Leadership Skills for Doctors: Closing the Gap Between Intent and Impact with Dr. Susan Ko

Christine interviews Dr. Susan Ko, PhD, a leadership strategy expert and partner at Vantage, about key leadership qualities relevant to doctors and other professionals. Ko distinguishes technical expertise from leadership competencies such as people leadership, presence, vision, communication, collaboration, and character/reputation, emphasizing that needed competencies vary by role and organization. She discusses the difficult transition from technical individual contributor to leader, highlighting delegation to reduce “key person risk” and enable others to develop while freeing leaders for strategic work. The conversation covers balancing ongoing clinical expertise with stepping back from some responsibilities to lead, developing individuals and high-performing teams, and recognizing bias in stereotypes about leadership presence. Ko stresses narrowing the gap between intent and reputation through feedback, including 360 reviews, and notes that seeking and acting on feedback is hard but promotes growth and authenticity.

00:00 Meet Dr Susan Ko

01:39 What Makes Great Leaders

03:36 From Expert to Leader

04:11 Delegation and Key Risk

06:12 Leading in Medicine

08:12 Vision and Team Growth

09:24 Presence Bias and Identity

10:42 Reputation Versus Intent

11:38 Getting Real Feedback

13:51 Final Reflections

Dana Corriel, MD on SoMeDocs, Physician Autonomy, and Building a Digital Presence

Christine interviews Dana Corriel, MD, Founder and CEO of SoMeDocs, about her background in internal medicine and healthcare innovation and what led her to build an online community and tools (including a physician directory) to promote physician autonomy amid insurance and corporate constraints that contribute to burnout. Corriel shares her career path through Montefiore, Mount Sinai, and the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program, a three-year break after her third child that sparked interest in branding and networking, and her eventual full-time departure from clinical practice, including mixed reactions to a Medscape article and initial pushback from family that later turned to support. She advises physicians to build an owned digital presence via a personal website and then use social platforms, both for career growth and patient continuity when changing jobs, and encourages questioning herd mentality, accepting criticism, and pursuing long-held dreams.

00:00 Meet Dana Corriel

01:03 Travel Tales With Parents

01:46 Why SoMeDocs Exists

04:04 Autonomy And Burnout

05:31 Stepping Away From Practice

07:24 Backlash And Thick Skin

08:56 Family Reactions And Support

12:44 Women Entrepreneurs Pushback

14:34 Seeing Healthcare Clearly

16:41 Build Your Online Presence

19:44 Stop Chasing Acceptance

21:16 Final Encouragement And Wrap

Perimenopause, Sarcopenia, and Metabolic Change: Strength Training, Protein, and Cortisol with Dr. Betyshia Belardo

In part two of The Girl Doc Survival Guide with Dr. Betyshia Belardo, the conversation focuses on sarcopenia (midlife muscle loss) and how reduced estrogen during perimenopause can contribute to declining muscle mass, lower metabolism, decreased strength, and weight gain with a shift in fat distribution toward the midsection. Belardo emphasizes that women can counter these changes with consistent strength training (even 15–20 minutes, 2–3 times per week), safe progressive overload rather than lifting excessively heavy weights that risk injury, and increased protein intake, recommending about 30 grams per meal while prioritizing whole foods and supplementing as needed. They discuss tracking body composition, adding fiber (about 30 grams/day), hydration, and maintaining enjoyable activity. Belardo explains cortisol’s role via stress and poor sleep, noting sleep deprivation can increase cravings and insulin resistance risk, and advises sleep, self-care, and social connection.

00:00 Welcome and Episode Setup

01:10 Sarcopenia Is Real

02:59 Why Weight Shifts Midlife

04:33 Strength Training Without Fear

05:44 Safe Progression and Overload

08:18 Tracking Body Composition Wins

09:51 Protein Targets and Meal Ideas

13:44 Cortisol Sleep and Stress

15:10 Simple Daily Habits Checklist

16:56 Wrap Up and Thanks

Tiffany Yu on Disability Pride, Ableism, and Taking Anti-Ableist Action

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Tiffany Yu—Founder and CEO of Diversability and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto—about disability identity, ableism, and practical inclusion. Yu shares a childhood car accident that caused permanent arm paralysis, temporary wheelchair use, and later a PTSD diagnosis, emphasizing that trauma care must address mental health as well as physical injuries. She discusses defining disability using the WHO’s interaction between health conditions and environmental barriers, reframing disability as “another way of being or doing,” and noting that naming disability can protect rights under the ADA. Yu defines ableism as devaluing people based on how their bodies or minds work, connects it to intersecting oppressions, and describes anti-ableism as action beyond passive “not ableist” behavior, including accessibility practices like captions and the curb cut effect. She closes with examples of readers applying the book’s ideas to make bookstores and book festivals more accessible.

