The Other Human in the Room

It’s my 40th birthday! (Or rather it WAS my birthday at the time of recording this episode) I take the day off clinic, let myself have a truly delicious day, and reflect on what it means to turn 40. I open a time capsule I made as a 13-year-old in the year 2000 and react—tenderly and hilariously—to what she thought success was.And then I zoom out: lessons from my 30s, hopes for my 40s, and why looking back can be the clearest way to choose what matters next.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

This week’s episode is a little different. Instead of my usual stream of consciousness conversation that expands on an idea in every direction, I wanted to experiment with something much more concise.So I present to you the first of hopefully many Healing Human Idea pieces. The full text can be found on my website & Instagram, to accompany this audio form.Return back to this one as many times as you need to reset your pace in this over-urgent healthcare system.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

In this episode, I invited Dr Risa Adams back for a recorded “mini session” using Internal Family Systems, because I wanted to share what it can look like to be safely vulnerable in real time. We explore what happens in me when a patient is openly unhappy with me—how I freeze, how my inner “clinical team,” my people-pleaser, and my inner critic all rush the wheel at once. Underneath it all, we meet a powerful younger part who’s been working overtime to keep me safe by tracking the rules of “being good.” This conversation is about learning to love and respect that younger warrior—without trying to fix her—and letting dignity and trust lead the way.Connect with Risa: https://www.risaadamsmd.com/ Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

In this solo episode, I’m sharing what my three-month podcast pause is teaching me about productivity—specifically, why “more” isn’t the goal. Using a simple gardening analogy, I explore how overcrowding our calendars (and our minds) creates competition for the resources we actually need to do good work: time, attention, creativity, and rest. If you’ve been feeling crunchy, cramped, or like you’re failing at something you care about, this is your reminder: it might not be you—it might be your spacing.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

A real-time recording from The Only Human in the Van, in which I react to the funding changes coming next month for myself and many other family physicians in Ontario. FHO docs: I'd love to hear what you're planning to change and not change in April - reach out on IG or through my website if you'd like to share!Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmdWebsite: joanchanmd.com

In this episode, I’m talking with local legend Dr. John Crosby—a 78-year-old family doctor in Cambridge who’s spent 50+ years learning (and teaching) how to make this work sustainable.We get real about the trade-offs in family medicine: paperwork, complexity, people-pleasing, boundaries, and the myth that being “a good doctor” means saying yes to everything.John shares practical systems (including how he learned to “love” paperwork) and a simple truth: you can’t have a humane life in medicine unless you choose trade-offs that protect you as a human first.Connect with John at his website (including his ebooks): https://www.countryquack.com/Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

After a three-month pause, I’m back with a brand new episode—and it’s about a word I want to destroy: lazy. In the middle of a stomach bug, I noticed how quickly that old shame-label tried to sneak in: “I’m being lazy.” So I dug into the origins of the word lazy and found just how much ableism, morality, and productivity-culture are baked into that one tiny word. If you’ve ever called yourself lazy when you were exhausted, overwhelmed, sick, or simply done—this episode is your permission slip to get curious instead.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!This episode is for anyone feeling stuck on their journey to change their life. Growth and change can feel messy ... what if that's a good thing?Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Everything about this podcast episode is mediocre. YOU'RE WELCOME.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!How do you need your patients to change in order for you to be happy? It may seem like a strange question - but answering this question honestly can help unearth the stories about our patients that are really keeping us stuck in resentment and burnout. Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!I had such a brain expanding conversation with Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti that the internet demons tried to shut it down! Nevertheless, we persisted and really explored what it could look and feel like to identify what is dying in our current system and society, and how we could approach these changes with a hospicing approach.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!People pleasing is such a common struggle for humans in healthcare - especially those in marginalized identities. Joan shares what she has been learning about the connection between people pleasing and our default survival trauma responses -- and how this connection can help you take on the tricky work of learning to let go of people pleasing with your patients.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Do you get stressed about following the guidelines? Or notice other colleagues seem stressed if anyone strays off the guidelines? Commute to work with Joan as she explores the idea of guidelines legalism and how we can trust our clinical brains in the midst of guideline confusion. Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Joan explains the powerful concept that shifted the way she viewed conflict forever - and made her much more calm and capable of having difficult conversations as a result.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Please join Joan as she interviews Dr Hillary McBride, as they explore how the ideas and practice of embodiment can change our experience and practice of medicine.  Where to learn more from Hillary: Website: https://hillarylmcbride.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/hillarylmcbride Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillaryliannamcbride/  Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Anyone who works in healthcare encounters illness anxiety on a daily (if not hourly) basis. Anxiety about getting sick is a driving factor behind so much healthcare utilization, and can be draining for healthcare clinicians as well. Joan explores the most important thing to do when encountering illness anxiety in your patients: addressing the illness anxiety that exists in YOUR brain.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!The thing that your brain loves to worry about all day has happened - you made a mistake. In medicine!! Joan shares how to actually learn from these mistakes instead of drowning in shame spirals.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

The Other Human in the Room is on hiatus!  For the next 3 months, you’ll still be getting weekly episodes on your podcast feeds - but they’ll all be re-releases of past favourites.  I’m using this time to dream and explore new ideas and directions for the podcast.  See you in March!Do you feel pressure to be the "medical expert" in your work? Do you constantly feel like you don't know enough, or shame yourself for not having the Right Answer?  I hope this podcast helps undo this inhuman story for you.Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

In this episode, I sit down with Dr Carlos Yu, a self-described “odd” family doctor who has spent 35+ years quietly rewriting what it means to practice medicine as his full, weird, magical self. We talk about cold plunges in Lake Ontario, drum circles, ear acupuncture groups, and the deep privilege of witnessing patients when they’re open and vulnerable. Carlos shares how he moved from judging by appearances to practicing radical curiosity, sensory awareness, and presence in every encounter. Together, we explore how coming home to your body and the present moment can be a path back to your own weird, beautiful humanity in medicine.Connect with Carlos: Website: https://presencetherapy.ca/https://nadacanadainstitute.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/joywithdryu/Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

I’m joined by Dr Joyce Cheung (family/palliative MD) and Ange Bernabe (PhD, economist) to talk about Locvm—an Ontario-born, physician-designed platform making it easier to find and be a locum.We dig into why sharing the load is system-saving: clear contracts, payment flow, accountability, and a real pool that supports parental leave, illness, sabbaticals, and rural coverage.We also talk about their life and business partnership as a married power couple, and what lessons they’ve learned about collaboration in that process.If we want a more humane system, we need tools and norms that let doctors step away without compromising care - it was a joy to connect with these two healthcare humans who are bringing that vision to life!Connect with Locvm:https://www.locvm.ca/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/locvm/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/locvmcanada/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/LOCVM/61569373256521/Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd