Malini Sarma 0:01

I Supriya, thank you so much for being on the podcast tonight. I'm really excited to speak with you today because what you are going to talk about I'm sure lots of young doctors are wanting to hear about it too.

Supriya Rao 0:14

Thanks so much. Malini. It's great to be on. I'm excited to discuss all the topics that you are planning.

Malini Sarma 0:20

Awesome. So um, so let's start with you growing up, because you are of Indian origin, your parents immigrated from India, and you grew up in New York, right in the city in the state of New York with in a very typical South Indian family. So do you want to just talk a little bit about growing up about your parents and, you know, the kind of life that you had growing up?

Supriya Rao 0:43

Oh, so I had a, you know, a great childhood, you know, like my parents are very supportive. I come You know, I'm Telugu and so you know, very typical soccer Indian household with regards to food and language and just, you know, culture and values overall. I'm sure a lot of people will kind of share similar stories to me. But we grew up where I grew up was a pretty homogenous population. And so, you know, being in school, I was oftentimes the only person of color either in my entire, you know, definitely in my grade or in my, you know, in several grades and sometimes even in the school. So, it was definitely a dichotomy where you're going to school and have to put on one persona and then coming home and having a different persona and then hanging out with your American friends. And then, you know, going to Indian dinner parties and having to be almost like a different kind of person. It's, I'm sure, again, a lot of people had similar childhoods and you know, putting on their American face and their Indian face. So it was just, you know, something that I felt was, it was difficult to toe that line sometimes. And it kind of kind of helped to shape who I am as a person. I think having those Comes experiences.

Malini Sarma 2:01

That's, I think a lot of lot of kids of Indian origin could probably could relate to that. You said your parents came here. Your dad came here to do higher studies, right? He came here to do his PhD. Masters PhD.

Supriya Rao 2:18

Yep. So he came over in the 60s and 70s. And then my mother was doing her master's at IIT in Chennai. And whenever they got married, they came over here. They actually lived in Tennessee for a few years, and I was born in Memphis. And so, you know, being in the south for a few years, they definitely I think they enjoyed their time, they found some, you know, wherever Indians are, they kind of congregate together. So they found some, you know, friends in that area, but eventually moved to New York again, we were part of another Indian community there, but the schools were overwhelmingly kind of like, you know, Caucasian So, it it was a different experience for me because I wasn't kind of, you know, immersed in Indian culture whereas, Some places perhaps in New Jersey or Houston or California might have been a little bit different for other Indian first generations growing up for me. I felt like I had like a very American upbringing in some ways, because of that.

Malini Sarma 3:14

So I'm sure that you must have had some interesting conversations with your parents when you had to, you wanted to do like typical American things like you know, either like having a sleepover or something which is like unheard of or you know, like permission granted not granted to do things like that.

Supriya Rao 3:31

Definitely. And I'm sure I wasn't alone But yeah, like doing those kinds of things weren't like all like an immediate Yes, there has to be like, Is it going to interfere with your schoolwork? Is it going to you know, kind of, you know, obviously, studies were about most importance and as long as it didn't, you know, mess around too much with that it was okay, but it definitely was a permission need, you need permission first kind of thing.

Malini Sarma 3:53

Okay. So, your parents are both very highly educated here, your dad, you and boy Without and your mom. And when they came to the US also, they were working right. So that played a big part in your exposure to education. And as most, most Indian education is, like, super important, that is the number one priority. So when you're looking at that, what what how did that play into your role as or your decision to become a doctor? Was that something that they insisted? Or was it something that, you know, just came from watching? Or is it something somebody told you? How did that how did you start thinking about going into medicine? Or was it like an expectation because, you know, mostly,

Supriya Rao 4:45

wasn't at all actually. So both my parents are engineers, actually, my dad's a nuclear physicist. He's retired now, but my mom still works as an engineer at IBM, but you know, they were very heavy in science man. So being a physician without Not necessarily encouraged. I know a lot of people when they think, oh, growing up at that time, you're either supposed to be, you know, a doctor, engineer or lawyer or something like that. But, you know, they basically were like, We want you to choose what you want to do as long as you're able to have a fruitful career from doing it. And so that that was actually refreshing, I think, because I think a lot of times at that time, kids were kind of pressured by their parents, or maybe, you know, kind of steered in one direction or another. I have to say, I was really lucky in that way. I wasn't told you definitely have to do this or this. And, you know, I actually had no interest in medicine when I was in high school or even the first you know, beginnings of college. I remember because I kind of volunteered at a hospital when I was in high school. And I remember you know, though, that time was really formative and me Never wanting to become a doctor because I was doing like some menial tasks and it was just not very academically, you know, fulfilling for me. And I thought, Man, I can't imagine ever doing this. And so I kind of was like told my parents I remember that day in high school like, I'm never going to become a doctor. This is absolutely not. They're like, okay, that's fine, but just find something that you know you can become and have a good career with.

Malini Sarma 6:16

So, so then after you finished high school, you went to MIT to do your undergrad? Yes. So something must have changed while you were there for you to decide to go to med school because right after that you joined you went to Duke for med school. Right?

Supriya Rao 6:33

Right. So actually, it took a year off between college and med school. But the first two years of MIT, I was very much like computer science, Business Information Technology. At MIT, we have to fulfill. At that time, we had to fulfill kind of core requirements in order to graduate so I was taking a lot of science classes, whether it was biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, so like I was taking several of those physics, calculus. I was doing a lot of this pre med recording. Was requirements anyway, but it was just as part of the core thing, but I was also taking my business classes, my programming classes, probability and statistics, all this stuff and it was pretty dry. And I felt like, you know, this is fine, I'm doing fine you know, I'm doing an okay job at it, but it's really not striking a passionate me and wanting to move forward. Right? When I was doing my biology chemistry classes, I was really much more excited about those. And, you know, I remember my spring of my sophomore year, I had just finished and I was like, really kind of in this, you know, brain fog in terms of like, Oh my gosh, I can't see myself moving forward in this track. How am I going to be able to change paths so late in college because by this time, most of my friends were pre med, we're like, to, you know, half to two thirds of the way done with all their pre med requirements and starting to study for the MCAT and you know, all of these different things and I couldn't even imagine, you know, Starting on a totally different track, and I remember taking the summer between my sophomore and junior year and really kind of thinking about it and talking about with my parents. And, you know, God loved them, they were really supportive when I decided I was like, Look, I cannot do this major anymore. And so they sat with me and like, we talked about it and they were fully supportive. And, but for me, it was like, kind of an ego blow because now I had to start at the beginning with the you know, still you know, I would be a junior taking some classes with either like second semester freshman or first semester sophomore, so, that was also that was kind of difficult for me, but I in the end, it proved to be the best thing because it set me on the path towards medicine.

Malini Sarma 8:42

So it was your bio in physics, chemistry classes that kind of made you excited about medicine. Was there like a professor, professor or teacher or somebody that said something that sparked that, you know, flaming, you said, Oh, I got to do this.

Supriya Rao 8:58

Yeah, so I mean, well, my organic chemistry professor. We all loved him. He was amazing Professor kind of, but I definitely want to do organic chemistry research or anything like that. But I just enjoyed thinking about things in that kind of analytical way. My biology professor, when I was a freshman, his name was Eric Lander. He was working on the Human Genome Project at that time. So it was you know, really interesting and exciting and kind of brought up that interest in me. And as I Went, went forward with I ended up doing a biology major with a biomedical engineering minor and I all my all the kind of biology classes taken whether it was genetics or cell biology or, you know, principles of human disease. Those classes really kind of the interest was there, we didn't feel like work to me. And so it was much, it was much better for me and just like my mental overall mental health, I was feeling a lot better about it.

Malini Sarma 9:52

That's awesome. It usually takes I know it takes a lot to even med school right? You have to study for the MCAT, you've got all these exams, you got to make sure that you're in the right place at the right time, you're talking to the right people. So there must have been a lot of work, especially since you started doing all this pretty much towards the second half of your undergrad.

