How to find a doctor digital health or device technology job

Hello!

Hello! How are you?

How are you?

Good. You can hear me. Okay.

We can hear you just fine.

Good, so let me check in. You got my Powerpoint. But let me just.

Try to run it.

Yeah, let me just see if, can you see that.

Now I can.

Good. Okay.

So if you hit present.

Slideshow. Go to slideshow at the top.

Next to animations, transition slideshow.

And then there's.

Maybe a present mode.

Present in

So the thing that says present.

It says, present in teams.

We're not in teams.

So from the beginning.

From the beginning. Right? That's that's where you see one slide at a time.

Okay, that's good.

And then you should just be able to hit the forward and backward arrow on your computer.

Right. Okay. alright good. So I'll stop sharing this, and then I'll bring it up when it's time to do it.

Okay.

So I'm hoping we get more people on this call because I spread it around a fair amount this past week.

I appreciate that. I have not had a huge chance to promote it. I have the feeling that Some people are in going to raps convergence in Europe. but most of the audience is us based for this, because it's so late in the day, on Friday in Europe, anyhow, that.

Yeah.

They don't really like to show up at this time. It's always

Have you considered doing it any earlier.

Well, then, we lose the West Coast.

That's see. Well, you're gonna you know. You're gonna lose somebody's.

Right. So any way that you do it, you lose somebody

Right, right.

No show. Yeah. Now that I'm taking over this this call, we're gonna rebrand a bit

Are you gonna call it?

Well, the whole thing is gonna be part of what's called Mlv. Exchange, which is a platform for product and service providers in the Med Tech industry. And it's basically gonna be a membership community. But the Friday calls are gonna remain free. And so we're gonna call it Friday and Focus, or the Infocus Series.

And what's the what's the organization, or what's the brand.

The brand is Medtech leading voice, my brand.

I see.

And is branded after my publication, and webinars, and all that sort of stuff.

Right.

We have a database of 10,000.

Well.

This point, and so, and then I want to restructure the calls from just being a single presenter the way they are now to make them slightly more interactive and add a couple of more elements. I'd like the opportunity, for example, to you know, have have a startup. Come on for 5 or 10 min.

Good.

Or a product demo from a vendor or something like that. But I mean that you have an expert. It's still expert driven, and it's still about.

Right.

I'm gonna start letting people in

How do you see soap, or me, or whatever playing in this.

I haven't figured that out yet. But I will. You will be the 1st to know.

Alright, let me know!

I mean, 1st of all, you're here. So that's 1.

Yeah.

And to panelist depend on.

And why not let? I mean, when you set this up? Why not just let anybody get in when they register? So you don't have to enter.

maybe zoom bomber.

I see.

I I don't know why it was set up this way. So one of the things that need to a lot of this is legacy.

Right.

So it's a matter of sorting through that. And but.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Now the great leap forward. Harvey Castro MD, MBA: I was about 23.

Good morning!

Hello! Joe! Hike! Sure.

Good afternoon.

Harpy.

Luke is drinking already.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Actually.

It is not already. It's weekend for me.

I know, I know.

Arlen. It looks as though you I've invited some friends because there are some faces I don't recognize.

That's the point.

I love that.

Yes, that's the point. And hopefully they can introduce well, depending on how many there are. But hopefully they'll be.

We can start with Harvey Castro.

Yeah, we can start with Harvey. So Harvey Harvey, give him the headline.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: I'm an er doctor. Been doing it for 20 years. At 1 point my own freestanding ers hospital system, and I wrote the 1st book on How to Use Chatgpt in Healthcare. And now I'm an advisor for the country of Singapore and the Texas Medical Association, and my own AI. Company.

Very nice. Are you gonna be at AI Med in November?

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah, I'll be one of the speakers. I'll be there.

I'll be a moderator at some point.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Awesome good to meet you, Joe.

Yeah, Harvey is a AI particularly large language model luminary. So he did a nice job, branding himself as such.

Very nice, and I don't recognize Keyshore.

Yeah. So Keisha, tell people who you are.

Hi, Elaine! Hi! Everyone! Hi, Joe! It's Kishore Joshi. I'm CEO of Botexa health tech. We have a way to capture structured binary data in real time. Basically digitize a human anatomy. And looking to see how we can apply that to various use cases. That's.

Where do you live, Keisha? Where are you located?

I'm in California, just the other side of Bakersfield.

Okay, and I don't think I recognize Ms. Last one. Brassman, she, a friend of yours.

I know Stephanie.

Hi.

Thank God!

I'm actually in the hotel in Brussels. So we just finished convergence. Here, Hi, Sean, thanks.

Good thanks for doing.

I'm actually owner of Med tech experts. So we do, consulting for clinicals in the area of clinicals, regulatory affairs, quality management. And I also work external for notified boys as well. Most different areas.

Where do you live?

Where do I live? In Switzerland?

Oh, yeah, I've heard of it.

Good, but not Sweden, Switzerland.

Well, this is This is Sean's.

Huh!

1st week of Mlv. Premium.

Hi! Welcome! Everyone!

Need to make me Co host anymore. I'm just hanging out.

No, yeah. Right? So yeah, we're really pleased to have everybody here. Anybody that's new feel free to decline to be promoted. Joe, will you promote people as they.

I will this week.

This week. Okay, well, thank you. I've been trying and some exciting changes coming. And anybody that wants to stay after the call is welcome to join me. I want to talk about some new developments and opportunities for product and service providers. I've been talking with a lot of them. And in the Med tech industry, and frankly been trying to crack this nut for 25 years. So I think I think we're developing something really exciting and new, and would love to invite any of you that want to stay after the call to talk about that without further ado. I'd like to introduce this week's speaker, Dr. Arlen Myers, tell us what you're going to be talking about today, Arlen.

I'm gonna talk about how to close the med tech doctor gaps.

Great shall we dive in? Do you remember.

Yeah, yeah. And just just we want this to be sort of conversational. And the reason that I mean there's several people here that I either work with or for as an advisor, consultant, etc. So the the issue that we're gonna discuss has to do with something that we've talked about on these meetings before. And that is how do we close the healthcare professional technologists, data scientists, gaps? And how do we basically collaborate. And and why is that important? And secondly, if you're a healthcare professional

and you're interested in a non-clinical role either to supplement your practice or to replace your practice in a different career path. How do you do that? Because people have been, you know these, we said before, you know a bunch of doctors don't want to see patients anymore. but they can't just sit in a sofa and watch TV all day long. So they got to do something, and they want to get in the game. So how do you collaborate with folks like you? And I'm open. And so I want this to be an open conversation and put stuff in the chat. Raise your hand, and if just interrupt us, and we can take it so.

Okay.

Without further ado.

Well before you before you dive into your presentation. Just give us the 50 cent version of your background, and how you got to where you are now, because I think.

Alright. So the head yeah. The headline is, 1st career, 40 years as an academic ent surgeon at the University of Colorado. Second career and accidental med tech, entrepreneur. 3rd career, an accidental international nonprofit, global innovation ecosystem. CEO, And I don't know what the 4th career is. Gonna be. But I'm sure I don't know how to do that either. When I when I start. So that's the basic idea. So bottom line, traditional academic background fell into a bunch of stuff that I didn't know how to do. and here I am.

Okay? And so the nut that you want to crack is the gap between the healthcare providers and Med Tech and the collaboration between doctors and Med tech. Now.

Well, actually, the gap that I want to close is. or the transformation that I'm trying to catalyze is the transition from sick care to healthcare. And in through the deployment of innovation, international. And an element of that is an open innovation ecosystem that plays nice together instead of siloing. And all the stuff we're going to talk about. So I I think a critical element of making that transition, whether it's incorporating artificial intelligence into what we do to interprofessional competencies, to transdisciplinary

team building, etc, etc, etc. So that's what we're gonna talk about. So that's the problem I'm trying to solve at this moment. And I'm pretty involved, obviously, in medical education. specifically as it involves healthcare, innovation and entrepreneurship around the world and tell us the name of your Association Society of Physician, entrepreneurs, and soap. SOPE. And if you're interested, it's an open network. Anybody on this call can join. and it's@sopenet.org.

Inks.

Thank you. Okay, so let's see if we can get to the sharing part. Okay, so can you guys, everybody can see this right? All right. So, okay, so how do we close the healthcare professional, artificial intelligence, computer science. And it's and I include bioengineers in this, too, because they're they're part of this thing. And how do we change? How do we close the gaps?

so I'm gonna sort of get to the bottom line? And that is that I mean, there's a whole bunch of stuff that we can talk about, and and then I'll I'll just I just the way I want to do this is, I'm gonna just tee up some of these topics and then sort of take each one and get some input from the group as to whether I'm full of soup, or what have you seen, or whatever? So I think the main barriers are these, and I line them all up, you know the 6 C's, or whatever you want to call it. So I think the main barriers have to do with the different cultures of in this case, doctors, but when I say doctors, I mean any healthcare professional.

So the main culture of of medicine. the competencies of the players. In other words, what a doctors know how to do versus med tech entrepreneurs, or service providers or vendors, or anybody else that's in a game. How are the ecosystems or the communities different. And what implication does that have for interdisciplinary cross-functional team building? And it could be intra professional, for example, doctors working with nurses working with pharmacists, working with other healthcare professionals. and I'm sure our profession is not the only one that's privy to turf wars

and people not playing nice with each other. And then how do you get one ecosystem like the group on this call to play with healthcare professionals? What are the mechanisms to connect the dots between these various entities. What are the communication problems? So that we can speak? We. We can have a we can be bilingual without an accent. I mean, how do you speak? Med tech to a doctor? How does a doctor speak? Data, science to a data scientist, etc, etc.

and then one that seems to rear its ugly head has to do with, and particularly in terms of finding, a non-clinical role compensation. in other words, how am I going to get paid to do this? And and we can talk about? And we'll talk about these various issues. So the 1st one I want to talk about is so. 1st of all, let me just stop there. And what does anybody else have? Other things that they think are a are major barriers to collaboration.

Done! Hold on!

Just awareness.

Go ahead.

I would.

It's politics.

Yeah, in the in the line of politics, I would say, change just to keep with your C theme that.

Yeah.

Changing rather rapidly right now, politically, economically, technologically, socially, and I think the rate of change is making a lot of people hesitant to take the next decisive action, whether it's to hire a consultant or to launch a product, or to do deal kind of afraid of their own shadow right now, that's all I'm gonna say.

The other thing I would like to mention is data confidentiality as well. The regulation. you know, with data, confidentiality, regulations being different in different countries and stuff like that. You can't really freely let the information flow between partners to come to different solutions and stuff like that. So you have to really look at a very regulated environment in different countries. But, anyways, that's my little.

Michelle, you wanna just briefly introduce yourself and give us your.

Yes, doctor, so Hi! My name is Michelle Mccrory. I'm at the foundational stages of a company called All Wellness Alliance. My mission is similar to What Dr. Myers had mentioned. I'm trying to kind of decentralize healthcare bring in terms with old terminology. West 1st West meets East type of modalities together in a complementary fashion. So I do business to business development. I've got some great opportunities already, and I'm just in the formative stages. My goal is to create access and awareness to complementary modalities, integrative complementary modalities. There's 1 in particular, I'm working on that gives an entrepreneurial opportunity

to open healthcare clinics surrounding an imaging device that's proprietary. That's been my main focus. But I have other partnerships as well. I have learned so much, not a clinician myself, but there are so many things out there that are effective. I'm developing a partnership with a biotech science company, so I'll be consulting with them. So that's what I do. In a very quick nutshell. There's a lot more to it. I'm going to add another C word to the main issues. And that would be competition. You know, Dr. Myers, you mentioned De Siloing, and that's part of the mission of my company as well. There's, you know, coming from the corporate medical device. And Pharma world. You know it's

we're the best. Mine's the best. It's all mine. And that that's linkedin with collaboration. Another C word, that, I believe, is another issue. So I'll just add those 2 on there from my personal perspective. And walls need to be broken down. And my, you know, I wanna look at the greater good of a wellness for all. So

Good.

