Most of us didn’t learn about money until adulthood — often by accident or after making mistakes we wish someone had warned us about. Dr. Michele Cho Dorado was no different. In fact, she was nearly a decade into attending hood before realizing she had no real financial education and wasn’t alone in that experience.

This realization set off an identity-shifting journey:
➡️ from “just a doctor” to real estate investor
➡️ from real estate investor to children’s book author
➡️ from clinician to someone shaping the next generation's relationship with money

Michele shares how learning to invest expanded her identity beyond medicine and helped her rewrite limiting beliefs — especially the common physician narrative: “Money is hard, and I’m not good at it.”

As she began teaching her own children, she noticed how naturally they absorbed financial vocabulary simply through exposure. Seeing her four-year-old put coins into the “invest” slot of their family money box and say “grow” revealed the power of early imprinting.

In this episode, Dr. Dorado and Dr. Laura unpack:

• why so many physicians feel boxed into a single identity
• how expanding your identity empowers your kids
• why transparency about money matters more than perfection
• how to avoid raising entitled children in a high-income world
• why generational wealth fails by the 2nd and 3rd generation
• how financial literacy builds confidence, resilience, and leadership — not just smarter spenders

Michele emphasizes one truth parents often forget:

You don’t have to know everything. You just have to be willing to learn out loud with your kids.

Your failures and mistakes teach them resilience more than perfection ever could.

Physician, author, entrepreneur, and founder of Bright Futures EDG (Empower • Develop • Grow). She writes a children's financial literacy book series featuring “Mimi,” teaching kids foundational concepts like saving, investing, earning, giving, and starting a business. She also hosts the Prosperous Kids Summit and advocates nationally for building generational wealth through education.

📸 IG: @brightfuturesedg

🌐 brightfuturesedg.com

📧 info@brightfuturesedg.com

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com

🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/

📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drlaurasuttin

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlaurasuttin/

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

Burnout is often discussed like a clinical condition — something to solve, measure, or “fix.”

But what if burnout is actually a signal? A message inviting us to pause, reset, and redesign the way we lead and care?

In this deeply honest episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin and Dr. Jeff Gaines explore what it really takes to build a healthcare culture where clinicians feel valued, grounded, and supported — not just productive.

Drawing from 20+ years in Emergency Medicine and years serving as Chief Medical Officer and VP of Medical Affairs, Dr. Gaines shares the lessons he learned the hard way:

• Why clinicians feel guilty for needing rest (and how to let that go)
• How micro-rituals — like a purposeful handwashing reset — can pull your nervous system out of overdrive
• Why managing energy is more important than managing time
• How leaders unintentionally set harmful expectations (“If I email at midnight, my team thinks they should, too”)
• Why “stay interviews” prevent the million-dollar cost of losing a physician
• And why culture shifts don’t require huge budgets — just honesty, intention, and humanity

This episode blends neuroscience, leadership wisdom, humor, and the real emotional truth of being a clinician. It’s not about grinding harder. It’s about reclaiming the parts of healthcare — and ourselves — that we’ve quietly lost along the way.

1. Micro-moments matter.
   Reset rituals help clinicians arrive fully present, improve efficiency, and protect wellbeing.
2. Culture is shaped by what leaders model.
   Emailing at midnight? Skipping meals? Your team reads it as the standard.
3. Retention is leadership work.
   Stay interviews, recognition, and investment in autonomy and growth dramatically reduce turnover and strengthen engagement.

Dr. Jeff Gaines is a Board-Certified Emergency Physician, physician executive, educator, and former Chief Medical Officer & VP of Medical Affairs at Newport Hospital. With 20+ years of clinical practice and a Master of Health Care Management from Harvard, Dr. Gaines is passionate about workforce wellbeing, organizational culture, and redefining leadership in medicine.

He serves as faculty at Brown University and advises healthcare leaders on strategy, culture, and clinician engagement.

🔗 LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-t-gaines

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.

For physicians, burnout can feel like an inevitable cost of caring. But what if it’s actually an invitation to realign with who we are?

In this episode of Designing Healthcare That Cares, Dr. Laura Suttin talks with Dr. Christine Kempton, professor of hematology at Emory University and founder of Christine Kempton Coaching, about her personal and professional journey from perfectionism and overwork to purpose and presence.

Christine shares how her early years as a ballet dancer shaped her drive for external validation—and how those same perfectionist patterns followed her into medicine. Through candid reflection, she reveals the turning point when burnout forced her to pause and reclaim agency over her own well-being.

They explore why waiting for “the system” to change can leave physicians feeling powerless—and how taking responsibility for our inner world, rather than blaming the outer one, leads to freedom.

From practical tools like mindful mornings and digital boundaries to profound mindset shifts about fear, worth, and love, this episode offers a roadmap for any healthcare professional seeking renewal.

It’s a conversation that moves beyond fixing burnout to rediscovering meaning—and reminds us that healing the system starts with healing ourselves.

1. Agency Begins Within. True change in healthcare starts when individuals reclaim their power to choose how they show up—even in systems that need reform.
2. Fear Isn’t the Fuel. Shifting from fear-based striving to love-based action unlocks peace, clarity, and authentic leadership.
3. Burnout Is a Message, Not a Failure. When exhaustion hits, it’s often an invitation to realign with your values, not an ending.

Dr. Christine Kempton is a professor of hematology at Emory University and director of the Hemophilia of Georgia Center. With over two decades of experience in medicine, she has cared for generations of patients and led innovative research in bleeding disorders.

After walking through her own burnout, she founded Christine Kempton Coaching, where she helps women physicians reconnect with purpose, balance, and joy. A former ballet dancer, she blends science, self-awareness, and soulful coaching to empower others to move from fear to freedom.

🌐 https://www.christinekempton.com/
🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christine-kempton-md-msc-93744997

Designing Healthcare That Cares is where leadership meets humanity. Hosted by Dr. Laura Suttin, the show explores what happens when compassion, connection, and courage come together to transform how we care—for our patients, our teams, and ourselves.

Dr. Laura Suttin is a physician, leadership coach, and lifelong advocate for designing systems that truly care. After years of navigating the complexities of healthcare, she realized that compassion and connection aren’t just nice-to-haves—they’re the foundation of great medicine.

Today, Laura brings that vision to life through her work as a consultant, speaker, and host of Designing Healthcare That Cares. She helps healthcare leaders and clinicians rediscover their purpose, build resilient teams, and lead with both strategy and soul.

When she’s not interviewing changemakers or guiding organizations, you can find her sharing stories that remind us all why we got into medicine in the first place—to make a difference, together.

🌐 Website: drlaurasuttin.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-suttin-md/
📸 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purposefulMD

The Designing Healthcare That Cares Podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical, legal, or professional advice. Always consult qualified professionals regarding personal or organizational decisions.