Past

Mindful MD Spring 2022

A conference & Design Thinking workshop for physician leaders, to improve solutions for provider well being

06/02/2022

06/05/2022

Cazadero, CA

With
Hemalee Patel, DO, Suvas Vajracharya, Stephen N Xenakis, MD

Join a gathering of physician leaders to workshop solutions for physician wellness.

Regulations, time constraints, and ineffective technology are commonly referenced causes for burnout in physicians. But we know it goes deeper than that; we have a healthcare system that wasn’t designed to support the physicians who have dedicated their lives to supporting others.

Mindful MD is our initiative to help physicians thrive. After solutions-oriented speaker sessions, collaborative Design Thinking workshops, and time in our stunning 640-acre nature preserve, leave inspired and refreshed, with an actionable prototype to implement in your own organization, and a cohort of like-minded leaders all positively impacting the field of physician wellness.

 

Program Format

 Inspire

Gather with other medical leaders committed to shaping a healthier, safer healthcare system. Participate in thought-provoking speaker sessions aimed to move the needle on physician wellness.

 Design

Through collaborative Design Thinking workshops,  you’ll create actionable pilots that address, reduce, and prevent physician burnout within your organization.

 Influence

Lead your team through a healing journey that addresses root causes of burnout, promotes well-being at work and at home, helps renew their mission, and brings joy back to their practice of medicine.

 Restore

Enjoy free time, to explore our nature preserve, or join us in guided meditation, yoga, or art.

 



Weekend Content

Speaker Sessions 
  • The Great Resignation— an Opportunity to Transform the Workplace.
    • Thursday, June 2, 1:30 – 3 pm
    • With the current state of resignations in all industries, how should we design for the physician of the future, helping them uplevel their skill sets and know all their options, so we give them the flexibility and support they need? How do we build a healthy environment for physicians that encourages them to grow and thrive?

  • Frontline Workers—How We Protect them.
    • Friday, June 3, 9 – 10:30 am
    • Hear from CWOs and ER leaders on what they’ve done to address the challenges that nurses, MDs, and residents face, and set the stage for what still needs to be done. Opportunity for folks in the audience to ask questions to the people who are effecting change in large organizations.

  • Preventing & Treating Trauma and PTSD.
    • Saturday, June 4, 9 – 10:30 am
    • What is trauma, and how do we stop it before it begins? When we can’t stop it, what are effective treatment options? Given the current state of open mindedness to psychedelics, and ketamine centers opening to treat patients with PTSD and depression, what are the trends for physician well being, and what is effective? From AR and VR to mindfulness and psychedelics, we dive into what’s working.

  • Art, Design and Wellbeing for Physicians.
    • Saturday, June 4, 2:45 – 4:15 pm
    • What is the role of beauty in healing, and how important is art and environment in the wellness conversation? With an uptick in hospitals designing for wellness, like fresh air, windows and LEED certifications, hospitals are starting to realize the ROI on better environmental design for patients. How do you create an environment for physicians that evokes the calm and regeneration they need? Why are hospitals investing in this, and how can we fold in wellbeing design for physicians?

  • How to Impact & Influence Your Org—That was Fun, but What Happens After the Conference?
    • Sunday, June 5, 9 – 10:30 am
    • Creating a prototype is an invigorating process, however the real intent is to make an impact—which requires a thoughtful strategy, influence and perseverance. We will review an impact framework, and talk with entrepreneurs and innovators in the physician wellbeing space to uncover their implementation strategies and lessons learned, to help put what you learned this weekend into practice.
 
Workshop Sessions 
  • Learn the Design Thinking (DT) Framework
    • Quickly run through the key phases of the DT process on a topic unrelated to physicians or burnout. This will help to engage your creativity and get you in an innovator’s frame of mind. 
  • Empathize and Define
    • We’ll break into teams of 4-5 and start by interviewing each other to build empathy and identify key user needs. We will then synthesize our findings, and define the specific challenge the team wants to focus on.
  • Ideate
    • Based on the challenge the team has defined, we will generate as many ideas as possible in the time allotted. After the brainstorm, the team will identify the ideas that have the most potential. 
  • Prototype
    • Focusing on one of the team’s top ideas, you’ll develop a rapid prototype (personas and a scenario) to put your idea into context to further build and refine the concept.
  • Test and Plan Next Steps
    • Each person will develop an experiment to try in their organization around one of the top ideas the team developed, including objectives, metrics, support team, and rollout duration. Plus, we’ll reflect on lessons learned in the DT process, and set up accountability check-ins with your team to keep everyone supported and engaged long after the weekend ends.

Event Details

Date: June 2 – June 5, 2022

Location: Cazadero, CA

Who: 25 Bay Area physician leaders, private event, by invite only

Lodging: Attendees will spend the day at Teravana for workshops and events, and will stay overnight at Fern Grove close by—quaint, charming cottages in Russian River Valley

 

Weekend schedule

Thursday, June 2 (½ day)
11:30 – 12 pm – Welcome Lunch at Fern Grove
12 – 12:35 pm – Shuttle from Fern Grove to Teravana
1 – 1:30pm – Content: Welcome and Opening Keynote
1:30 – 3 pm – Content: The Great Resignation— An Opportunity to Transform the Workplace
3:15 – 6:45 pm – Workshop 1: Learn the Design Thinking Framework
7-8 pm – Dinner
8-8:35 pm – Shuttle back to Fern Grove

Friday, June 3
7 – 8 am- Breakfast at Fern Grove
8 – 8:35 am Shuttle from Fern Grove to Teravana
8:45 – 9 am Group Meditation
9 – 10:30 am Content: Frontline Workers— How We Protect Them
10:45 am – 12:45 pm Workshop 2: Empathize and Define
12:45 – 3:20 pm Lunch + Structured free time (Hike, art, yoga, meditation, or work)
3:30 pm – 5:30 pm Workshop 3: Ideate
5:45 – 6:45 pm – Wine tasting
7 – 8 pm – Dinner
8 – 8:35 pm – Shuttle back to Fern Grove

Saturday, June 4
7 – 8 am- Breakfast at Fern Grove
8 – 8:35 am – Shuttle from Fern Grove to Teravana
8:45 am – Group Meditation
9 – 10:30 am – Content: Preventing and Treating Trauma and PTSD
10:45 – 12:45 pm – Workshop 4: Prototype
12:45 – 2:30 pm – Lunch and Structured free time (Hike, meditation, yoga, art, or work)
2:45 – 4:15 pm- Content: Art, Design, and Wellbeing for Physicians
4:30 – 6:30 pm- Workshop Finale: Test and Plan Next Steps
6:45 – 8:15 pm – Closing celebration
8:15 – 8:50 pm – Shuttle back to Fern Grove

Sunday, June 5 (½ day)
7 – 8 am- Breakfast at Fern Grove
8 – 8:35 am – Shuttle from Fern Grove to Teravana
8:45 – 9 am – Group Meditation
9 – 10:30 am – Content Session: How to Impact and Influence Your Org
10:30 – 12:30 pm – Structured free time (Hike, art, yoga, meditation, or work)
12:30 – 1:30 pm – Lunch
1:30 – 2:05 pm – Shuttle back to Fern Grove

 

RSVP Details

Respond to your private email from [email protected] to confirm your spot.

Meet the Speakers

Al'ai Alvarez, MD

Al’ai Alvarez, MD

Director of Well-Being & Co-Chair of the Human Potential Team, Stanford Emergency Medicine

Al'ai Alvarez, MD (@alvarezzzy) is a national leader and educator on Wellness and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He is a clinical associate professor of Emergency Medicine (EM) and the Director of Well-Being at Stanford Emergency Medicine. He co-leads the Human Potential Team and serves as the Fellowship Director of the Stanford EM Physician Wellness, and Co-Chair of the Stanford WellMD's Physician Wellness Forum. His work focuses on humanizing physician roles as individuals and teams through the harnessing of our individual human potential in the context of high-performance teams. This includes optimizing the interconnectedness between Process Improvement (Quality and Clinical Operations), Recruitment (Diversity), and Well-being (Inclusion). Currently, he is one of the 2021-2022 Faculty Fellows at the Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign.
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Patty DeVries, MS

Patty Purpur de Vries

Former Director of Strategy & Innovation, Stanford; Founder & Executive Coach, Living Well USA

Patty graduated from Stanford in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology after receiving a full-athletic scholarship. While at Stanford, she was a nine-time NCAA All-American in shot put and discus, won the 1989 women’s Olympic-style weightlifting championships in her weight class and competed at the 1988 Olympic Trials in the discus. In 1995, she founded TimeOut Services, which by 2008, earned $5 million in yearly revenue and employed over 100 team members. Patty and her team were instrumental in designing the original wellness programs for Google, Cisco, Yahoo!, Safeway and KLA-Tencor. In 2009, Patty sold TimeOut’s corporate wellness division and trademarked Community BootCamp program to Plus One of New York (now part of Optum). Patty's awards include: The Key to the City of Grand Forks, North Dakota, Business Journal’s Top Women in Business, the Top 50 Influential Women of Silicon Valley and a Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) Top 100 wellness professionals. From 2011-2022, Patty supported the wellness initiatives at Stanford University, Stanford Children’s Health and Stanford Healthcare, most recently as the Director of Strategy, Outreach and Innovation for BeWell. In 2022, Patty and her husband founded www.livingwellusa.com where they offer well-being workshops and event space. The Living Well event center offers 4.5 acres of nature for growth and personal exploration. A nature lovers paradise just 20 minutes from the SJ Airport.
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Jennifer Downing

Jennifer H. Downing

Studio Founder & Interior Designer, Mokume Design Studio

Jennifer Downing is an interior designer, environmentalist, and wellness advocate living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Led by her deep focus on sustainability, Jennifer founded Mokume Design Studio in 2014 with the goal of promoting health and well-being through interior space. Jennifer finds wholeness and inspiration in nature, which is reflected in her design aesthetic, creating clean and uncluttered interiors that provide visual breathing room. Jennifer received her academic training at Syracuse University, where she earned her BFA in interior design and metalsmithing. When she's not at the studio, you'll find Jennifer trail-running through San Francisco’s expansive green spaces, or hiking around the Bay Area with her husband and two daughters.
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Elissa Epel, MD

Professor of Psychiatry & Vice Chair of Adult Psychology, UCSF

Elissa Epel, Ph.D, is a Professor, and Vice Chair, in the Department of Psychiatry, at University of California, San Francisco. Her research aims to elucidate mechanisms of healthy aging, and to apply this basic science to scalable interventions that can reach vulnerable populations. She is the Director of the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center, and the Consortium for Obesity Assessment, Study, & Treatment, (COAST), and Associate Director of the Center for Health and Community.
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Hemalee Patel, MD

Hemalee Patel, DO

Senior Medical Director-Chronic Care Management, One Medical Group

Medical director for Chronic Care management and clinical design lead for Impact by One Medical. Behavioral science enthusiast and clinical designer working closely with teams to bring meaningful, impactful and innovative ideas to life with an interest in value based care delivery advancing the Quadruple Aim. I frequently speak on topics related to lifestyle medicine and population health with a goal to empower and educate individuals and organizations using evidenced based medicine and the latest advances in health and wellness to prevent and control chronic disease development and related sequelae. I'm also a champion for healthy lifestyle approaches to optimize energy levels and productivity. I'm based in San Francisco, California and have a BA in Economics and English from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in Nutritional Sciences. Im on staff at Sutter and Stanford University Hospital & Clinics as Clinical Instructor and Hospitalist.
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Robert Rodriguez, MD

Robert Rodriguez, MD

Professor, Emergency Medicine UCSF, Biden COVID-19 Advisory Board

Dr. Robert Rodriguez grew up in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. After the University of Notre Dame and Harvard Medical School, he completed a combined Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine residency at UCLA and a Critical Care Medicine fellowship at Stanford. He is a former Department of Emergency Medicine Diversity Director and recipient of the 2013 UCSF Martin Luther King Jr. Award. He currently serves as a Professor of Emergency Medicine and the Associate Chair of Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Rodriguez has led research teams examining the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of frontline providers, vaccine hesitancy, and the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on vulnerable populations. Beyond his work at 2 safety-net hospitals in California, he returned to his hometown to help in the ICU with a catastrophic surge of Covid-19 cases in July 2020. He has served on the Biden/Harris Covid-19 Advisory Board and as an advisor to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. He was named the 2021 American College of Emergency Physicians Humanitarian of the Year for California.
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Sara Semal, MD

Sara Semal, MD

CWO Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA)

Sara received her graduate training in Counseling Psychology at New York University and Public Health at George Washington University. She went on to complete a Fellowship in Advanced Psychodynamic Clinical Practice at The University of Chicago. Prior to joining Oxy, Sara was a Clinical Director of a public health and counseling program at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. Her background includes work in sexual assault and trauma, LGBTQIA health, infectious disease and disease prevention, and reproductive health. Sara oversees Emmons Wellness Center and Project SAFE, advises Emmons’ student groups, and serves on numerous college committees with the goal of advancing the health and well-being of all community members.
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Janae Sharp, The Sharp Index

Janae Sharp

Founder, Sharp Index

As CEO of Sharp Index, Janae dedicates countless hours to improving the lives of physicians and identifying problems in workflows. With a background in linguistics and coding, Janae began as a language teacher and expanded into tech to bring awareness to mental health and the healthcare system.
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Emily Silverman, MD

Emily Silverman, MD

Founder, The Nocturnists; Assistant Volunteer Clinical Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Emily Silverman, MD is an internal medicine physician in San Francisco, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and creator of the independent medical storytelling live show and podcast, The Nocturnists.
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Yael Swerdlow

Yael Swerdlow

CEO & Founder, Maestro Games, SPC

Yael Swerdlow is the CEO and Founder of Maestro Games, SPC. Yael is co-founder of the Women's Empowerment Foundation, a board member of the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles and a board member of the humanitarian organization, Shelters for Israel. Yael also serves on the Advisory Boards of MILO Cognitive, First Amendment Voice, Solution Point+, and is a consultant at USC's award winning Game Pipe Labs. Formerly, she was co-chair of the national leadership council of Games for Change. Previously, Yael was a freelance photojournalist based in Los Angeles for over twenty years, shooting for United Press International, the Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Times, where she was a part of the Pulitzer Prize winning teams for the Los Angeles Riots in 1992 and the Northridge Earthquake of 1994. In summer of 1994, Yael went to Somalia, Southern Sudan, and Rwanda for International Medical Corps, to document the reestablishing of the medical infrastructure in those war-torn countries. Yael also writes fiction, including the cinematic script for Activision’s best selling video game, “True Crime: Streets of LA”.
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Muni N. Tahzib, MD

Muni N. Tahzib, MD

Physician, CityMD, HumanitarianMD

Dr. Tahzib graduated from the University of Groningen,Universiteit Utrecht Faculteit Geneeskunde in 1992. She works in New York, NY and 4 other locations and specializes in Allergy & Immunology. Dr. Tahzib is affiliated with Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, Palisades Medical Center, Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center and John F Kennedy Johnson Rehabilitation Institute.
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Suvas Vajracharya

Suvas Vajracharya

Founder, Teravana Foundation

Suvas has a long term interest in personal development and meditation. After working as the CEO of Lightning Bolt, where he ran a successful startup consisting of 55 employees, he left the IT industry to shift his passion and focus on bridging his interests for wellness, spirituality and the environment. Having dedicated his career to helping hospitals and physicians solve the most complex medical staff scheduling problems with advanced, AI-optimized technology, he has championed for health and wellness in these fields for nearly 20 years. As a co-founder of Teravana and our sister organization WELLKIND, he advises on their board of directors and facilitates trainings and workshops. Suvas now applies his thought leadership to stewarding 640 acres of land and leads conferences and retreats in the field of mindfulness and burnout prevention for corporate institutions and physicians. He teaches meditation at Teravana and brings a mindfulness based approach to wellness.
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Matthew Wetschler, MD

Matthew Wetschler, MD

CEO & Cofounder, Plume

In my masters of public health I wrote my thesis about the HITECH act, health system utilization, and the adoption of technology in healthcare as well as authored a series of articles explaining health policy to physicians. I completed several courses at the Kenan-Flagler business school and was the top student in a graduate-level corporate finance as well as the winner of multiple pitch competitions during my participation in an entrepreneurship course. In my medical residency I formed and ran a consulting group, Inside Healthcare, that connected business-interested physicians with health tech startups. I have personally consulted with multiple Y-Combinator healthcare companies on both product development and strategy, several of these engagements concluding in an offer to join the company as an early hire. In 2017, I suffered a spinal cord injury while surfing. I was diagnosed a quadriplegic but, remarkably, regained the ability to walk within six weeks, surprising everyone. My case has redefined the standard of post-operative neurosurgical care at SFGH and gave me insight to the experience of patients in the modern healthcare system. I have been a competitive athlete for much of my life including a nationally-ranked rower, a sponsored big-mountain skier, and an iron-distance triathlon winner. The grit demanded by these pursuits is what I bring to my professional endeavors. The insight born from 10+ years of clinical training as well as a harrowing personal journey as a patient has filled me with a deep commitment to change healthcare for the better. I am currently the CEO of Plume, a virtual trans-healthcare service. My co-founder, a trans-woman and physician, and I are based in Denver, CO.
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Stephen N. Xenakis, MD

