FHC #120: Revisiting the hero’s journey with Dr. Zubin Damania (ZDoggMD)

black and white photos of robert pearl and zdoggmd flank this podcast cover image which includes the word unfiltered spanning the image

This week, cohost Dr. Robert Pearl is on a plastic surgery mission trip to the Philippines where he will be repairing the cleft lips and palates of children. While he’s away, we’re revisiting one of the most popular episodes from 2023 featuring Dr. Zubin Damania, known to many as ZDoggMD.

Zubin Damania is a UCSF- and Stanford-trained internist and founder of Turntable Health, an innovative primary care clinic and model for Health 3.0. As a way to address his own burnout and find his voice, he started producing videos and live shows under the pseudonym “ZDoggMD.” His persona became a grassroots movement, reaching more than 1 billion people across a wide array of different media.

In this episode, Drs. Pearl and Z discuss the hero’s journey in healthcare. The concept of the “hero’s journey” was popularized by the American writer Joseph Cambell, and it applies aptly to American healthcare. In every medical professional’s career, there is a calling, a fear of failure and people along the way who provide support (or pose additional challenges). Listen to find who are healthcare’s heroes today, what are the dragons that need slaying, how doctors will overcome their fear of failure and what  journeys still lie ahead.

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Dr. Robert Pearl is the author of a book about medicine’s invisible yet highly influential physician culture. Check out “Uncaring: How Physician Culture Is Killing Doctors & Patients.” All profits from the book go to Doctors Without Borders.

Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn.