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After years of juggling more than one career, Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, had a tough decision to make. "I'm a little bit of a glutton for punishment," she admits with a chuckle. While overseeing quality improvement (QI) for a healthcare foundation, she had negotiated to take off every other Friday and work several ED shifts per month on weekends at two local hospitals.
Then, in January 2012, Dr. Gebreyes began a new full-time position as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in McLean, Va. It became too time-consuming and exhausting to treat patients and consult in healthcare industries, says the mother of two children, who are 7 and 4.
Dr. Gebreyes is among a growing number of physicians who, after a number of years, opt to give up clinical medicine for nonclinical roles in healthcare or other industries altogether. "You are ready for transition when the new choice excites and energizes you," she explains, "and not necessarily when your first choice disappoints you."
A career shift offers new opportunities for broadening one's horizons while often striking a better work-life balance. Many clinicians make the transition slowly and wisely, and some take an expected financial hit as they carve out an entrepreneurial and creative path.
"Modern medicine is very difficult. You can burn out if you're not careful," says Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Stepping off the merry-go-round can help you regroup. Fortunately, he adds, hospitalists can exercise more flexibility in scheduling than physicians in different specialties. Some hospitalists prefer to work nights and weekends in order to free up weekdays for other activities. Others decrease their clinical shifts and devote more time to teaching, research, or administration.
For those who decide to leave medicine completely, "hospitalists definitely have people skills day to day in their jobs that are applicable in multiple other careers," says Dr. Hale, a Team Hospitalist member. "Becoming a physician requires so much dedication and hard work, so you will succeed in whatever career you choose."
The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (www.sopenet.org) is expanding by about 150 to 200 new members each month. Founded in 2008 and officially launched in January 2011, the society has more than 4,700 members globally. The interdisciplinary network includes physicians and innovators in other professions—from law to information technology to product development.
Its purpose is to "bring all the stakeholders together in one virtual space to collaborate," says co-founder and president Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, professor in the departments of otolaryngology, dentistry, and engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, where he directs the graduate program in bio-innovation and entrepreneurship.
"The opportunities for physician entrepreneurs include working with industry, consulting, creating their own company, and much more," Dr. Meyers says. "As domain experts, physicians are in a unique position to add value to the innovation chain.
–Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford, Calif.
"However, to leave practice and be successful at something nonclinical requires education, experience, and networks," he says. "Doing what you did successfully in your last career won't be a guarantee of success in your next career, so you have to be willing to pay your dues and accept the risk."
The Writer
Deborah Shlian, MD, MBA, a former family medicine physician and managed-care executive in California, has evolved into a medical management consultant and an author of both fiction and nonfiction titles. Dr. Shlian, who now lives in Boca Raton, Fla., had always wanted to write. Her father, an internist, encouraged the pursuit of medicine, so she followed in his footsteps.
"I wanted to emulate what he did," she says. Over time, she realized that "doctors have a lot of skills that are applicable to other endeavors."
She and her husband, Joel Shlian, MD, MBA, also a former family medicine physician, fully gave up clinical practice about 10 years ago after doing it part time for a decade. The Shlians met as students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1970. Initially, their new business concentrated on physician executive recruitment. As clients requested other services, the Shlians helped identify nonphysician managers as well. Clients included established, as well as start-up health plans, academic institutions, utilization review, and healthcare consulting companies.
Given the accelerated changes in healthcare delivery, earning a graduate education in business is not a quick and easy avenue to another career. "An MBA should never be viewed as the means to 'get out of medical practice,'" Dr. Shlian says in her new book, "Lessons Learned: Stories from Women in Medical Management," released this month by the American College of Physician Executives.
"In fact, I would submit that if you really hate clinical medicine, medical management is not for you," she says. "It can be every bit as demanding and frustrating as clinical practice."
The Entrepreneur
Jeffrey N. Hausfeld, MD, MBA, FACS, completed an MBA program on evenings and weekends. After graduation in 2005, he gave up his 24-year practice of otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery. He continued his education by obtaining a graduate certificate in leadership coaching and organizational development. Then he became involved in the first of several business ventures, capitalizing on his clinical experience.
"Doctors don't have a trusted partner to do their debt collections," says Dr. Hausfeld, co-founder and treasurer of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. His own negative experiences with debt-collection agencies contributed to his "understanding the obstacles and objections to create this kind of an entity."
—Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, director of healthcare consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McLean, Va.
Hence the emergence of FMS Financial Solutions, based in Greenbelt, Md. "This seemed to be a very natural fit for me," says Dr. Hausfeld, who is the managing director. By collecting money owed to physicians, hospitals, and surgical centers, he has increased the revenues of his business fourfold since 2006. The company has 24 full- and part-time workers.
Meanwhile, his son, Joshua, who joined him in the healthcare MBA program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and now works for an investment banking firm that provides real estate loans for senior housing, introduced Dr. Hausfeld to a group of Midwest-based assisted-living-facility developers. Four years ago, they struck a deal to provide private equity funding and create Memory Care Communities of Illinois, with Dr. Hausfeld serving as president. The 24-hour residential facilities are home to patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
To some degree, he misses practicing medicine, but Dr. Hausfeld is enthusiastic about making a difference in even more people's lives than he did as a physician and surgeon.
"I've done 10,000 ear, nose, and throat operations. If I did 1,000 more, how much would I be changing the world?" Dr. Hausfeld says. Ultimately, "you find a way to leave a bigger footprint."
His entrepreneurial spirit has led to other consulting roles. For instance, he is trying to help two startup companies—one in the medical device arena, the other in information technology—grow by leaps and bounds.
The Director
Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, has made her mark as an award-winning physician filmmaker. She is filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics in Palo Alto, Calif. She studied at the London Film School and received her medical training at the University of Washington in Seattle and Stanford University School of Medicine.
"I have really enjoyed using all of my medical background and knowledge and applying it toward film," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of her position at Stanford, which she has held since 1998. "It's very grounding. It gives you a purpose."
Her one-hour documentary "Rare," which features a family with a very uncommon genetic disease, aired last August on PBS. Another film, "The Revolutionary Optimists," follows a group of aspiring youngsters in the slums of Calcutta, India, who battle poverty and transform their neighborhoods from the inside out. One-hour and 80-minute versions of the film are slated to air on the PBS series "Independent Lens" as part of the Women and Girls Lead Global partnership.
–Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston
Dr. Grainger-Monsen co-produced and co-directed both films with Nicole Newnham, an independent documentary filmmaker who is in residence at Stanford's bioethics and film program.
As an undergraduate art history major, Dr. Grainger-Monsen became interested in social and ethical issues in medicine. Later, films shown in medical school struck a chord with her. She was amazed at how images could resonate with viewers and trigger animated debate. During the summer between her first and second years of medical school, she was inspired to study film at New York University.
Dr. Grainger-Monsen eventually trained in emergency medicine at Stanford and completed a fellowship in palliative care at Stanford-affiliated Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital. For years, she split her career between working in community ER clinics and producing films. Her films are large-scale projects that may take five years or longer to make, and she raises all the funds to bring them to fruition.
"I really do find documentary filmmaking tremendously gratifying," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of the chance "to talk with all different kinds of people in all different situations and walk in their shoes, with them, for a time. That is what I'm trying to share with the audience."
In creating character-driven documentaries, she aims to spark discussions about important issues in contemporary medicine. "I hope my films can help increase understanding and empathy," she says, "and result in improvements to the delivery of healthcare and reduction of disparities on multiple levels."
Susan Kreimer is a freelance writer in New York.
After years of juggling more than one career, Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, had a tough decision to make. "I'm a little bit of a glutton for punishment," she admits with a chuckle. While overseeing quality improvement (QI) for a healthcare foundation, she had negotiated to take off every other Friday and work several ED shifts per month on weekends at two local hospitals.
Then, in January 2012, Dr. Gebreyes began a new full-time position as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in McLean, Va. It became too time-consuming and exhausting to treat patients and consult in healthcare industries, says the mother of two children, who are 7 and 4.
Dr. Gebreyes is among a growing number of physicians who, after a number of years, opt to give up clinical medicine for nonclinical roles in healthcare or other industries altogether. "You are ready for transition when the new choice excites and energizes you," she explains, "and not necessarily when your first choice disappoints you."
A career shift offers new opportunities for broadening one's horizons while often striking a better work-life balance. Many clinicians make the transition slowly and wisely, and some take an expected financial hit as they carve out an entrepreneurial and creative path.
"Modern medicine is very difficult. You can burn out if you're not careful," says Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Stepping off the merry-go-round can help you regroup. Fortunately, he adds, hospitalists can exercise more flexibility in scheduling than physicians in different specialties. Some hospitalists prefer to work nights and weekends in order to free up weekdays for other activities. Others decrease their clinical shifts and devote more time to teaching, research, or administration.
For those who decide to leave medicine completely, "hospitalists definitely have people skills day to day in their jobs that are applicable in multiple other careers," says Dr. Hale, a Team Hospitalist member. "Becoming a physician requires so much dedication and hard work, so you will succeed in whatever career you choose."
The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (www.sopenet.org) is expanding by about 150 to 200 new members each month. Founded in 2008 and officially launched in January 2011, the society has more than 4,700 members globally. The interdisciplinary network includes physicians and innovators in other professions—from law to information technology to product development.
Its purpose is to "bring all the stakeholders together in one virtual space to collaborate," says co-founder and president Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, professor in the departments of otolaryngology, dentistry, and engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, where he directs the graduate program in bio-innovation and entrepreneurship.
"The opportunities for physician entrepreneurs include working with industry, consulting, creating their own company, and much more," Dr. Meyers says. "As domain experts, physicians are in a unique position to add value to the innovation chain.
–Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford, Calif.
"However, to leave practice and be successful at something nonclinical requires education, experience, and networks," he says. "Doing what you did successfully in your last career won't be a guarantee of success in your next career, so you have to be willing to pay your dues and accept the risk."
The Writer
Deborah Shlian, MD, MBA, a former family medicine physician and managed-care executive in California, has evolved into a medical management consultant and an author of both fiction and nonfiction titles. Dr. Shlian, who now lives in Boca Raton, Fla., had always wanted to write. Her father, an internist, encouraged the pursuit of medicine, so she followed in his footsteps.
"I wanted to emulate what he did," she says. Over time, she realized that "doctors have a lot of skills that are applicable to other endeavors."
She and her husband, Joel Shlian, MD, MBA, also a former family medicine physician, fully gave up clinical practice about 10 years ago after doing it part time for a decade. The Shlians met as students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1970. Initially, their new business concentrated on physician executive recruitment. As clients requested other services, the Shlians helped identify nonphysician managers as well. Clients included established, as well as start-up health plans, academic institutions, utilization review, and healthcare consulting companies.
Given the accelerated changes in healthcare delivery, earning a graduate education in business is not a quick and easy avenue to another career. "An MBA should never be viewed as the means to 'get out of medical practice,'" Dr. Shlian says in her new book, "Lessons Learned: Stories from Women in Medical Management," released this month by the American College of Physician Executives.
"In fact, I would submit that if you really hate clinical medicine, medical management is not for you," she says. "It can be every bit as demanding and frustrating as clinical practice."
The Entrepreneur
Jeffrey N. Hausfeld, MD, MBA, FACS, completed an MBA program on evenings and weekends. After graduation in 2005, he gave up his 24-year practice of otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery. He continued his education by obtaining a graduate certificate in leadership coaching and organizational development. Then he became involved in the first of several business ventures, capitalizing on his clinical experience.
"Doctors don't have a trusted partner to do their debt collections," says Dr. Hausfeld, co-founder and treasurer of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. His own negative experiences with debt-collection agencies contributed to his "understanding the obstacles and objections to create this kind of an entity."
—Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, director of healthcare consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McLean, Va.
Hence the emergence of FMS Financial Solutions, based in Greenbelt, Md. "This seemed to be a very natural fit for me," says Dr. Hausfeld, who is the managing director. By collecting money owed to physicians, hospitals, and surgical centers, he has increased the revenues of his business fourfold since 2006. The company has 24 full- and part-time workers.
Meanwhile, his son, Joshua, who joined him in the healthcare MBA program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and now works for an investment banking firm that provides real estate loans for senior housing, introduced Dr. Hausfeld to a group of Midwest-based assisted-living-facility developers. Four years ago, they struck a deal to provide private equity funding and create Memory Care Communities of Illinois, with Dr. Hausfeld serving as president. The 24-hour residential facilities are home to patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
To some degree, he misses practicing medicine, but Dr. Hausfeld is enthusiastic about making a difference in even more people's lives than he did as a physician and surgeon.
"I've done 10,000 ear, nose, and throat operations. If I did 1,000 more, how much would I be changing the world?" Dr. Hausfeld says. Ultimately, "you find a way to leave a bigger footprint."
His entrepreneurial spirit has led to other consulting roles. For instance, he is trying to help two startup companies—one in the medical device arena, the other in information technology—grow by leaps and bounds.
The Director
Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, has made her mark as an award-winning physician filmmaker. She is filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics in Palo Alto, Calif. She studied at the London Film School and received her medical training at the University of Washington in Seattle and Stanford University School of Medicine.
"I have really enjoyed using all of my medical background and knowledge and applying it toward film," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of her position at Stanford, which she has held since 1998. "It's very grounding. It gives you a purpose."
Her one-hour documentary "Rare," which features a family with a very uncommon genetic disease, aired last August on PBS. Another film, "The Revolutionary Optimists," follows a group of aspiring youngsters in the slums of Calcutta, India, who battle poverty and transform their neighborhoods from the inside out. One-hour and 80-minute versions of the film are slated to air on the PBS series "Independent Lens" as part of the Women and Girls Lead Global partnership.
–Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston
Dr. Grainger-Monsen co-produced and co-directed both films with Nicole Newnham, an independent documentary filmmaker who is in residence at Stanford's bioethics and film program.
As an undergraduate art history major, Dr. Grainger-Monsen became interested in social and ethical issues in medicine. Later, films shown in medical school struck a chord with her. She was amazed at how images could resonate with viewers and trigger animated debate. During the summer between her first and second years of medical school, she was inspired to study film at New York University.
Dr. Grainger-Monsen eventually trained in emergency medicine at Stanford and completed a fellowship in palliative care at Stanford-affiliated Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital. For years, she split her career between working in community ER clinics and producing films. Her films are large-scale projects that may take five years or longer to make, and she raises all the funds to bring them to fruition.
"I really do find documentary filmmaking tremendously gratifying," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of the chance "to talk with all different kinds of people in all different situations and walk in their shoes, with them, for a time. That is what I'm trying to share with the audience."
In creating character-driven documentaries, she aims to spark discussions about important issues in contemporary medicine. "I hope my films can help increase understanding and empathy," she says, "and result in improvements to the delivery of healthcare and reduction of disparities on multiple levels."
Susan Kreimer is a freelance writer in New York.
After years of juggling more than one career, Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, had a tough decision to make. "I'm a little bit of a glutton for punishment," she admits with a chuckle. While overseeing quality improvement (QI) for a healthcare foundation, she had negotiated to take off every other Friday and work several ED shifts per month on weekends at two local hospitals.
Then, in January 2012, Dr. Gebreyes began a new full-time position as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers in McLean, Va. It became too time-consuming and exhausting to treat patients and consult in healthcare industries, says the mother of two children, who are 7 and 4.
Dr. Gebreyes is among a growing number of physicians who, after a number of years, opt to give up clinical medicine for nonclinical roles in healthcare or other industries altogether. "You are ready for transition when the new choice excites and energizes you," she explains, "and not necessarily when your first choice disappoints you."
A career shift offers new opportunities for broadening one's horizons while often striking a better work-life balance. Many clinicians make the transition slowly and wisely, and some take an expected financial hit as they carve out an entrepreneurial and creative path.
"Modern medicine is very difficult. You can burn out if you're not careful," says Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Stepping off the merry-go-round can help you regroup. Fortunately, he adds, hospitalists can exercise more flexibility in scheduling than physicians in different specialties. Some hospitalists prefer to work nights and weekends in order to free up weekdays for other activities. Others decrease their clinical shifts and devote more time to teaching, research, or administration.
For those who decide to leave medicine completely, "hospitalists definitely have people skills day to day in their jobs that are applicable in multiple other careers," says Dr. Hale, a Team Hospitalist member. "Becoming a physician requires so much dedication and hard work, so you will succeed in whatever career you choose."
The Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (www.sopenet.org) is expanding by about 150 to 200 new members each month. Founded in 2008 and officially launched in January 2011, the society has more than 4,700 members globally. The interdisciplinary network includes physicians and innovators in other professions—from law to information technology to product development.
Its purpose is to "bring all the stakeholders together in one virtual space to collaborate," says co-founder and president Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA, professor in the departments of otolaryngology, dentistry, and engineering at the University of Colorado Denver, where he directs the graduate program in bio-innovation and entrepreneurship.
"The opportunities for physician entrepreneurs include working with industry, consulting, creating their own company, and much more," Dr. Meyers says. "As domain experts, physicians are in a unique position to add value to the innovation chain.
–Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program, Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, Stanford, Calif.
"However, to leave practice and be successful at something nonclinical requires education, experience, and networks," he says. "Doing what you did successfully in your last career won't be a guarantee of success in your next career, so you have to be willing to pay your dues and accept the risk."
The Writer
Deborah Shlian, MD, MBA, a former family medicine physician and managed-care executive in California, has evolved into a medical management consultant and an author of both fiction and nonfiction titles. Dr. Shlian, who now lives in Boca Raton, Fla., had always wanted to write. Her father, an internist, encouraged the pursuit of medicine, so she followed in his footsteps.
"I wanted to emulate what he did," she says. Over time, she realized that "doctors have a lot of skills that are applicable to other endeavors."
She and her husband, Joel Shlian, MD, MBA, also a former family medicine physician, fully gave up clinical practice about 10 years ago after doing it part time for a decade. The Shlians met as students at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1970. Initially, their new business concentrated on physician executive recruitment. As clients requested other services, the Shlians helped identify nonphysician managers as well. Clients included established, as well as start-up health plans, academic institutions, utilization review, and healthcare consulting companies.
Given the accelerated changes in healthcare delivery, earning a graduate education in business is not a quick and easy avenue to another career. "An MBA should never be viewed as the means to 'get out of medical practice,'" Dr. Shlian says in her new book, "Lessons Learned: Stories from Women in Medical Management," released this month by the American College of Physician Executives.
"In fact, I would submit that if you really hate clinical medicine, medical management is not for you," she says. "It can be every bit as demanding and frustrating as clinical practice."
The Entrepreneur
Jeffrey N. Hausfeld, MD, MBA, FACS, completed an MBA program on evenings and weekends. After graduation in 2005, he gave up his 24-year practice of otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery. He continued his education by obtaining a graduate certificate in leadership coaching and organizational development. Then he became involved in the first of several business ventures, capitalizing on his clinical experience.
"Doctors don't have a trusted partner to do their debt collections," says Dr. Hausfeld, co-founder and treasurer of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. His own negative experiences with debt-collection agencies contributed to his "understanding the obstacles and objections to create this kind of an entity."
—Kulleni Gebreyes, MD, MBA, director of healthcare consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, McLean, Va.
Hence the emergence of FMS Financial Solutions, based in Greenbelt, Md. "This seemed to be a very natural fit for me," says Dr. Hausfeld, who is the managing director. By collecting money owed to physicians, hospitals, and surgical centers, he has increased the revenues of his business fourfold since 2006. The company has 24 full- and part-time workers.
Meanwhile, his son, Joshua, who joined him in the healthcare MBA program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and now works for an investment banking firm that provides real estate loans for senior housing, introduced Dr. Hausfeld to a group of Midwest-based assisted-living-facility developers. Four years ago, they struck a deal to provide private equity funding and create Memory Care Communities of Illinois, with Dr. Hausfeld serving as president. The 24-hour residential facilities are home to patients with Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
To some degree, he misses practicing medicine, but Dr. Hausfeld is enthusiastic about making a difference in even more people's lives than he did as a physician and surgeon.
"I've done 10,000 ear, nose, and throat operations. If I did 1,000 more, how much would I be changing the world?" Dr. Hausfeld says. Ultimately, "you find a way to leave a bigger footprint."
His entrepreneurial spirit has led to other consulting roles. For instance, he is trying to help two startup companies—one in the medical device arena, the other in information technology—grow by leaps and bounds.
The Director
Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, has made her mark as an award-winning physician filmmaker. She is filmmaker-in-residence and director of the bioethics and film program at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics in Palo Alto, Calif. She studied at the London Film School and received her medical training at the University of Washington in Seattle and Stanford University School of Medicine.
"I have really enjoyed using all of my medical background and knowledge and applying it toward film," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of her position at Stanford, which she has held since 1998. "It's very grounding. It gives you a purpose."
Her one-hour documentary "Rare," which features a family with a very uncommon genetic disease, aired last August on PBS. Another film, "The Revolutionary Optimists," follows a group of aspiring youngsters in the slums of Calcutta, India, who battle poverty and transform their neighborhoods from the inside out. One-hour and 80-minute versions of the film are slated to air on the PBS series "Independent Lens" as part of the Women and Girls Lead Global partnership.
–Dan Hale, MD, FAAP, a pediatric hospitalist in the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston
Dr. Grainger-Monsen co-produced and co-directed both films with Nicole Newnham, an independent documentary filmmaker who is in residence at Stanford's bioethics and film program.
As an undergraduate art history major, Dr. Grainger-Monsen became interested in social and ethical issues in medicine. Later, films shown in medical school struck a chord with her. She was amazed at how images could resonate with viewers and trigger animated debate. During the summer between her first and second years of medical school, she was inspired to study film at New York University.
Dr. Grainger-Monsen eventually trained in emergency medicine at Stanford and completed a fellowship in palliative care at Stanford-affiliated Palo Alto Veterans Administration Hospital. For years, she split her career between working in community ER clinics and producing films. Her films are large-scale projects that may take five years or longer to make, and she raises all the funds to bring them to fruition.
"I really do find documentary filmmaking tremendously gratifying," Dr. Grainger-Monsen says of the chance "to talk with all different kinds of people in all different situations and walk in their shoes, with them, for a time. That is what I'm trying to share with the audience."
In creating character-driven documentaries, she aims to spark discussions about important issues in contemporary medicine. "I hope my films can help increase understanding and empathy," she says, "and result in improvements to the delivery of healthcare and reduction of disparities on multiple levels."
Susan Kreimer is a freelance writer in New York.