Supriya Rao 10:15

Right, exactly. And so, you know, people had started moving their extracurriculars towards areas that were going to be work I finally, you know, I did some research. And then my senior year, I was actually still taking quite a number of classes in order to graduate on time. Whereas, you know, some of my friends were now kind of starting to wind down with their class load and it was like a little bit easier to senior year for them, but, and then most of my friends ended up going to medical school or their Ph. D programs or whatever, straight out, you know, without taking a break at all and going straight. But for me, just because I still hadn't taken the MCAT I needed to take down capital, you know, after I finished up undergrad, and, you know, that's why I figured you know, I wanted to do a little bit of research do some volunteering at Boston has a lot of great hospitals. So Being able to truly see again, I wasn't completely sold on the idea of medicine quite yet. I still was thinking, oh, maybe I could go and work in bio biotech pharma or something along those lines. A lot of startups were starting to, you know, happen in the Boston Cambridge area. So I was thinking along those terms a little bit. And then I was like, you know, if I am going to go down this route, I really enjoy these kind of, you know, disease, genetics kind of classes, I should at least give hospital based, you know, volunteer work or something. Let me let me just see how it is. And so during my senior year, it's my second semester of senior year, I volunteered at a at the neonatal ICU in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which is located in Boston. And I would take pictures of newborn babies who were in the ICU and their parents weren't able to necessarily see them all the time. So I take these pictures and then email them to the parents throughout the day, so that they would be able to you know, see pictures of Their children even if they couldn't be with them all the time. So just kind of having that human component to our medicine and interacting with patients and families was really it kind of start getting my mind in the set of Yes, I can see myself being a physician.

Malini Sarma 12:16

Okay, so finally came when it finally came down to being, you know, with with interacting with other people and seeing the reaction of how you could help them that is what kind of prompted you to like, okay, that you can actually go back go into medicine.

Supriya Rao 12:33

Exactly that exactly was that experience, which finally, it was like, Yes, I can see myself doing this. Okay.

Malini Sarma 12:38

That's pretty cool.

Okay, so you, um, so you finished undergrad. And you took a year off between undergrad and medical school to prepare for the MCAT.

Supriya Rao 13:13

Yeah. So I mean, so actually during that summer after my senior year, I finished the MCAT. But you know, it wasn't a time to do my interviews and everything. So that's why I had taken that time off in the fall. Basically, at that one year, I was doing research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, in multiple myeloma. So while I was working in the lab, I was interviewing and everything from medical school at that time.

Malini Sarma 13:37

Okay, so after, after you took your your off, you took the you were working, you were studying, got the MCAT you give you interviews, and then you started medical school in Duke. And is that was that where you met your husband? Or did you meet him?

Supriya Rao 13:54

He actually met him. A couple months into my first year of med school. Actually,

Malini Sarma 13:59

that's Pretty cool and, and he's the person that you ended up. I mean, here he is the person who ended up marrying. Yes, yes.

Unknown Speaker 14:08

And he is not Indian. He is not Indian. Okay. So

Supriya Rao 14:12

Taiwanese descent, so

Malini Sarma 14:14

so I'm sure there's a story there and how you finally managed to convince your parents that this is the right person for you. So how did that go?

Supriya Rao 14:22

Yeah, so I mean, obviously, as we, you know, Indians, we're very proud of our culture and our customs. And, you know, if there's any deviation, you know, deviating from that there can be a little bit of friction. And so, uh, you know, it took some time, obviously, but, you know, my parents were able to see that he is, you know, a really great guy. He is a doctor he read, I think the thing that really kind of endeared him to them was the fact how open he was about our Indian culture and the customs. I mean, I come from a very traditional South Indian family, and he had no problem adapting I mean, like, you know, we we say like, values customs and culture and all these kind of buzzwords that a lot of people share similar things. And so, you know, he came from a very similar upbringing, he grew up in a very homogenous society in Indiana, in Indiana. And so again, he was like, you know, the one Asian person besides his sister who was at the school or, you know, and education was a big, you know, was the major pillar of his, you know, upbringing. And so we had very similar childhoods and, you know, college experiences and things like that. So, we were were similar in a lot of ways, and I think my parents were able to see that he was a really good match for me and that, you know, we, we did get along, you know, pretty much all the time, and that he really accepted, you know, you know, there obviously, there's always concerns with the kids are you going to be able to raise them Hindu, you know, language, food, this and that. And, you know, obviously, you can only reassure people so much, you know, We can never predict the future. But I knew that he would stand by that because he adopted a lot of practices himself. And so, and he went to India and kind of did a temple tour himself and like he was like, very open and willing to do anything to be able to

Malini Sarma 16:19

move forward with me. That's, that's, that's pretty cool. I know. I know how hard it is. Because, you know, you've been in the grand scheme of things. I think Indians in general are kind of like Bollywood we have a lot of drama in our lives. I think. And I honestly think we enjoy it because you know, what's, what's a movie? There was no drama, right? So

Supriya Rao 16:40

yeah, there's always drama especially at the end everyone's crying before everyone's happy.

Malini Sarma 16:47

Oh, I can imagine so was yours like a like a wedding with a typical South Indian, you know, big fat Indian wedding.

Supriya Rao 16:56

Wedding and he was great. Like, I mean, he any kind of thing that was thrown at him he was able to like deal with 100% no problems cool headed he, the one difference is that I'm a little bit more fiery about things and he's very calm and collected about everything and so, he was able to handle everything meeting like, you know, dozens and dozens of people for the first time after we got married, we went to India kind of to meet a lot of extended family who could not make it to our wedding. He met like 120 people in one night and he wasn't fazed

we had like a little

you know, gathering in South Indian like popular you know, joints in Hyderabad and it was just you know, it was really fun for me cuz I got to see like a lot of family but for him I can't even imagine how to go.

Malini Sarma 17:52

He must have been quite the sport to take, you know, take it off because I know traveling to India alone is quite overwhelming. So you know Yeah, wedding in there and meeting a whole bunch of strangers is just like takes it to a whole new level.

Supriya Rao 18:05

Yeah. So he was he was great. And, you know, obviously we're always concerned what will people say when people talk about us and things that everyone in my family was really great about it, you know, once we got married, and everyone was very supportive and so I felt really lucky about that. And once everyone, you know, got to know him, they realize like how, like he's a really good guy. And so I think that kind of sealed the deal and just like what he was able to, you know, pick up a lot of our, you know, customs and things like that easily. And, you know, no one even, you know, bats an eye nowadays, about anything

Malini Sarma 18:39

he did. He did not have any problem with eating hot food because I know that

Supriya Rao 18:44

he actually is now very proud to say that he can now use the phrase, it's not that spicy himself. So I feel very proud about that. He feels like he's kind of gained his like, you know, trophy now to say I can eat food and say it's not that spicy.

Malini Sarma 19:03

That's awesome. So as far as, as far as with his family, I mean, you did. Did you have? I mean, how was that integration? You know, this is family here.

Supriya Rao 19:13

I mean, there's something so like, I mean, I'm vegetarian, and he had no problem kind of adopting a vegetarian, you know, diet, especially when you're home. Whereas, you know, Taiwanese culture, there's a lot of meat consumption. And so, you know, initially, there was some, you know, just, this is differences, right. And so, over time, you know, those things were able to be, you know, easily overcome, especially after I had kids, you know, they want to find, you know, more creative ways of being able to adopt a more plant based diet when we would visit them or they would come visit with us. And so, and then I went to Taiwan after we got married men, his extended family, everyone was lovely. And so

yeah, it's been great. It's been kind of a melding. are two cultures?

Yeah, I think we're probably more skewed towards Indian just because it tends to be louder and more in your face all the time. Yeah, yeah.

But our kids have a good appreciation of both,

Malini Sarma 20:14

I would say. So now now you have you have two young kids and under the age of 7 so you're managing, you know, a multicultural household with multiple languages, multiple foods, raising your children in both cultures. How are you? How are you kids adapting to you know, either being Taiwanese or Indian or they just call themselves American and speak everything and eat everything? Yeah,

Supriya Rao 20:37

yeah. I think they're super lucky in some ways. I feel like they don't have that inherent shame of who they are that I think I felt a little bit when I was growing up. I had this you know, I was too afraid to talk about my Indian self at school or I felt like, you know, get made fun of, you know, we got stuff thrown at us all the time, you know, in the late 80s and early 90s. About the and I felt like a little bit of other my kids are very lucky in the sense that they never feel that way they had no problem. Like I you would not ever find me bringing an atelier those up for like school lunch, you know, it was just like, never do not even bring any whiff of Indian food anywhere in like, you know, outside society for fear of like ridicule my kids, no problem. They're like, let's go and have whatever and I have no problem. Like my son would take like doll and rice to school with him every day to eat and that's like his favorite thing to eat. And I was like, wow, the time has changed. So I feel like they have a good appreciation of Indian of their Indian selves and their Taiwanese selves to my husband, you know, tries to keep up some things with them. But you know, in our house all the Indian holidays are celebrated with a lot of importance because you know, you hear about Christmas and Thanksgiving and all these you know, American holidays, which you know, it's fun to kind of You know, celebrate those but for me, telling me the holidays is really important. My you know, kids learn the stories about things they do Sunday classes, Bhopal, Bihar and so they're able to have that appreciation growing up and really are very comfortable with themselves. I would say,