00:00 Meet Tiffany Yu

00:58 Her Disability Story

02:06 Defining Disability

03:35 Reclaiming the Word

05:49 Advocacy Without Apology

09:02 What Ableism Means

10:46 Pity and Nuance

12:34 From Passive to Action

13:58 Accessibility Advantage

14:46 Final Takeaways

Menopause Basics and Hormone Therapy: A Conversation with Dr. Betyshia Belardo

Christine interviews Dr. Betyshia Belardo, a board-certified Obesity Medicine physician and Menopause Society Certified Practitioner and founder of CaliberMD, about menopause care for midlife women. Belardo defines menopause as the single day marking 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle, with perimenopause as the years leading up to it (often starting in the 40s and sometimes earlier in African American women) and postmenopause thereafter. They discuss how the Women’s Health Initiative contributed to fear around hormone therapy and how later analysis suggested benefits and lower risks when started within 10 years of the last period, versus increased risk when started later. Belardo emphasizes hormone therapy is individualized with contraindications (e.g., clot/stroke history, certain breast cancers), notes nuanced options like vaginal estrogen and non-hormonal treatments, encourages women to ask clinicians and seek specialists, and advocates for earlier, open conversations so women don’t feel they must suffer.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:00 Personal Wellness Origin Story

01:29 Menopause Defined Clearly

02:31 WHI Study and HRT Fear

05:10 Who Should Consider HRT

06:31 Contraindications and Vaginal Estrogen

07:08 Breast Cancer and Nonhormonal Options

08:07 Advocating for Yourself

10:27 Breaking the Menopause Taboo

11:19 Thriving Through the Transition

12:15 Part One Wrap Up

Physician Women Rising: Strategic Leadership, Visibility, and Sponsorship for Women in Medicine

Christine interviews Dr. Shannon Udovic Constant, a San Francisco pediatrician and immediate past president of the largest state medical association and only the fifth woman to hold the role in over 160 years, about advancing women physicians into leadership. Dr. Constant shares a childhood story from her daughter about “boy money,” illustrating how ambition and leadership are gendered, and explains how this shaped her drive to expand women’s representation in executive rooms. Dr. Constant describes launching Physician Women Rising as coaching and education, including a weekly Substack newsletter, to teach leadership skills she learned without a roadmap. Key themes include being strategic about career direction, making impact visible, stating ambitions, and building sponsorship (distinct from mentorship) through purposeful conversations. She discusses the narrower range of acceptable leadership behaviors for women and urges intentional positioning to improve healthcare decisions. Linkd to find Dr. Constant: at her website and on her substack.

00:00 Meet Dr Shannon

00:49 Boy Money Moment

02:58 Why Visibility Matters

04:03 Launching Women Rising

06:02 Three Leadership Keys

08:20 Sponsors Not Mentors

10:07 Her Path to President

13:03 Owning Ambition

14:53 Invisible Work Trap

15:51 Leading in a Narrow Box

19:09 Taking Credit Gracefully

19:55 Final Leadership Challenge

Sustainable Success and Burnout Prevention with Dr. Judy Wright: The PACE Method

Christine interviews Dr. Judy Wright, a physician and sustainable performance strategist, about self-leadership, burnout, and redefining success so it “elevates your life, not erode it.” Dr. Wright shares how missing mammograms while prioritizing others led to a 2019 breast cancer diagnosis, double mastectomy, and a wake-up call that she wasn’t caring for herself and her boundaries had become “a suggestion,” especially with blurred work-from-home lines; Christine relates her own 2022 breast cancer treatment experience and how it forced her to prioritize herself. They define burnout as more than exhaustion, including disconnection, irritability, loss of joy, and diminished achievement, often missed because overwork is glorified. Dr. Wright advises scheduling oneself, taking intentional pauses, and using her PACE framework—Pause, Audit, Calibrate, Elevate—to assess goals, manage decision fatigue, set boundaries, and build sustainable success, including creating one’s own “ladder” and identity beyond roles. Links to find Dr. Wright: LinkedIn and Instagram.

00:00 Meet Dr Judy Wright

01:23 Cancer Wake Up Call

04:06 Lessons on Boundaries

05:23 Scheduling Yourself First

09:23 Burnout Warning Signs

11:19 Why We Miss Burnout

12:11 Intentional Pauses Daily

13:29 PACE Framework Explained

16:43 Keeping PACE Consistent

17:18 Redefining Success Ladder

20:12 Sustainable Success Closing

Nancy Williams on Hearing Loss, Accommodations, and Returning to the Piano

Christine interviews Nancy M. Williams, Founder and President of Auditory Insight, who shares her lifelong journey with hearing loss, from diagnosis at age six and delayed hearing aid use to its progression to moderately severe loss. Nancy describes loving the piano as a teen, being pressured to quit due to stigma around disability, and returning to lessons years later, culminating in performing at Weill Recital Hall while wearing hearing aids, which helped inspire her to commit professionally to hearing healthcare and advocacy. They discuss language choices around “disability” versus “difference,” Dr. Michael Hoffman’s advice to never apologize for hearing loss, and the importance of seeking accommodations (including seat placement and Zoom needs). Nancy emphasizes that hearing loss is often invisible, urges giving others grace, and explains distinctions between hearing vs. understanding and hearing vs. listening.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:01 Nancy's Hearing Loss Story

02:06 Piano Passion and Comeback

04:39 Disability Language Talk

06:16 Never Apologize and Ask

09:14 Parents Processing Diagnosis

11:57 Hearing Loss Is Invisible

13:37 Hearing Versus Understanding

15:04 Listening and Closing Thanks