That's my comment.

Great thanks for your comment. Is it George or Jorge? Or who else has your hand up? George? Yeah, what? What are your thoughts.

Well, my, I mean I I'm my business is product development. So I've been worked with many, many physician entrepreneurs over the years. I'm a member of Sope. which I appreciate very much. And I think one of the things that I find you know we say in our industry that. And and please, I'm not here to offend anybody. Doctors are not great business people and and what I mean by that is, there's a disparity in. I don't even want to say education. It's not really classic education. It's it's understanding business. you mentioned, Michelle mentioned competition, you know, getting products to market. It's a whole different world from the from the physician world, and that there's a big kind of disparity between. I want to call it experience or business experience, startup experience, that sort of thing.

Alright. So we constantly hear this refrain, doctors are lousy business people. and of course, as you can imagine, it drives me absolutely crazy, because I think it's total. Bs apologies. No, I mean bye glad you brought it up. So my my, take on. This is a couple of things. Well, anyway. So let me before I get into this, because I'll go deep in the weeds in this. Lech. Do you have some other comments you want to make.

Yeah, I really had to bike my sea in that country. like in the Netherlands. It was recognized long ago that there was a gap between the medical and the engineering world. So they invented a new bachelor and master's study called clinical technology or technical medicine. And that's a pretty advanced study that's really in between. So those people should make a bridge between engineering and and medicine. And it actually works. Only. of course they're not. They have a. They get a medical certification, so they may. They're allowed to do procedures.

and they can talk the same speech as as doctors and and physicians. But all the while they are not completely taken seriously, because they are not to the level of physicians, and they're not to the level of engineers. So they have a hard. hard. They've hard work to make a place for themselves, but they actually have added value for for both. And it's that's my seek country. It's there are countries who recognize this and try to How do you say it? Try to solve it this way and duplicate it.

Yeah, that's a good point. Like the Copenhagen business school. They have a master's in biomedical engineering and biomedical entrepreneurship.

Yeah, there are.

Several. There are several countries. Yeah.

Nuclear.

So go ahead.

Okay. Now, there's biomedical engineering.

Yep.

I guess that's more engineering. With a biomedical twist.

Right? Well.

It's so broad that you can hardly ever level to a good engineer or a good physician.

Right? So is anyone on this call a biomedical engineer. You are okay, Paul, did you want to make a comment.

Yeah, I was looking at your list and scratching my no hair head to find a C, but I got an A right? I think awareness and accessibility for patients. And I say this because I want to. I want to do a shout out for Kishore on the call here right? Leveraging AI tremendously with protects it to increase access to patients. There's a lot of intelligence that is possible bringing in what he's doing from both a software and a device perspective. And I think that's going to be a huge trend as much as prolific as medical care is. It's amazing. The gaps in the system. At least, I'm just talking from the Us. Right? So I think AI has a tremendous opportunity to bring in efficiencies. Bring in higher quality of care, but also make it accessible. That's my question.

Alright. So, Keishar, just briefly. Do you want to tell people your background and and sort of chime in on this.

Yeah, sure the I'm not a clinician. I'm not a healthcare expert, like so many here on this panel. I. My background is in simulation, modeling in nucleus and marines where data was paramount where it had to be as close to real time as you can possibly get it, the crew being obviously under pressure, just like the physicians are on the front line, I know, like Dr. Harvey mentioned. You know, the er department. So the crew in the nucleus on marine or under pressure, like er physicians or physicians on the front line. Well, how do you get them to capture the data that is so important without burdening them, and without

causing them to think differently or cognitively differently than they've been trained into. So we came up with a unique approach that we used in the nucleus on marines to capture literally the data by touching or tapping. and that would be at the binary level, a 1 or a 0, and then allow the computers all the great algorithms and engineers around to go ahead and run the algorithms run the reports for the powers to be to make the right decisions no different in healthcare. Except now you need that data for driving AI models. And what what we see is what I see is that

lot of companies are going down these Llm models and all sorts of different rabbit holes when there are solutions that can actually create the data for them right up front. And at the same time, because it's the anatomy. And that's why I mentioned right at the top of this call that we basically digitize the human anatomy. give that empowerment to the patients. Allow the patients to also engage in their healthcare. There's a lot of research out there that says that the more engaged the patients are, the more likely they are to follow the prescriptions or the care. You know the care delivery. So so that's the kind of that's that's kind of where we're coming from.

It's a slightly different angle. And then, according to the you know, kind of. we're all entrepreneurs and trying to buck the system, you might say, and what I've also seen from the outside into the healthcare is trying to change the healthcare system within is an extremely difficult thing to do. It's an uphill battle, especially if you're going up against you're going with a lot of people especially in the C-suite. Even that do not want to change the status quo innovation is going to be, I believe, is going to be from the outside or in parallel. and I could probably add another C onto this one as well. If you want Arlene, it's cash.

because to also generate these innovation. you not need only need great communities, teams, collaboration, all these other things that people have mentioned. But you also need a certain level of resources to really drive home and do R&D to see what fits best. So that's kind of where I come from, and and a little bit about the background. Yeah.

Yeah, thanks for that. Yeah. So we've referred to cash collaborators and customers before. And that's, you know, a whole bunch of things. So let me just back up a minute. This issue of you know, doctors are lousy business people drives me a little crazy. 1st 1st of all. I don't know what that means. Business person. So does that mean you're a lousy investor? Does it mean that you don't know anything about how to run anything. Does it mean, in terms of entrepreneurial or entrepreneurship, that you had no clue how to get anything to a patient? I don't know what that means. And and the history of medicine is replete with doctors who've created basically changed the world things

not the least of which, for example, clean water. John Snow with the cholera epidemic in in London, I mean, there are lots, I mean this. The list is endless of doctors that have created stuff that have literally changed medicine. I think the other thing I want to address is that. And what about all the people in private practice now? Admittedly, private practices have shrunk, but I was in private practice. and you have to run a business if you're going to stay in private practice. So I disagree with that. And I think there's a lot of people in private practice, namely, about 300,000 350,000 of the roughly 1.2 million practicing physicians in the United States. So I could go on and on and on. But the final point I want to make is that

this issue of doctors not doing well, practicing. The business of medicine results from the fact. And I agree, that's true. It's 1 of the things we're trying to change. But the fact is that you don't get into medical school because you have an entrepreneurial mindset. You get into medical school because you are a conformist and play by the rules. And the same thing is true with engineers. And the same thing is true, I would imagine, with Phd. Biochemists. It's it's the culture chooses certain people and does not value innovation. Now you could say, Hey, wait a minute. I thought academic medical centers were like the source of innovation.

I disagree with that. I think they're the source of inventions and discoveries which are, as we know, very different than getting an idea to a patient or commercializing. So that's my 2 cents on this, and we could get into a separate conversation.

If I could add you one quickly. I 1st of all appreciate. I I do think we need a little more nuanced discussion about about this. You know, you're correct. Innovation does come from the bedside. We say that all the time and so the innovate, the the technologies are certainly coming out. I think it's really this. this disconnect between the technologies and then getting a product to commercialization is almost like a different study, let's say, or a different area of the business. And and that's and since that's where I live, that's kind of high on my list of of things.

Okay, So the next, you know. And I want to go through these relative because I want to get to some solutions. I mean this, this call is supposed to be about. Okay, what do we do about this? Not bitch, and moan and whine and roll out barriers and all that. So I this just kind of take them off one. So we talked about, you know fairly extensively the different cultures of the different domains. and naturally, that results in different competencies, knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes, teamwork mindsets, that kind of stuff which is part and parcel of the culture that you're in. As we said, biomedical engineers

have a different mindset than clinicians and data scientists. In in my experience, actually, I think the main difference in the mindsets has to do with their tolerance for risk. and that I mean, there's a lot to that. But you know, obviously, physicians have a lot less tolerance for risk entrepreneurs. It's kind of on the other end of the spectrum. Maybe you would say, engineers are sort of somewhere. Yeah, they don't have risk for outside the specs, but they're willing to kind of do stuff, you know. Kind of thing. I think the community and the team building Harvey thinks that er doctors are risk takers. So, Harvey, you can chime in on that. But let me just add that

this notion that I just mentioned that doctors are not risk takers actually isn't true. And I would add that surgeons many times are risk takers. I'm a surgeon. So, Harvey, why don't you chime in on er doctors as risk takers.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah, it's I jokingly say, it's like the chicken or the egg. What what got you into emergency medicine? Is it the adrenaline? Is it the risk? This is some part of your genes, is it? Is your entrepreneur spirit. Biasly as an er doctor I go around and biasly. I see a lot of entrepreneurs out there, and I look under the hood. I'm like, huh er doctor, so, and then I talk to them. Why are you doing it. They're like, you know. And to me, when they talk Harvey Castro MD, MBA: to me, they're like, Yeah, just enjoy the adrenaline I enjoy. I'm not. I'm risk averse. I'm Harvey Castro MD, MBA: and I'm more likely to just jump right in

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: as opposed to some other professions that are very. Harvey Castro MD, MBA: And I noticed that they're not in that mix. So.

You mean they're more risk tolerant. Well, I would add that you know there, there's this other thing. Where? How come so many er doctors are quote entrepreneurs. And I would say, 1st of all, anybody can do this because I get medical students, and maybe you do to say, Hey. I want. Should I go into er medicine if I want to be an entrepreneur? And I said, No, that's we could, but that's not the main reason you would do it. I mean, anybody can do this. and it really has to do with the mindset and all that other stuff we're talking about. But, more importantly, I think it has to do with 2 other things. One is.

you guys are like airplane pilots, you know. You work 3 shifts 12 h, and then you get like a week and a half or 2 months off, and then you come back. And so you have time to do stuff. Now, maybe I'm being unkind to you. But Harvey and I are friends that have been for a long time. But the point is that you have the Wiggle room to do this stuff. you know, on the off shift hours, and I don't know. You know you work 36 h on and and 3 days off. It's it's like being an airline pilot. So you have the time to do this. The second is that be with the with the transformation of inpatient to outpatient and all the technology supporting it.

You are. You are used, for example, in covid er docs were were rapidly recruited to deal with telemedicine and digital health access during covid. because they were used to triaging. They were used to rapid evaluation. They were used to turfing patients to one place or another, and treating them on the spot that carried over. In my opinion, now that Covid has passed ish. so that a lot of docs, particularly those that are looking for non-clinical roles are emergency room doctors because they have that background of dealing with that kind of patient presentation.

particularly as it relates to AI. So do you agree with that?

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah, I do. I do. And you're right. And and in the shifts not everybody's there all the time. So on your night shift at 2 in the morning, 2 to 4, maybe. No, and then you have nothing to do. So obviously you're going to be working on your project. So it gives you that flexibility.

