Dr. Bryant Lin is a primary care physician, educator, and researcher at Stanford University. In 2018, he founded CARE – the Center for Asian Health Research and Education. In 2023, CARE began a focused research effort investigating lung cancer in non-smoking Asians. In 2024, Dr. Lin was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, having never smoked in his life.

After his diagnosis, Dr. Lin sprung into action. He began receiving care from Dr. Heather Wakelee – a Stanford oncologist specializing in lung cancer. Dr Wakelee is the Deputy Director of the Stanford Cancer Institute, the Division Chief of Medical Oncology, and a leader in the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. In this episode, we are privileged to be joined by both Dr. Lin and his oncologist, Dr. Wakelee.

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Lin describes the experience of receiving and living with a diagnosis that has been life changing for both him and his family. He details his remarkable efforts to leverage his diagnosis for the good of patients and rising medical professionals — and explains how spiritual practices have helped sustain him through this difficult time. Dr. Wakelee shares her approach to first visits with patients facing daunting cancer diagnoses, how she approaches grief, and the unique privilege and challenge of treating a colleague. Together, the doctor and his physician explore the value of hope in cancer, the dangers of false hope, and the importance of maximizing meaning in life — however much time is left.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

2:50 - Dr. Lin’s experience of being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer despite having never smoked

14:20 - Dr. Wakelee’s approach to first visits with newly diagnosed lung cancer patients

25:35 - Dr. Lin’s experience of shifting from the mindset of “doctor” to the mindset of “patient”

30:30 - How a doctor’s messaging can affect the patient’s outlook on their diagnosis

43:00 - The common themes prevalent across religions and spiritual orientations that support patients in the navigation of serious illness

50:24 - Advice to doctors for finding deeper meaning in medicine

Listen to Dr. Lin’s first appearance on The Doctor’s Art.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2026

Many of us quietly accept the idea that our best self lives somewhere in the past — that youth is the ideal and aging is a slow erosion of who we really are. But what if getting older isn’t about losing our identity, but deepening it? What if the second half of life could be defined not by decline, but by “joyspan”—our capacity for meaning, connection, and contentment as we age?

Our guest on this episode is gerontologist and author Kerry Burnight, PhD. As a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Dr. Burnight spent 16 years caring for older adults suffering neglect and abuse. She co-founded the nation’s first Elder Abuse Forensic Center, bringing together medicine, adult protective services, and law enforcement to protect vulnerable older adults. Her search for how to help people not just avoid harm, but truly thrive into their later decades led to her work on joyspan, culminating in her New York Times best-selling book Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half (2025). Her work has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC News, and Forbes Health.

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Burnight details the experience of working with older adults suffering from neglect and abuse, the importance of team camaraderie for getting through dark moments, and the need to humanize people going through dehumanizing situations. We discuss joyspan as well-being and fulfillment combined with longevity; how focusing on growing, connecting, adapting, and giving can increase joyspan; how the internalized belief that we have less to offer as we age threatens joyspan; and how older adults are uniquely positioned to contribute to society. Dr. Burnight reminds us that joyspan is a health habit, and the best time to start focusing on this health habit is today.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

3:00 - The story behind the first Elder Abuse Forensics Center

11:45 - Dr. Burnight’s advice for frontline workers navigating cases of elder abuse

15:05 - How social connection improves health outcomes

24:00 - Defining joy and how joy can coexist with aging

33:15 - How our personal outlook on aging can impact our aging experience

44:30 - The four elements of joyspan

48:30 - Ways to build meaning into your life

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2025

Many of the world’s best physicians find it surprisingly difficult to answer the question: Why are you in medicine? In the long, arduous journey of medical training or within the technocratically-minded healthcare system, one can easily get lost in the life of the mind—and become estranged from the life of the heart.

Our guest on this episode is Brewer Eberly, MD, a third-generation family physician and a fellow at Duke Divinity School’s Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative. Dr. Eberly grew up listening to physicians in his family discuss their work and was drawn to how life’s biggest questions are present in medicine. Now, his research focuses on the intersections of medicine, aesthetics, and theology — with a special focus on the “nourishment of weary clinicians.”

Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Eberly shares how his early interests in art and literature continue to shape his life and work, and how the privilege of accompanying patients in all stages of life motivates his practice. We discuss how family medicine requires practitioners to have something to say about the well-lived life, and how this kind of wisdom is forged in silent contemplation. Finally, Dr. Eberly concludes with a profound and personal reflection on the question: What does it mean to willingly receive the suffering of someone that you cannot fix?

In this episode, you’ll learn about:

2:36 - Dr. Eberly’s medical and creative origin stories

10:45 - What makes family medicine unique, and Dr. Eberly’s approach to his work

22:30 - How Dr. Eberly tries to stay connected to the meaning of medicine

29:00 - The “Good Surgeon Project”

37:45 - Dr. Eberly’s view of the limitations of artificial intelligence in medicine

43:30 - Ways of engaging with and being present for the suffering of patients

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.

Copyright The Doctor’s Art Podcast 2025