Malini Sarma 22:18

now that I think that's commendable, because especially in today's world, you know, they need to be exposed to all that, because otherwise they wouldn't know where they came from. Right? Yeah,

Supriya Rao 22:27

exactly. So

Malini Sarma 22:29

yeah, that that's, that's really awesome. And you were so now you have two young kids under the age of seven, you have a busy household because both you and your husband are doctors. You're trying, you're planning to start a podcast, and you're an entrepreneur, and you're an educator. So you're like bouncing all these different things. But I'm sure when especially when you started you know as as an entrepreneur, that some of the challenges You missed a face because, you know, while you were you were a doctor, you're you're young women of color. And you're also a businesswoman. So what are some of the things that you've heard that have kind of like, kind of taken you back where you didn't kind of expect? Or you know that? Because when you're in medical school, it's different, right? When you do fellowship?

Supriya Rao 23:19

Yeah. So like, when I was in medical school, half my class was female. So you don't feel that like, Oh my gosh, women can't be doctors and actually even in I think the data today is that more women enter medical school than men at this point. So I in medical school and residency, I never felt like I thought I could do anything, you know, I felt like I the world was my oyster and I was able to like, you know, be, be whatever I wanted to be, and even getting into fellowship. Um, you know, gi gastroenterology is a little bit male dominated. I think, according to the latest stats, I think anywhere from 15 to 20% of gastroenterologist are women. I think That has a lot to do with, you know, his procedural specialty. So it's a little bit lot like, you know, we have to do extra training. And there's a lot, there's called, you know, with it, so you might be called middle the night. So it's still kind of a male dominated field. But even in fellowship, I had really good support from female mentors. And I had, you know, good mentors throughout my career in college medical school residency. And in fellowship, I also had some good mentors, and I had like a very clear path of what I want you I want to stay in academic medicine, you know, do clinical research, be an educator do all these things. And, you know, I had kind of that because that's what I that's the only thing I knew, that was the only thing that had ever been taught and sustained academics that were going to see the best of the best and see the hardest cases and see practice the best possible medicine. And I think that is true to accept you do see, you know, really interesting case is your tertiary care referral center. So you do see a lot of interesting stuff. But what I think is different is I, and in my third year of fellowship, I had just had my daughter. And you know, it's kind of exhausting. You're trying to like figure things out, and what's the best thing. And I had found a great position and academic institution in Philadelphia. So we were thinking, Oh, we'll move to Philly. But then on a whim, I interviewed with a private group outside of Boston, a private practice. And, you know, I was honestly when I was thinking about interviewing with them, I was thinking like, wow, you know what, this is just gonna be good interview practice for me. I'm not super interested in this job. I but, you know, these people seem interesting, and they want to talk to me, so we'll check it out. So I checked it out, and oh, my God, I was floored. I mean, this practice was really academic in terms of like the way people trained and you know, the type of medicine that they're practicing and the kind of care that they did for their patient like, you know, provided for their patients. It was great and also the opportunity for me to build some from the ground up, uh, you know gastroenterology has a lot of different sub specialties, you know, inflammatory bowel disease. So that's Crohn's and colitis. motility, which is kind of like how well your GI tract, you know, moves and you know, just the overall health of your GI tract, liver disease, pancreatic diseases, there was a lot of different branches. And so they were kind of telling me that I could build, you know, a motility program, myself, whereas, you know, motility programs and academic centers are already in place, you know, I have to go into something that would have already been a well oiled machine for years. Whereas here, someone was telling me, I could plan it and design it the way I think, would be good. And no one had ever told me that before. And it was kind of scary to think about, wow, I can do this myself. But if I don't do a good job, it's gonna fail. But in the end, you know, I took a chance because I was like, You know what, my husband actually had a job at Tufts Medical Center at that time, so he was actually in a stable job. And I was like, I'm gonna go out on a limb and see how this practice goes and see if it's worth it. And I joined that practice in 2014. And I'm still there. So it's my it's been my first job since fellowship. And I'm, I'm super lucky to have joined this group because actually my husband is a gastroenterologist as well. And he ended up joining the group on nine months later. So it's it's definitely been a journey and really exciting but also scary at times for us, too.

Malini Sarma 27:29

So the fact that he joined the practice, is that a testament of your marketing skills

Supriya Rao 27:36

I think of my marketing skills as well as I think he just saw how happy I was like and how like, I think he was kind of facing some inefficiencies and things that he wasn't too happy with in his job, and you know, it was fine, but I think he started looking elsewhere and my practice interviewed him and he, again, he was offered an opportunity to build up their advanced endoscopy program at the hospital. And it was nice. I think being in this prior practice has allowed us to, again, be entrepreneurial and spirit, make changes if you know and be able to pivot one way or another in order to achieve your ultimate goal. And I think it's much harder to do that in a large academic institution where you have to apply for grants or there's some bureaucratic red tape that you have to cut through and, you know, it can be really painful sometimes. Whereas I felt like my concerns were being heard or I was able to change when something wasn't working and

Unknown Speaker 28:34

and it worked out really well for us.

Malini Sarma 28:36

Okay, so you mentioned that in medical school, majority of the majority of the class were female, and you had a lot of good support, you know, they kind of took care of you. But the moment and what it that when you come out of medical school and you're in the business of medicine, how was that that different from that in medical school? I mean, some of the interactions that you've had people, do they take you seriously? I mean, do they pay attention to what you have to say? How is how is that interaction different when you're in med school versus when you're in the business of medicine?

Supriya Rao 29:15

Right? So I have to say, the business of medicine needs to be taught in medical school, there should be a whole like term devoted to it, because you don't learn anything about the business of medicine or what private practice medicine is or what any of it is, because you're too kind of, you know, too much thinking about academic and research and stuff like that. And I think it's a disservice because if you look at the majority of physicians, they're not academic centers, the majority of physicians are in the community. So you have to also take a crash course, pretty much learn everything on the job. Thankfully, you know, one of the partners that my practice kind of took me under his wing and was like helping me you know, do things but even then you face a lot of angst and You know, am I doing this correctly? Do people take me seriously, I'm, you know, I was the first woman who joined this group. And also on top of it, I'm a woman of color. And they hadn't had any of that, you know, for years. And since the very beginning, they've never had that, and there's not much diversity. And so it definitely took me a little time to be able to win people over whether it was the nursing staff or other positions or my colleagues to show them that yes, I am, you know, worthy, and I am, you know, welltower, like, well trained and talented, and, you know, took me a little bit of time to be able to convince people. I mean, obviously, you hear the things that a lot of female physicians hear like, Oh, you know, they consider that your, you know, immediately automatically think you're a nurse and obviously, have a lot of great nurse friends and nurse colleagues. And that is, it's not an insult, but at the same time, it's like that's not who I am. And, or like an interpreter for, you know, an Indian Indian language that you don't even speak like a droppy. So it was definitely like patients who routinely are like, how are you qualified to do this? Like, I can? Yeah, I would be so rich on the number of times I was asked that question, or how long have you been doing this and you don't look like you could be a physician. So it's like this looking like what a position looks looks like. I don't know what a position is supposed to look like, if it's supposed to be, you know, a Caucasian man in his 50s or 60s. That's what a position looks like. I don't know. Because that's not what positions look like anymore. So, um, you know, I think, you know, the face of medicine is changing, and I think people really need to understand that and yeah, but like I said, it did take some time. There was no no one to hold my hand and be like, it's gonna be okay, you know, you're out there. You just have to be able to, you know, have a thicker skin and get through it, but it's not like it was so easy and everyone like immediately accepted me. It wasn't like that. It definitely took a little bit of time. You know,

Malini Sarma 31:56

I'm glad you brought up the topic about you know, what They should be teaching the business of medicine should be taught in medical school. Just like how in in high school right now, nobody teaches you about finance or banking. You know, man,

Supriya Rao 32:11

like how to balance your life how to make a budget, like what does it mean? Like what what was it mean to do your taxes like all of these kind of true life skills? No, it teaches you you're supposed to figure it out on your own. And like, yeah, this is the medicine is definitely one of the things learning about insures pairs, like all these different things, learning how to run like I'm a, I became partner in early 2017. And, you know, learning how to run a small business, making sure that your employees are happy, like HR type stuff, being able to hire people, and fire people if needed. And, you know, being able to, you know, figure out how many people we need for a certain task and are we apportioning things correctly and being fair? There's a lot of different things I never had any experience and have to learn. And so yeah, it was daunting at times, but I'm glad I've done it because now I feel like I can. Like I feel like I'm really good at it now.

