Life is All About the Tangents with Dr. Michael Hochman

Michael Hochman MD is the Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and Director, Gehr Family Center for Implementation Science at Keck School of Medicine of USC. Dr. Hochman completed his Medical school from Harvard Medical School and Residency in Internal Medicine from Cambridge Health Alliance. A practicing internist, Dr. Hochman also hosts the Healthy Skeptic podcast which focuses on taking a deeper dive into health issues and recently authored the book 50 Studies Every Doctor Should Know. He is a passionate clinician educator and is a recipient of numerous teaching awards including the Medical Student Teaching Award & Resident Teacher of the Year Award while at Harvard and the Faculty Teaching Award at Keck School of Medicine. The conventional mantra in medicine is to know more and more about less and less and get more specialized, shares Dr. Michael Hochman. Yet he found individuals who didn’t necessarily follow that mantra and get their feet wet in multiple different arenas: from doing policy for a few years to working at a community health center to doing academic medicine. That’s when he realized that career decisions you make don’t have to be lifelong. It’s fine to try things out and find your passion. “Life is all about the tangents” says Dr. Hochman. “A lot of times, the tangents are what really make things interesting and help you grow as a person.” Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Recognize the value of a team: Doctors work with nurses, pharmacists, and a group of other people that, together, do what’s best for the patient.. 2. Career decisions that we make are not lifelong. Experience different paths to identify your passion. The fun of life is in these tangents. 3. There are three golden rules of medicine: When in doubt, put the patient first. Be optimistic. And always try your hardest. 4. Don’t go into a patient’s room with your agenda. Go in asking what is the patient’s agenda with you.