Stephen N Xenakis, MD

Brigadier General (ret), U.S. Army; Silver Hill Hospital

Dr. Stephen Xenakis is a retired brigadier general and Army medical corps officer with 28 years of active service. He is an adjunct clinical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He is the Founder of the Center for Translational Medicine, a nonprofit that conducts clinical research and development. He has been a senior adviser to the Department of Defense on neurobehavioral conditions and medical management. Dr. Xenakis serves as an anti-torture advisor to Physicians for Human Rights and belongs to the group of retired generals and admirals convened by Human Rights First. His clinical practice has been broad and varied over the past 40 years, including expert consultation to military attorneys and providing inpatient care, substance abuse and alcohol treatment, and community health services.
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Advisors

Hemalee Patel, MD

Hemalee Patel, DO

Senior Medical Director-Chronic Care Management, One Medical Group

Medical director for Chronic Care management and clinical design lead for Impact by One Medical. Behavioral science enthusiast and clinical designer working closely with teams to bring meaningful, impactful and innovative ideas to life with an interest in value based care delivery advancing the Quadruple Aim. I frequently speak on topics related to lifestyle medicine and population health with a goal to empower and educate individuals and organizations using evidenced based medicine and the latest advances in health and wellness to prevent and control chronic disease development and related sequelae. I'm also a champion for healthy lifestyle approaches to optimize energy levels and productivity. I'm based in San Francisco, California and have a BA in Economics and English from UC Berkeley with an emphasis in Nutritional Sciences. Im on staff at Sutter and Stanford University Hospital & Clinics as Clinical Instructor and Hospitalist.
Read Less Read More
Patty DeVries, MS

Patty Purpur de Vries

Former Director of Strategy & Innovation, Stanford; Founder & Executive Coach, Living Well USA

Patty graduated from Stanford in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology after receiving a full-athletic scholarship. While at Stanford, she was a nine-time NCAA All-American in shot put and discus, won the 1989 women’s Olympic-style weightlifting championships in her weight class and competed at the 1988 Olympic Trials in the discus. In 1995, she founded TimeOut Services, which by 2008, earned $5 million in yearly revenue and employed over 100 team members. Patty and her team were instrumental in designing the original wellness programs for Google, Cisco, Yahoo!, Safeway and KLA-Tencor. In 2009, Patty sold TimeOut’s corporate wellness division and trademarked Community BootCamp program to Plus One of New York (now part of Optum). Patty's awards include: The Key to the City of Grand Forks, North Dakota, Business Journal’s Top Women in Business, the Top 50 Influential Women of Silicon Valley and a Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) Top 100 wellness professionals. From 2011-2022, Patty supported the wellness initiatives at Stanford University, Stanford Children’s Health and Stanford Healthcare, most recently as the Director of Strategy, Outreach and Innovation for BeWell. In 2022, Patty and her husband founded www.livingwellusa.com where they offer well-being workshops and event space. The Living Well event center offers 4.5 acres of nature for growth and personal exploration. A nature lovers paradise just 20 minutes from the SJ Airport.
Read Less Read More
Janae Sharp, The Sharp Index

Janae Sharp

Founder, Sharp Index

As CEO of Sharp Index, Janae dedicates countless hours to improving the lives of physicians and identifying problems in workflows. With a background in linguistics and coding, Janae began as a language teacher and expanded into tech to bring awareness to mental health and the healthcare system.
Read Less Read More
Stephen N. Xenakis, MD

Stephen N Xenakis, MD

Brigadier General (ret), U.S. Army; Silver Hill Hospital

Dr. Stephen Xenakis is a retired brigadier general and Army medical corps officer with 28 years of active service. He is an adjunct clinical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He is the Founder of the Center for Translational Medicine, a nonprofit that conducts clinical research and development. He has been a senior adviser to the Department of Defense on neurobehavioral conditions and medical management. Dr. Xenakis serves as an anti-torture advisor to Physicians for Human Rights and belongs to the group of retired generals and admirals convened by Human Rights First. His clinical practice has been broad and varied over the past 40 years, including expert consultation to military attorneys and providing inpatient care, substance abuse and alcohol treatment, and community health services.
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Partners

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19540 King Ridge Rd, Cazadero, CA 95421

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