In this episode, I sit down with Dr. George Papanicolao, long-time mentor, colleague, and friend, for one of the most honest conversations we’ve ever had publicly about medicine, humanity, and what it really means to care for people.

George was my first boss early in my career and has spent more than three decades practicing medicine across vastly different settings, from the Navajo Nation to primary care to the UltraWellness Center. This conversation is not about protocols or supplements. It is about the inner work of being a doctor and the shared humanity between practitioner and patient.

What We Explore

• Why medicine is never just about symptoms or lab values
• The complexity of patient stories and evolving health narratives
• How bias quietly shapes clinical decision making on both sides of the exam room
• Why self-awareness is essential for good medicine
• The gift and burden of empathy in patient care
• Emotional depletion and burnout in clinicians who care deeply
• Why hypervigilance around health can slow healing
• The limits of medicine and the role of acceptance
• How contentment and gratitude can coexist with illness
• What it means to partner with patients rather than try to fix them

A Rare Look Behind the Curtain

This episode offers a rare and honest look at what happens on the other side of the exam room. We talk openly about the pressures clinicians carry, the responsibility of working with complex chronic illness, and the ongoing effort required to stay present, objective, and human.

We also explore why healing is rarely linear and why progress often depends as much on mindset, relationships, and expectations as it does on treatments.

Key Takeaway

Good medicine requires more than knowledge.
It requires humility, self-awareness, and humanity.

Patients are not puzzles to be solved.
Doctors are not machines without limits.
Healing happens best when both are seen clearly and honestly.

This conversation is a reminder that clarity begins with truth, and truth begins with being human.