Right? Okay, so does, do people have some questions? I noticed that there's some stuff in the QA. Does somebody want to ask a question or raise their hand, or we'll just keep going if you don't, anyway. Alright. So then the next has to do with the connections. In other words, the networks. So all of us have internal and external networks. The problem is that they're siloed, and they're restrictive. And most doctors have terrible networks, and the ones that they do have are internal. If you're a neurosurgeon, you know a bunch of neurosurgeons. They're probably people that work at your hospital or in your professional association.

but you don't know a whole lot. You don't know a whole lot of techies. You don't know a whole lot of people that work in aerospace. You don't know investors. You don't know this and that. So I think part of the problem has to do with the connections and the networking apparatus that each of us have. and the point has been brought up that sick care cannot be fixed from inside. It has to be fixed outside, in inside out. Which is why we're having this call and why it's so important to have these cross disciplinary and cross functional collaborations. And by cross functional, I mean engineering sales and marketing finance, a product development a supply chain, etc, etc, etc.

And then there are communications. In other words, how do we talk to each other and and platforms that we use to communicate? And an example is is this call I mean, this brought in the past. Most of these calls have been with product developers and vendors and service providers, but very few healthcare professionals. So hopefully this, it will be an incentive or a motivation to kind of move the needle and and change that, so that we get a some sort of communication platform where we get to know each other. We get to trust each other. We get to figure out who's doing what? How do we get in touch with you? This is something that you're interested in, etc, etc, etc. How do we learn from each other that kind of stuff.

Partly this.

And then.

Say why I invited you just to be here today. And, Harvey, I'd ask you if Arlen were to do these weekly for soap. Do you think that would add value to the membership where some of our guests here the contract manufacturer, the product developer, the packaging expert, the reimbursement person for your guests.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah, I concur. I mean literally, that's what Arlen just said is, we're in our own silos. We're on in our own world, in our doctor world in our er world. You know me and er doctor, I get to meet all the different specialists when I call them down to the er to consult. So I get that field. But the Gi doctor really doesn't know a lot of the other specialists because they don't really talk to them unless it's maybe a consult here and there. But Harvey Castro MD, MBA: to that point this would be of value to doctors, and then vice versa. You guys may want XY, and Z. Specialty or understanding. I'm really big on how to combine AI and healthcare, you know, and things like that. So then we're all together collectively. It takes a village, so I would agree.

Okay.

I think I think really what we need here is some kind of arlen chat, a a chant to to encourage him to. So if you'll all join me.

Yeah.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Well, I've been, I've been telling. I'm gonna convince, convert them to a digital twin. And then I could just invite his digital twin.

An avatar to speak right.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah, and we have our.

Exactly.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Oh! Harvey Castro MD, MBA: But.

Yeah, that's okay. I mean, and we kind of do. I mean, we do that, Joe. It. It's not an official titled office hours. But we do have several other office hour platforms where we participate, for example, in artificial intelligence.

Aren't aren't on those.

Excuse me.

People like Yorg and Andre aren't in those office hours to be available to answer questions.

Right. So I'm putting out a pitch that if you are on this call and you want to be part of those office hours, you absolutely, positively get in touch with me, and I'll include you. I'll make you part of those. I mean. None of us want to reinvent the wheel. and we only have so much time during the the week to to do this. But I I'm just looking for cross collaboration, and everybody can't show up at the same time, pacific time, Europe whatever. So I think the more of these. Your point is well taken, Joey and I appreciate it. And we're we're moving in that direction now. I maybe I'll spin it out and try it, and we'll see how it goes.

I mean, if I if I were to set one of those things up. That was Doc. Health, you know. Would people on this call come in addition to this one? I don't know. You never know until you try any thoughts. Michelle wants to be included. Yay, okay. So Michelle, send me a note. And I'll put my email address on here.

That's that's about. Well, I was gonna ask. But you're.

Yeah, even.

Address in there for us.

I would I would love it to be included. But the I guess the question is, how how are you getting a lot of docs into those things because their their schedules are so restrictive. Usually, like doctor schedules.

Yeah, actually, we do. And particularly another example. Well, actually, I I can just put I'll put them down here What the next one that I'll tell you about is mi. 10. It's an AI office hours. and there's also one from the American Board of artificial intelligence and medicine, which also has a weekly office hours. And I will tell you, because Harvey's very active in that, I participated as well. We typically get about 50 or 60 people to that every week.

And I'd say, and Harvey, correct me if I'm wrong. Half maybe half are practicing clinicians interested in informatics and AI in all realms. Drug discovery. Med tech a care delivery. You name it. It's not just AI stuff. Harvey, would would you agree with that?

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah. And I'll add, it's actually nice, because we're also getting international people coming. So we're able to get different perspectives. And then the nice thing, as you guys know, being able to get the different parts of even the United States hearing the different angles and culture. It's it's really interesting and helpful.

Okay? And then there's the AI Med Conference. which is an international conference this year is going to be held in San Diego in November. And again, it's an AI ecosystem service providers, investors, entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, techies education, people, business people, you name it. So my point is that if if we look at these. with the exception of the bottom, one compensation which we'll get to in a minute if you look at all these other things. So what's the solution? I think the solution is to to get together in the same room and start developing and exchanging knowledge, developing trust. Figure out

how mutual self interest can benefit each other. I mean, this goes back to Adam Smith and the wealth of nations. The single most important motivator of people is self-interest. and that translates into economic well-being. That that's I mean, this goes back to 1776 when it was permit when it was published. So that's the deal. and and I think that in terms of of the next steps create awareness, get comfortable with each other, begin to learn each other's language, etc, etc, etc. That kind of stuff. It's ecosystems. It's how do you build? The the other point that I want to make is this has to do with the compensation conversation, and I'm interested in in what folks think, because

what I run into personally and in talking about this with other people is. well, how how do I get paid to do this? That is, from the perspective of the healthcare professional slash doctor that wants to consult to a Med Tech company or become part of the company they and typically the the line of succession has to do with your your 1st of all, you may just be an influencer. or you may be somebody who's a key opinion leader, subject matter expert for the given company. and you're out there doing your deal and and writing a bunch of stuff, and people know who you are, and you're talking about stuff.

whether directly or indirectly, whether you're actually standing up for the product or just talking about the the the problem to create awareness of the problem. Because that's what your company is trying to solve. There is some just thing, as what I call ahead a hood ornament which is a key opinion leader who signs on with a company and basically gets his or her picture put on a website for the product. But they really don't do anything. They're just there creating a halo effect. And they're hot ornament. They really don't add all that much value, in my opinion, but maybe the person hired them thinks so.

Then when you go up the food chain, then you become an advisor, consultant. Maybe you're a member of the management team. You may be on the board of directors. You may be a direct investor, or you may be something else. So each of those comes with a different compensation issue. And I and physicians and doctors think 1st of all. you understand the doc, the the business model, the revenue model for doctors is I just show up and get paid. I don't get well. You actually don't get paid, you show up and you try to get paid. You gotta throw the rigmarole to get paid. But you don't get paid for performance. That's the basic idea

in this world of consulting, advising technology commercialization. The mindset is you get paid for performance. And that's a hard thing for people to translate. So the model. The revenue model is different, and the amount you get paid is different. So if you're a neurosurgeon or a fancy er Doc making a lot of money. and you decide you want to do clinical stuff. Your attitude is well. I want to make the same amount of money I made as a doctor doing an advisory role with a Med Tech company. Well, it doesn't work that way. So I'm interested in from the technologists in the group and the product developers and service providers in the group.

How do you approach that? Because both sides have value issues from the standpoint of the doctor. they feel undervalued because they have Md. After their name. And you're not paying me enough whether it's cash or equity. and from the technology person that may potentially hire them. Well, we don't know whether you're gonna produce anything, particularly if we're a startup. We're not gonna pay you unless we get results. And okay, we'll pay you a referral fee. Okay, we'll pay you equity. But then the pushback from the doc is, no, that's not the way I get paid. That's not what I want to do so. How? How are you dealing with that conversation?

By May. It reminds me of a personal anecdote where, back in the seventies. somebody came to my father who made housecoats a now defunct category of women's loungewear to wear around the house as they cook and clean. And the guy said, We have this new package where you can do your accounting on a computer, you can, you know, instead of doing T accounts and doing everything by hand. Weeks later, the guy says, Mr. Hayes, this is exactly the use case that we're talking about. Will you show other business people how to do this? My father looked around and said, Look at all these seamstresses. This is my business. This is what I do. I make house coats.

The punchline is this representative was from a company called International Business Machines. and it was the dawn of the Peace City. and he would tell me, Joey, can you imagine if I didn't have my blinders on? And I saw opportunity? What could have been. It's a story I tell whenever I hear this kind of crossroads of. but that's not what I do. Well. Harvey's an er Doc, he didn't start off as an AI guy, but he's found that he brings great value doing that. So if that inspires, that's I think, what you're discussing. Holland.

So, Kishore, are you still with us.

Yeah, I am.

Alright. So just, for you know, just for disclosure. So I'm an advisor to Key Shores Company. So, and you have other people that are working for you, whatever. So what what are you thinking? As as someone that engaged me or engaging other people? What what were you looking for? What? What? What happened.

Yeah from a non clinician and trying to get clinicians on board. I gotta tell you it's been very, very tough, right? It's it's not easy for the reasons that you just mentioned, Arlene. It's I'm used to making X amount per hour. If I'm gonna come and help you, I want that and a little bit more. Right? Versus. Well, okay, you you guys are taking a risk. I'll also take a risk and help you, because I believe in what you're doing. Alright. So sometimes it works as well as it doesn't. Lot of times it does not.

And so you just move on. You find the next best person you find. You find who you can. and you try to get to the next stage, and I'm talking from an entrepreneurial side where companies do not have a lot of cash if any cash at the beginning. right? And they have to basically Bootstrap when I mean Bootstrap, I mean, really Bootstrap right? And people have bills and everything to pay. So the engineers are also of the similar mindset as well. because, you know, if you think it's not just the physicians. It's actually a lot of engineers, because they're in demand. and they go well, I can earn so much and so much if I go and work, for you know our recall, or whoever right

then why should I come and work for you? And they want guarantees, so I don't think there's an easy answer. Arlene. It's really it's a it's a really tough spot. you know. Yes, you can go down the Vc. Route and try to raise, you know. Go down that path, and you got a great idea and raise some money and go down that path. That's not for everyone. You know that not. Everybody succeeds in that path either, and it may not be the right thing to do, if that's what you really wanna try to keep to your philosophy and what you're trying to achieve. So I don't have an answer for you, Ollie. I'm just sharing some of the experiences

we grind through, and somehow we get through.

Steven, are you still with us, Stephen Flutie?

Yes, I'm here.

Good. So so you set up a platform to match. Basically, it's a dating service. You're matching doctors who want gigs with people who want doctors, so can you share your experience and just tell us a little bit about what you're doing.

Yeah, I'll give it to you on the supply on the other side as well. Created products in the orthopedic space. And when we've gone through the process of trying to figure out what position to bring on board or not. You said earlier. Those ornament cases like that, like almost like the digital key opinion leaders. And we've actually started to move more away from those because we started to see just they get tied into a certain thing, and they do the same thing. And and it's colors they're they're losing credibility on the pitch thing side. What we wanted to do is take a little bit more of a background of Who are you? What's your background? What's your training? Have you done any type of development before? What's the experience level there and then have you done any investments? And then also, can you look at

a product or procedure, or whatever someone is developing with a broader lens other than the lens of this will fit in my practice. And so that's really what we've started to do. And a lot of it like I've told you before. It really comes from just word of mouth referrals and just the network that we've built out. But when we do the matching side of it, we take the job, the job process. There's a lot of keyword searches in there, and then it would go into like the Cv. That's really trying to match with the right people. So it's a really fluid process.

And how do you? How do you deal with the compensation issue. or what? What advice do you give people about the compensation.

So we've built a little calculator for them where they can kind of see what their average hourly rate is. I think the compensation is, is a really tricky conversation. We built the mechanisms for them to be able to safely, properly, get paid and not have to worry about 1099 and things like that. We haven't had a lot of conversations around that. Just because I feel like, that's not really our area we are building. We are building data sets around what the average rate is per project or retainer and really trying to be able to provide some type of AI feedback in that of, hey? This is a little bit low of what you're getting pushed for, or you're getting asked to do. This is a little high. Given your background.

So we haven't had a lot of conversations around compensation other than Hey, we've made it very easy for you to actually get compensated for this. A lot of the physicians we talked to during this time never got compensated for any type of investment due diligence or feedback. It was all, hey? Thank you so much we appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon.

Yeah. Just a couple of observations. I I think there's 1st of all this pay by the hour. Model may work for some people. But for a lot of people it doesn't. particularly when you're dealing with a key opinion leader, or you're trying to get somebody engaged like Kishore said, who believes in the thing. But you know Michael Jordan didn't make a fortune getting paid by the hour for Nike. They basically leveraged his brand as an endorsement because he was a big shot. and every celebrity endorsement works that way. You don't get paid by the hour. So my point is and I'm not suggesting, I'm a genius, but

you know this, the phrase is, you don't pay genius by the hour. The point is that there are different revenue and compensation models it could be by the hour it could be by the project, it could be retainer. It could be finders fee. It could be combination cash equity. but everybody is going to look at this differently in their time of life. For example, you know, I mean someone who is a senior physician who is yeah, is a key opinion leader. You offer them options so they could be dead by the time they vest, and they could be exercised. so they may not really. On the other hand, they may want that, because maybe they have some legacy thing or a trust, or whatever they're interested in. I don't know it, but it varies. It really varies person to person.

Before we leave I just there have been some questions, yes, absolutely, positively put your Linkedin profile in the chat. So if anybody, I mean, that's gets to the point we were talking about before. So yes, put your Linkedin profile. If anybody wants to connect everybody else. That's kind of the point of this. Irina wants to know what's the name of the company that matches clinicians.

Even.

So.

Link in there.

No. So the link there it's called pitch sync. We actually have a live event coming up where we're launching on May 28.th So I'll also put the link to that in there. And, Sean, if you would help you, help me send that out. That'd be great.

And Arlen there are some questions there in the Q. And a. From Susan.

Susan, what's your question?

Do you see it there? I'll read it to you in order to survive. And do you see it.

Oh, let's say, yeah, I got it in order to survive in private practice you have to be a risk taker. Bye.

Follows up with the question, When will we be talking about the subject of how to get digital healthcare opportunities? How do I'll unmute you.

Right. So let me just ask, so how do you do this? Number one? You have to overcome the barriers that we've let that we've alluded to. Number One. You have to build a personal brand and a business model canvas. You have to get people to know you, not who you know. Number 2, you have to develop the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies to meet the objectives of what a potential employer wants you to do. What you clinical mindset is not the same as an entrepreneurial mindset. Number 3. You have to get involved with the right community to begin to network, so that you kiss as many frogs as you have to kiss to find the right one. Number 4 you have to deliver. You have to be results oriented and be realistic about this conversation? Did I answer the question, Susan.

Yes, you did answer the question, but I think it's also important that people that are in clinical practice, whether it be the er or primary care or surgery have a lot to offer, because, you know, a clinical company cannot come to a decision that's effective without having a clinician on board with them. as we all know, and it's been said over and over again. So we have a lot of information of value to deliver.

You're you're absolutely correct.

And I don't think you should. You should definitely get paid for that, and you should be respected for the knowledge that you have. I mean, you know, with a 30 years experience like Harvey has in his in his er experience me as a pediatrician. We have a lot to offer, and I think we need to speak about how we can bring that forward and how we can express that information to.

Political companies. I don't think they know we exist really, to be honest. Well, I would take the opposite view. I would say that because doctors like you and me are used to do it. I don't know any doctor who doesn't do stuff for free during their training that take care of patients that don't have any money. We have been enculturated to take care of people regardless of their ability to pay. Now that's not the reality. But I would say that part of this conversation is a self-inflicted wound. In other words, doctors don't value their own worth, so they don't ask for it. I hear that over and over again. I'm afraid to ask for money.

That's true. I'm not afraid to ask for money.

Well, you're not. You're not.

Well, I think well, I don't know. I don't think anybody on this call is afraid to ask for money.

Harvey, would you agree.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: I'm not afraid to ask for money, but I see your point. I I know. I get asked to speak a lot, and they want me to donate my speaking time, and I'm i i don't, you know.

Right. But you're constantly asked. Oh, we don't have an honorarium. Oh, we want you to do this! Oh, we can't pay for your travel. Would you mind coming and speaking at the International Conference on International Entrepreneurship? Would you do it?

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Depends. Like I spoke.

Hey? I'd see.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yes.

Right? It depends.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: It's ces.

Depends but what I'm saying. We're all used, and there's a good reason for doing something for free.

Harvey Castro MD, MBA: Yeah.

There are many reasons for doing things for free. but I hear that, you know I I'm afraid, particularly this issue of wage gaps women race. I mean all that stuff without getting into that. I'm simply saying that I think it's a 2. It's a two-sided coin. and that I think physicians and healthcare professionals undervalue their worth. So they're reluctant to negotiate. That's all I'm saying, yeah. other questions. And actually, we're gonna have to Sean, you're gonna have to cut us off when it's time to stop talking. Oh, anybody else have some thoughts.

May I just step in.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. Who are we?

Stephanie.

Stashley.

Hi, I just turned my camera on here just a minute. Just a comment on this whole thing. The problem is, we're no longer in the seventies. Eighties, nineties. We're in a highly regulated environment, unfortunately, especially in Europe. And you really need to have millions in order to get a medical device to market. And that's part of the big problem. I mean, if you have a very, very low risk device, risk classification like a class one. Then maybe you can, you know, squeak by and stuff like that. But I think at the end of the day you really have to have investors really supporting our idea. You have to have so many interfaces. You have to have so many mindsets.

and you really have to have marketing people on board to get there to the end game. It's just one of my thoughts right top off my head. Thanks.

And no thanks for bringing that up. And I my point to that is that if you are a physician or someone in this position looking to help a company or a startup. Sometimes the ask is, we want you to help us raise money. It's a very and sometimes it's it's a hidden agenda. they'll say, Oh, no, we just want you to do this, this and that. They really want you to raise money. And again, we don't have a lot of time, but that comes with a whole lot of issues. And it's a it's a real baller. It's a real can of worms, not the least of which is, if you're not a regulated you know, securities agent. you wind up being a finder and wind up on a 1st page of the New York Times.

So there are lots and lots of issues that we could discuss. Okay, well, it's 10 0 1. I think we're done. I really appreciate everybody's input and hopefully, we can develop this collaboration and make things happen.

Thank you so much, Dr. Myers, for coming and speaking to us today and sharing your thoughts on closing the gap. You know it's a broad topic, and there's certainly a lot of room for discussion. But I think that you know the discussion has to start somewhere, so we're glad that you came. Thank you so much. Next week we are going to have Adam Isaac Ray, from Scotland, who is a regulatory consultant auditor, and he is going to be speaking about. The 7 biggest challenges in med tech regulatory so his perspective on that

and it will be the 1st week where I'm going to be flying solo. I would like to acknowledge Joe, and by acknowledge, I mean, give a round of applause.

Go on!

No, seriously a round of applause to Joe. I asked him earlier. When he started doing this, he said, October 2019. Was that correct? And you know that's a a lot of Friday calls under his belt. And he's brought a lot of people together. I think that as we focus this conversation, and we talk about bringing people together and the importance of bringing people together, especially in the age of AI, where human expertise is largely marginalized and going to become increasingly so. I think that the actual opportunities for human connection and exchange of ideas become more and more

relevant. With that in mind. Gonna do a slight rebrand of the group. My, my group that I'm I'm launching. I have some big plans. I'd love to share them with any of you privately. But basically, we're looking at medtech leading voice exchange. Is the platform and the Friday calls are gonna be in focus. Is the new name. So Fridays in focus call from Mld, and each week we're going to have an editorial calendar. Do advanced promotion, and I would like to

try to maybe have a startup come in every now and then. And pitch during the call. Who they are, what they do kind of like the fast rounds that Joe does at 10 x did at 10 x and and maybe have a vendor demo. I don't really want a vendor to come and consume the entire hour, and I'm sure that many of you would agree with me on that. However. it is worthwhile to see what vendors are producing. Do you agree or not? Maybe yes, no. Anyone.

Yes, love it.

Good idea.

and so is there space in the Friday call to reorganize the format to make it a little bit more workshop oriented and less presentation oriented? Or do you prefer the presentation style? One speaker 1 h. you know it's in many ways it's your call. And so I I think that there's room for greater in a greater interactivity. But yes, someone says workshop is better. Andre, what do you have to say?

I belong to another group, and what they do is that they have. They do have a guest speaker at each call. It's also 1 h exactly, and the guest speaker is limited, though, to 15 min, with 5 min of Q&A, and then the balance of the call is an interaction among the members, which I I think is very interesting. You may not be interested in everything, but it gives you an opportunity to to cross, you know, cross pollinate on all things.

Very, very interesting. Okay? Well, you know, the exact breakdown of the number of minutes, and you know, time dedicated is gonna be a matter of of trial and error. Also, my question would be, you know. We have a a we're very consultant heavy on these calls. Is it helpful for consultants to hear from other consultants. You know. How? How do you? What, what do you feel like when you show up at the Friday call, and you're like great. We got another consultant this week, you know, like, you know, mother's love is like a pie cut into smaller and smaller slices with each, you know. Child that's born.

you know, or is it

Well, I don't. I don't think it's necessarily that bad, you know. You don't want to have it all be service providers and such, but you know, so you want to split it up. But I appreciate learning about what other people are doing. Usually there's subtleties, and between service providers as well that. Make them good for a particular thing or or not. And so but I mean, obviously you wouldn't want it to be all like that. The interaction is the most important part of getting building relationships with people outside your network. We were just talking about, you know, even doctors when we were talking in the in the session. What a wonderful thing would be to have doctors and and service providers, and everyone learn, you know, getting to know each other and understanding different perspectives. So I I think that's probably the most important thing for me.

Tom, can I just give you my 2 cents? Really quick.

Clearly.

I'm I'm regularly in Swiss Med tech meetings. And we have 50% consultants and 50% industry. And I actually don't have a problem with it, because there's so many things to discuss, you know, and so many regulations and so many ideas. And and I mean, what I don't like is, it would if it was 100 consultants. So diversity is nice. But I I think I don't have an issue talking to my competition, and and I found a few really great ideas for talking to other consultants as well, and I don't think we can work in isolation. I think it's really good to have an exchange. So I'm I'm for it. I just what I don't want to have is have 100% consultants. If you can avoid that. That's great.

Absolutely okay. So oems, startups, consultants, vendors. You know, a good healthy mix.

Yeah.

Yeah, the doctors.

So doctors, clinicians. Would be nice.

Okay, I get it. I hear you. Well, this is exciting. And I look forward to putting putting this together, I'm I'm looking for advisors or people who want to sort of champion a subject matter area help, you know. Recruit speakers in clinical or medical, or whatever. But you know they The yeah, there's there's plenty of room for opportunity. So not to go on. I'm gonna stop talking, and I'd like to thank everyone for their time, and look forward to meeting again next week without Mr. Joe. Let's say goodbye for now

Back just next week. I'm going to be in Arizona.

Great. Okay. Well, have a good trip.

Okay.

And we'll miss you, but we will.

Thank you. Guys.

I have a few.

Everyone. Thanks.

Bye.

Good, weekend.

Thank you, take care!