Malini Sarma 33:08

So you are in what you're saying is right, there's so much that you don't know and you end up actually learning on the job buoy looking at looking at yourself now, right because you're, you're successful. You're, you know, you, your parents of young children, you both doctors, you're practicing medicine at the same time you're running a business, but behind all of that, I mean, you're doing all this and you're managing it. But behind all that there are all these insecurities. I mean, I know when you go to med school, you probably have to take a loan. So when you when you come out of med school, you have to pay the loan back you got to make enough money to pay it back. You're probably paying your loans off forever. You know, you there's so much going on. There's like every step that you take. It's like you're asking yourself this is the right ways right joy should I be doing this? Should I be doing this? Right. So this when if somebody young doctor who is in med school right now is listening to this, what will you tell them to prepare themselves? And you know, about being in med school and after they graduate to that. It's, it's, it's not like it's all rosy and you're perfect and nothing fazes you, right. So what are some of the struggles that you've had? And that's perfectly normal that that they're going to face and how and how would they get past that? What would you tell them?

Supriya Rao 34:33

Yeah, so I think that, you know, you're gonna have imposter syndrome. I have imposter syndrome to this day just worrying that, you know, am I good enough? Am I worthy enough, even if you are extremely well trained and talented, you will still feel that way. And that's okay. Because you just need to remind yourself that and I think Michelle Obama, like said that, I think, you know, she's been in meetings where, you know, she realized that all these people who, you know, talk the talk Unnecessarily that intelligence and so that like, you know, if you have, you know the chops for doing something and you have the skill to back it up, it's okay. Like you shouldn't doubt yourself that much. I mean, I still do it, I still doubt myself at times, but you just got to keep reminding yourself that it's okay. And you can do it. And I and I agree the whole loan thing. You know, I remember when I was in internal medicine residency, I was like, Oh my gosh, I even go to fellowship because it's, you know, three more years of being paid like pretty poorly, as opposed to getting a job straight out of residency where I would start making more money. But then I think in the end, you really need to choose what you're passionate for. Because if you don't do that, no matter what your either loans will eventually get paid back. But if you're stuck in a job that you're not happy with or doesn't drive you that I think that's gonna be really tough. And I think you need to be kind to yourself. I mean, I changed decisions about so many things. During my life, you know, whether it's a college major What I want to do when in medical school or you know in residency choosing the right you know, electives. And again, in fellowship, trying to decide academics versus private practice, I felt like I was at a crossroads many times and sometimes I felt like I made the wrong decision. But in the end, things work out. So don't be afraid to change. It's okay to change your mind. Your first and I'm lucky that I'm still with my first job. I would say I know a lot of people within the first five years to change jobs. So it's okay to do that too. I think that you just need to learn that changes, okay. pivoting and doing something different is okay. You mentioned like, you know, this podcast like I'm just trying to diversify myself because I think I found during COVID as well. I think it was kind of a very educational time for me because I do a lot of endoscopy gi is a very endoscopy driven field. And so when COVID shuts down your entire, you know, stream of revenue, you have to start thinking creatively and outside the box, we pivoted To a second hospital and started covering them, which helped us greatly as a private practice to stay afloat. And for me, I learned that I really enjoy educating, you know, the population about gi issues, you know, obesity medicine, and just you know what it means to be a physician. And so it's kind of given me a different platform. So I think it's important to keep yourself diversified as well. So you're not just putting all your eggs in one basket to

Malini Sarma 37:27

know I think, I think that that's really important, you know, being able to pivot, right. So looking back on all the things that you've done all the decisions that you've made you change your mind on so many things. Is there anything that you would have changed? Is there anything that you've told your younger self, knowing what you know, now, what would you Is there anything that you told your younger self that would have made the journey easier?

Supriya Rao 37:53

I think it would have been to believe in myself a little bit more and have more confidence about who I was because I had You know, the training I had, what it what it took, but I constantly had a lot of I had a self doubt, to the nth degree. And I think that just made me, you know, less happy of a person as I was traveling through things because I just was like, Oh, I'm not doing a good good enough to either x or y or anything like that. And I wish that I had just been kinder to myself. I don't, I don't think you know, any decisions I made regarding my career path that I would necessarily change because even if it wasn't the best decision or the best path at that time, it led me to where I am today. And so I really am happy to have had those learning and growing experiences. I just wish that I had been more confident about who I was. And I think some of it stemmed from my childhood, not because my parents because my parents were like very supportive or anything but just like being a first generation immigrant and always trying to please others and be Somebody, you know, try and project yourself as somebody who you may not be. I just wish I was more comfortable in my own skin growing up. And I think that would have been made a lot of these decisions, you know, easier and would have just made me feel less uneasy in general, I think

Malini Sarma 39:16

you You must be the firstborn. Or you're the first one. I recognize that trait among most firstborn people a lot of pressure on ourselves, because we wanna, we want to get that approval, you know, yeah.

Supriya Rao 39:33

That's like totally the firstborn trait, but that's totally like, it's like, you know, is a description of like, my childhood teenage years. So, I think once I put less talk and caring about what people thought of me, I think, and being comfortable in my skin and being more confident about who I am, that I just wish I had been that way, you know, from a young age. I think as a woman, it's really important to do that because there's gonna be a lot of naysayers, there's gonna be a lot of people who put up barriers, the glass ceiling, you know, equal pay my husband and I have exact equal pay, you know, he, we are in the same practice, we are business partners, not one one of us does not make more money than the other. So I think it's really important. And this is to the female, you know, physicians out there to really find if you want if you are planning on getting married or you know, have a companion for your life, that that person is okay with a very ambitious and confident driven person who wants to be an equal and I expect that from my husband not only at work but at home as well. And I think it's really important for us to be successful. In order for us to be successful at our careers, we need to have a partner who values that.

Malini Sarma 40:53

That is really that is really awesome that you said that and I think a lot of young women need to hear that because You cannot have you cannot be successful outside if you're not successful at home,

Supriya Rao 41:04

you know? Yeah. So it's, you know, my husband and I have a very strong relationship. And it's, and I and I really am lucky that he has been so supportive. I mean, a lot of the things that I was going through a lot of the changes I was considering, or you know, as I always asked him, What do you think, what do you think? And he's like, if it makes you happy, if you feel like you will have purpose with it, you should pursue it. So I feel like and my parents have been the same way. But it's just, it took me a long time, like I said, to become comfortable with myself and to care less about what others thought. And I think I'm in a much better place now in my late 30s, than I was in my mid 20s. So it's just kind of funny to think about.

Malini Sarma 41:47

That is awesome. Thank you so much. Supriya I think a lot of young young women would really benefit from hearing what you have to say because I know so many who are going through so much anxiety as they're going through med school. So Thank you for your insight. And thank you for sharing your experiences on this podcast.

Supriya Rao 42:06

Thanks for having me. I hope that Yeah, what we've discussed will help somebody because I think it's one of these things where maybe it's just one of these like pride things that we don't necessarily talk about what our struggles are, as we're going through college, med school and training and beyond. But I feel like if we don't do that, then we can't help people who are, you know, behind us. And I think that's really important to ensure that we do better for those who are coming after us and people did for us as we were coming up. So I'm always there to help, you know, with any dialog or anything to discuss, you know, short that, you know, any issues that people have roadblocks, things like that, that they're facing with these kind of career choices.

Malini Sarma 42:49

Awesome. Say and you are available on Instagram. And you have and you're on LinkedIn. Do you have a website?

Supriya Rao 42:57

Yep. So as of now, I'm on Instagram. gutsygirlMD. I've bought the domain for my Oh, that website, but it's not quite up and running yet. But you can find me on LinkedIn supriya rao as well.

Malini Sarma 43:10

Awesome. Make sure I put that in the show notes. So thank you so much for for being on the show today. And I will be talking to you soon.

Supriya Rao 43:18

Thank you so much Malini was wonderful. Thank you for the great conversation.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai