's obviously a really good question. And I must preface it by saying it's going to be so much about the medium and the audience you're trying to reach. know, the way that you can pizzazz up a video is just going to be different than a long form essay and everything in between.
Bradley Block (17:35.217)In the audio,
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Kyan (17:57.179)And the audience that you're speaking to is going to be different as well. I think that the more specific you can make your content to the audience that is going to read it, it doesn't have to be laugh out loud, funny, or a highly produced video. But if it speaks to someone, it makes them stop and say, wait, this like is exactly the problem I had last Tuesday. And now this person is helping me solve it. It will capture attention. So I think we often confuse like entertainment or
or I guess pizzazz for quality or for something that really is going to capture someone's attention and make them engage with you. And, you know, personally, like I would actually sign up for a physical newsletter that came to my house if it gave me solutions to the problems I really had over a bunch of newsletters that come to email that don't solve the problem. So, you know, really being focused in on what your audience needs and wants and how you communicate it to them is going to be the backbone of anything.
I think then beyond that, a lot of it is also thinking about yourself as the recipient. We see this all the time. If you ask someone what their favorite grand rounds are, it's the one when someone was really engaging or told a story or used patient scenarios that were real life that felt like I'm gonna go out, walk out of here and take care of that patient and now know what to do with. And then everyone gets up at the podium and does the same thing where we.
you know, go through trial by trial and sort of bury people in data because it's just what you do. And if you spend a little bit more time thinking about when I'm in the seat, when I'm learning, what is it that captures my attention and keeps me engaged? That goes a long way. you know, worrying a little bit less about making the video pizzazzy or making sure you're cracking jokes left and right. If you're trying to reach a very specific audience and
enact behavior change in them. If you just want to get a lot of followers and likes, that's something different. But if you want to engage learners who are engaging with your content, it's really about understanding who they are, what they're actually curious about, and delivering it in a way that they can actually ingest it.
Bradley Block (20:11.973)So the pain point and how you're solving for it. seems like that's that's it right there. What is their pain point? How are you solving for it? And the you know, the jokes, I feel like that was specifically directed at me. Don't appreciate it. I try to make a lot of jokes, try to. It's kind of a thing.
Kyan (20:27.995)It's actually a reflection of my sense of inadequacy of like, you know, we can't all be you. Cracking these genius jokes, having everyone on the floor. Some of us have to find other ways.
Bradley Block (20:32.835)you
Bradley Block (20:40.323)Now you're making me feel badly about that, but I'm really enjoying this. I'm really, I'm really, this is great. This is great. okay. So the next question is what platform, right? And so are you everywhere or are you making a stand in one specific place? Right.
Kyan (20:59.291)Thank you very much for that question. I am all in on LinkedIn right now. And it took me a long time. Yeah, exactly. It took me a while to get to that point because, you know, I think the common sense is I'm supposed to be everywhere. You know, I'm supposed to be everywhere that my people are. Or I have to be on Instagram or I have to, like, there's these preconceived notions of these are, this is the one platform that if you actually want to make it, you have to go on this. And I just,
Bradley Block (21:03.725)Okay. Well, that's how I found you.
Kyan (21:28.635)I think that it's really terrible advice that gets out there far too much or that we accept too much. I I think the most conservative number I've seen for the least popular platform that we've, that you could think of as the major ones, the major players is LinkedIn. And again, the most conservative estimate I've seen recently is that they have 330 million active users. And so to me, it's like, if you can't find someone who likes your stuff out of 330 million potential people.
Bradley Block (21:50.848)Hahaha!
Kyan (21:58.351)then it doesn't matter if you're reaching a billion, you gotta just work on your content. So the number one thing I would say is the platform that you will actually use and show up on consistently and be interested in developing more skills and growing on, that's the platform for you. I built this like Cosmo Quiz kind of algorithm for my community members, the meta brand builders that I can share with you if you want.
Bradley Block (22:15.769)Yeah, that makes sense.
Kyan (22:26.031)that helps sort of guide people who aren't so familiar with the platforms. Really starting off the number one question is, do you like being on video? Do you feel confident on video? Yes or no. And it's okay if you don't, right?
Bradley Block (22:36.921)No. no, you're not asking me. Yeah. No, this is a great point because I like Instagram. Like I went to a couple of talks where they talked about growing your Instagram following and it was like all the stuff that they that they said, like someone was taking a video of themselves scrubbing before surgery, but they weren't actually scrubbing before surgery because then they had to touch their phone to like stop recording and then they had to re scrub. And like I just I can't envision myself doing that.
Kyan (22:58.841)Right, right.
Bradley Block (23:05.333)making snarky comments on threads, I can envision myself doing. So I'm starting to grow of, you know, my, my, my brand on threads and then, the Instagram gets, you know, I someone that, that she will take the clips and she'll put it up on, Instagram and, know, put it kind of everywhere so people can see the clips of whatever episodes coming out, but like,
You know, what am I actively engaging in? What am I seeing myself on? I think that's an excellent way to put it. Stop feeling bad because you're not doing dances on TikTok. If it's not your thing, it's not your thing. Don't force it. Find what works for you organically. That, yeah, that's going to absolve a lot of people of guilt or maybe I'm just projecting. I don't know.
Kyan (23:45.829)I mean, I felt it. So I have to admit that too. Like I, set up my Instagram and you know, exactly what you would predict to happen, just like you were counseling a patient, you know, motivational interviewing, like, know, okay, you're gonna, every week you're gonna take a mile hike. And it's like, they do it for the first couple of weeks and then they trail off. Cause that was never going to be the thing that worked for them. Right. Is maybe let's go around the block once a day. And so for me, instead of the Instagram, I'm going to be posting really interesting visuals constantly.
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Bradley Block (24:06.969)Yes.
Kyan (24:15.853)I really like writing and I really like reading. So LinkedIn just makes so much more sense for the way I like to produce and take in content. And it's worked beautifully for me. I've made great connections like with you. So why fight a good thing?
Bradley Block (24:23.759)Consume. Yeah. Yeah.
Bradley Block (24:33.123)Love it, love it, love it. Okay, so you are clearly very tech savvy, right? So what are some useful tools or technologies that you recommend for creating content?
Kyan (24:46.677)I that question too. I'm going to start by just saying that
I want it to be clear that if you aren't into tech and you're listening to this podcast, I don't want you to feel as though that's a barrier for you to get into this world. because first of all, there's a lot of platforms out there that are, are exceedingly user friendly now, whereas they used to be more challenging, like, you know, back with my space, you had to like know how to code for it to not look terrible. Now that a lot of those limitations are removed, but you don't have to have a tech stack of 10 things.
to break into this, especially since the people listening to this have amazing knowledge and content ready made. They just need to literally hit publish and let other people see it. That being said, I am a bit of a techie. I love seeing what's out there and trying out new things. I mentioned to you already, Card, C-A-R-R-D, I have no affiliation with them whatsoever, but it is just the fastest way that you can set yourself up with an
a storefront on the internet that looks really nice, that is easy to maintain. They're, you know, claim to fame is that they're single page sites. So you don't have to battle with complex navigation. You're not going to accidentally get yourself stuck where you have, you know, 300 pages. And now you have to constantly go through and make sure you have updated the information. Cause you just, you know, change the name of your practice or switch to a different institution. And now everything's, you know, all, all over the place.
Bradley Block (26:21.465)Yeah, yeah. Your letterhead, yeah.
Kyan (26:23.387)So setting up a place on the internet that is yours that you can drive people to and connect back to, I would use card or something similar to that. And then I use personally, I have a newsletter as you've mentioned, it's a free weekly newsletter for medical educators. I use B-Hive, B-E-E-H-I-I-V. I tried out a few different options. Are you not familiar with that one?
Bradley Block (26:49.421)No, we use MailChimp, but just the spelling was what I made a face about.
Kyan (26:54.511)Yeah. Yeah. Again, I don't work for them in any capacity or have it say in their name, unaffiliated, but it just, had a nice set of tools that I wanted for myself in starting a newsletter. know, MailChimp is really a email provider. Beehive, Substack, some of these other platforms out there now are really built around a sort of full spectrum newsletter concept. So.
Bradley Block (26:58.962)Yeah, not an affiliate link. Yeah.
Kyan (27:22.917)You know, the difference between like email marketing and newsletters, email marketing is you want to send information out to your followers, the people who gave you their email address because you've got a new podcast you want them to listen to or because, you know, you're coming to their town to give a presentation or whatever. Whereas a newsletter is like appointment television. It's going to come every week. It has maybe a standing format that everyone knows to expect. And it's on a very specific topic that they're, they want to learn about.
Bradley Block (27:34.919)Yeah.
Kyan (27:51.427)And so you want something that can definitely help you keep track of, you know, who's subscribing, really good metrics on who's opening it, who's clicking on links, who's not, how can you re-engage them, a lot of automation so that, you know, if you sign up for my newsletter, you get an automatic email welcoming you and asking you to reply to me and telling me a little bit about who you are. And I read those and I respond to them. That also helps to make sure that the next email actually does show up in your inbox.
I also send a couple an email if you subscribe after the newsletter goes out on Sunday up until Thursday, because it's going to be a while before you hear from me again. And I want to give you a little bit more information since you signed up. So that is something that I was able to set up with just visual programming, just drag, drag and drop onto the workflow. You can embed polls in your newsletters.
Bradley Block (28:37.713)There you go.
Kyan (28:50.021)directly through Beehive, so I frequently will, I have a trivia question every week, just a medical education quiz, and people can click on it and find out if they're right or wrong, and all of that is done through this one platform. So that's why I chose Beehive, but there are other ones out there that people can use.
Bradley Block (29:06.927)Yeah.
Wow, fantastic, fantastic. Well, we're rapidly coming to a close. So, you know, this is an opportunity to just give one more piece of advice to a physician audience that's trying to get themselves out there in medical education. Already amazing advice like, you know, pick your social media platform based on what you would use. You are an authority, you know, lean into what you're good at and what you're going to enjoy. But any any other bits of advice for the audience?
(01:46):
Kyan (29:38.043)I very much appreciate that. I think that right now, my biggest goal is to help physicians regain a sense of autonomy and control over their lives and over their own authority. I think there's a lot of trying to make all physicians seem basically the same at a specific institution. And, you know, even though we all had to go through very standardized training and hit our milestones, you are a one of a kind person and you have knowledge and skills that are unique and
people want to know about them. So I think it was beaten out of us a little bit to have any sort of personality, right? It's a little bit of like, you're supposed to be a blank slate and not upset you're attending or anyone else. And now's the time to let yourself be you. I you don't have to be wild and crazy and dressing up and doing TikTok dances, but if you like sports, talk about sports and medicine. If you like music, maybe that influences how you talk about medicine. Maybe you like writing.
in a more storytelling format. Maybe you don't, but show up as yourself and reclaim a sense of individualism in medicine because people want to get helped by other people. They want to trust people, not institutions. And we have all these tools now to allow the world to see us as individuals again. And so I just hope everyone rises up to that and lets themselves be seen.
Bradley Block (31:04.874)I love that. I love that. And I love how like the theme that keeps coming up in this interview is finding ways for you to be you finding ways, like what lights you up? What do you enjoy doing? And that's what you put out in the world. And, you know, we didn't mention burnout once in this interview, but this, that will certainly help. Right. I love it. I love it. So if people want to learn more about you, I mean, certainly
Find you on LinkedIn, that's how I found you. And then your website, kyanlinch.com. That's K-Y-A-N-L-Y-N-C-H.com. And Dr. Lynch, Kai, thank you so much for your time and your expertise and all that you're doing to help our profession.
Kyan (31:44.059)Thank you so much for having me on.
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