Girl Doc Survival Guide

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 bu...

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 shif...

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, em...

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...

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 h...

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 w...

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 di...

Staying Grounded Through a Super Busy Season Christine reflects on an unusually busy few months that included family vacations to Paris, London, and Amsterdam; adjusting to a new work role with coaching; submitting a 100+ page grant; launching her middle grade novel Love Language ; playing her first tennis doubles tournament; and teaching her second child to drive. She shares that while she still...

End of Summer 2026! it’s okay to pause sometimes...

Dr. Ray Goldsworthy on Cochlear Implants, Timing, Music, and Identity In this episode of The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Ray Goldsworthy, a cochlear implant (CI) user and USC Associate Professor of Otolaryngology whose work integrates psychoacoustics, signal processing, and auditory rehabilitation to improve CI speech and music perception, especially through more precise stim...

Dr. Kate Gfeller on Supporting Families After a Hearing Loss Diagnosis and Music with Cochlear Implants Christine interviews Dr. Kate Gfeller about what it means for families when a child is diagnosed with hearing loss, emphasizing that testing and diagnosis can be tricky, hearing loss may be unstable, and children’s development varies widely so “one size does not fit all.” She describes the emoti...

Identity, Endurance, and Choosing Your Path with Dr. Valencia Thomas This episode of The Girl Doc Survival Guide features Dr. Valencia Thomas, a Black dermatologist and professor at UTHealth Houston and MD Anderson, who discusses her extensive training path and how identity shifts across places and career stages. She describes growing up in Fort Worth, being the only Black student in her class, an...

Love Language Audiobook Sample Featuring Narrator Da Eun Yoon Christine shares an audio sample from the audiobook Love Language , narrated by Da Eun Yoon, and encourages listeners to check out Yoon’s earlier podcast episode and pre-order the audiobook via Amazon and other retailers . The excerpt follows a family arriving in South Korea, meeting relatives at the airport, and driving through heavy t...

Dr. Carolyn Lee on Comfort Zones, Identity, and Creating Your Own Path in Medicine Christine welcomes her friend and colleague Dr. Carolyn Lee, MD, PhD, a Yale- and Georgetown-trained dermatologist and Stanford residency graduate now at UVA, who is an epithelial biologist and entrepreneur focused on high-risk skin cancer and developing new anti-cancer therapeutics. Lee shares a childhood anecdote...

Dr. Hensin Tsao on Mentorship, Writing, and Defining Success Beyond Titles Christine welcomes Dr. Hensin Tsao, Harvard Dermatology Professor and Director of melanoma programs at Mass General, who shares a pivotal early-career moment: stepping in for a WHO Melanoma Congress talk on genetics that led to new opportunities and reinforced the value of serendipity and mentorship. He advises giving every...

Dr. Kate Gfeller on Cochlear Implants, Music Perception, and Becoming Yourself On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Kate Gfeller, PhD, Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, about her career studying music perception, enjoyment, and rehabilitation for people with hearing loss, including NIH-funded work with cochlear implant users. Gfeller shares growing up on a rural Iowa...

New Roles, Shifting Identity, and Belonging July 1 marks a common transition time for medical trainees, faculty, and others moving into new roles. Identity can shift when ending one chapter and starting another, a theme also present in Christine's middle-grade novel-in-verse, Love Language , releasing August 4th. Da Eun Yoon, the narrator of the audiobook, was featured on last week’s podcast...

Da Eun Yoon on Names, Voice Work, and Living Between Cultures Christine interviews multilingual actor, voice artist, and audiobook narrator Da Eun Yoon, announcing her as the narrator of the middle grade novel in verse Love Language (out August 4). Da Eun shares the meaning of her Korean name and her  changing English names, describing challenges introducing “Da Eun” at Northwestern and eventually...

Redefining “Normal” After Traumatic Brain Injury: Dr. Maria Stella Bonn on Disability, Advocacy, and Checklists On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Dr. Maria Stella Bonn, Associate Professor of Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, discusses her 2011 bicycle accident–related traumatic brain injury and her writing on disability and “normal,” including the idea that everyon...

Dr. Jason L. Hornick on Balancing Academic Pathology, Parenting, and Personal Passions Christine interviews Dr. Jason L. Hornick, a senior soft tissue and bone pathologist and academic leader, about balancing a demanding academic career with family and self-care. Hornick shares a personal love of cats and discusses parenting twins while managing work, emphasizing the importance of an understanding...

Finding Your Niche in Medicine with Ophthalmic and Dermatopathologist Dr. Anna Stagner Christine interviews Dr. Anna Stagner, a Harvard Associate Professor and Massachusetts Eye and Ear director who is board certified in ophthalmology, anatomic pathology, and dermatopathology and has authored nearly 100 publications. Stagner shares her background growing up in a small town in northern Arizona and...

Dr. Paul Han on Uncertainty in Medicine and Building Tolerance Through Adaptation In this episode of The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Paul Han, an NIH Senior Scientist specializing in risk communication, medical decision-making, and uncertainty in healthcare, whose career shifted from general internal medicine and palliative care to research via an NCI cancer prevention fellow...

Dr. Sook-Bin Woo on Adventure, Mentorship, and High Standards in Oral Pathology Christine interviews Dr. Sook-Bin Woo, DMD, an expert in oral and maxillofacial pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, about her career, training, and life lessons. Woo shares a formative post–dental school adventure climbing Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia and a dangerous trip across Borneo, and describes later solo tr...

Planning for the Unexpected: John J. Choi on Guarantees, Diversification, and Distribution Christine interviews John J. Choi, a New York Life Wealth Management Financial Advisor with experience in corporate finance and marketing, startups, nonprofits, and pastoral ministry, about investing amid life’s unpredictability. Choi shares a nonlinear career path shaped by major life events, including divo...

Motherhood and Medicine: Burnout, Balance, and Building a Village In a Mother’s Day compilation for The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine announces her book Love Language releasing August 4 and dedicated to her mother, then shares reflections from multiple episodes on being a physician and a mother. Dr. Tom Helm notes a family legacy of physicians and observes medicine’s shift to  female trainees...