About Hesham

Dr. Hesham A. Hassaballa is a NY Times featured Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine specialist in clinical practice for over 20 years. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, and Sleep Medicine. He is a prolific writer, with dozens of peer-reviewed scientific articles and medical blog posts. He is a Physician Leader, published author and Medika is very fortunate to enjoy the benefits of his experience as editor of Medika’s articles on cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

Tell us a little about yourself Hesham. Where were you born and do you still live in your birth country? Tell us a little about your family and what made you choose your current field.

I was born and raised in the United States. I still live in the US with my wife and four children. Ever since I was a little boy, my dream was to become a physician. While many joke about living the dream, I am truly living my dream. From early on in my medical training, I’ve always loved Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.

It gives me the opportunity to be a little bit of every kind of doctor: a surgeon, an internist, and a specialist in multiple organ systems. The ICU is my favorite place to be in the hospital. Here, we can help people overcome frightening critical illness and be well again, and we can also mitigate suffering when we know the critical illness will not be overcome.

I have been practicing for over 15 years, and in that span of time, medical technology has advanced to unbelievable heights. Things that we couldn’t do just 10 years ago are commonplace now. It is truly wondrous to behold. 

Given that being a physician was my lifelong dream, I am always striving to be the best physician I can be, out of gratitude to the Lord for His gift of choosing me to serve His children and help alleviate the suffering wrought by disease.

Writing is my catharsis. Writing is my solace. Writing is how I am able to process the varying and dizzying emotions that come with practicing medicine today, especially in the midst of this horrific global pandemic. This is all the more ironic since, growing up in school, English was my worst and least favorite subject.

I left private practice to become an employed physician to run a critical care program in a community hospital. It was a big leap of faith, and it was rough in the beginning. Almost 8 years later, however, so many colleagues have come up to me and said, ‘We can’t imagine the ICU without you and your team.’ This makes me so proud and so grateful. 

Doing what I have been doing the last eight years has given me a great appreciation for physician leadership. While I do not necessarily want to completely leave the bedside, I also want to grow in my leadership responsibilities.  This is because, not only can I affect positive change with one individual patient at the bedside, but I can also be the driver of positive change for hundreds and thousands of patients as a physician leader. Both opportunities give me great professional satisfaction. Moreover, I can be a more effective physician leader because of my ongoing experience taking care of patients at the bedside.

I think healthcare is in a great state of flux at the moment. There is a huge drive to move from quantity-based care to value-based care. This is a fundamental paradigm shift, and it is incumbent upon clinicians to know how to navigate this change and become excellent at it. As technology continues to improve and evolve, it is also incumbent upon clinicians to always keep the patient at the center of everything we do.

That is the way we can constantly be improving the quality of care to our patients, by never forgetting that our patients are ‘why we are where we are’ and why we do what we do. Further, we can learn to intelligently embrace those technological advances that will help enhance our delivery of quality healthcare to the communities that we serve. This will be essential as well.

In addition, we need to recognize and actively combat disparities in healthcare. Not everyone’s experience with the healthcare system has been the same or has been positive. We need to be positive agents for change in this arena.

I have been writing for more than 20 years now. Much of my writing is at drhassaballa.medium.com, where the vast majority of my pieces are published in Being Well, Medium’s premier health and wellness publication. I am honored to be one of it’s editors as well. I’ve published a book of fiction, Code Blue, which is a medical thriller. It is available for purchase on Amazon. 

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About Patricia

Dr. Patricia Farrell is a licensed psychologist in NJ/FL and has been in the field for over 30 years serving in most areas of mental health, psychiatry research, consulting, teaching (post-grad), private practice, consultant to WebMD and writing self-help books. Currently, she is concentrating on writing articles and books and Medika is very fortunate to enjoy the benefits of her experience as editor of Medika’s articles on mental health.

Tell us a little about yourself Patricia. Where were you born and do you still live in your birth country? Tell us a little about your family and what made you choose your current field.

Life has been a series of interesting events for me. Allow me to lay out some of them, so you will be better able to understand where I came from, where I’ve been, and where I see myself going.

The youngest of five children, I grew up in a poor, integrated neighborhood in a cold-water flat that had neither heat nor hot water. 

When things improved a bit, my father moved us to 100-year-old farmhouse that stood one block away from the main shopping area of our town. We even had a dry well off the kitchen and a barn in the back yard.

It was here that I began to realize that my life was a bit out of the ordinary. The Mafia ran the area and my father worked at a parking lot they owned. As a child, I was friendly with the “runners,” these are the men who take the bookies and betters’ money to their Mafia bosses. Primarily, they had been sparring partners for middleweight boxers and I was friendly with all of them.

At age 12, my mother, two sisters and I were witnesses in a murder trial. The man in the apartment next door had murdered his toddler son. The child’s mother asked my mother to come over because “the baby fell out of his crib.” Almost every bone in his body was broken by virtue of having been swung around and hitting all the fixtures in the bathroom.

Oh, I should mention, that by the age of six, I had almost died from pneumonia three times, but I did survive and at six I had a leg operation where they didn’t know if I would lose my leg up to the hip. 

I had an accident where the injury was misdiagnosed by the intern in the emergency room. Then my parents were accused of child abuse because they followed the intern’s instructions to take me home and apply hot compresses to the wound on my leg which only exacerbated the problem.

Although there were five of us, I’m the only one in my family who graduated from high school. My grandparents were immigrant servants on both sides and my mother had to quit elementary school and work in a factory to support her mother and three younger sisters at age 12; my grandfather was in jail for horse theft.

Education was something that I knew very little about and I never had any aspirations in that area. You went to school until you didn’t have to any longer and then you went out and got a job. That was it.

After high school, I was fortunate to get a secretarial job where two men for whom I worked at a trade magazine encouraged me to go to college at night. College was the farthest thing from my mind. All I wanted was a convertible and a trip to Florida. 

But I did decide I would go to college and successfully obtained all three of my degrees at night while working full-time during the day, sometimes with three jobs at one time. 

Psychology was my third career choice. First, medicine (life threw a few curves there), second, oceanography (I get seasick) and psychology so I could direct my own life.

I’ve appeared on many national TV shows (Today, AC360, GMA, Court TV, VOA), and I did once interview John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their hotel room in Toronto. I was working for a trade publishing magazine at the time.

My work background, after I got my doctorate, includes being the national clinical monitor for the first medications for Alzheimer’s disease, Cognex. While traveling all across the country to 17 clinical sites, I was fortunate enough to meet some of the powerhouse researchers in the area, including Lissy Jarvik, whose nephew invented the Javik heart. 

I’ve worked in mental health centers, psychiatric hospitals with forensic patients, many of whom had committed murder, I have been involved in writing CE’s (one for the USMLE), I am a Web MD consultant for psychology and I’ve published two brick-and-mortar house books plus a few self-published on Amazon.

I enjoy photography, films and writing and one day I hope to learn how to code in Python.

I believe that’s a good start on getting to know me and I hope you found it interesting.

I’ve worked in almost all areas of psychology for over 30 years and have taught on the graduate and postgraduate levels. Now, I plan to devote my time to writing non-fiction, short stories, flash fiction and one, yes only one, novel and don’t expect it will be “the great American novel.” If it interests people, that’s enough for me.

I’m driven by incessant curiosity and want to work toward addressing human rights transgressions.  

Writing provides the opportunity to focus my passion on topics that I find interesting and where I feel I can provide information for improving people’s lives. 

Let me answer this the only way I can. I hope to be alive in 10 years and that’s not being sarcastic or joking nor does it have to do with the political situation. My goals are set year by year and always flexible in nature.

I’ve written on this on Medium and I do believe telehealth provides access where there would have been none. We have large swathes of states in the US where there are no mental health professionals. It also relieves people from having to travel and may even make it easier to relate on a computer screen. Research has to be done in that area.

 I’m a writer for about eight Medium publications on health, mental illness, films, and technology (AI is a favorite subject of mine). 

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About Michael

Dr. Michael Burg is an Academic Emergency Physician. He is passionate about writing, medical humanities & education, and international. emergency medicine. He enjoys adventure, traveling and exploration and his goal is to retire to the life of a digital nomad.

Tell us a little about yourself Michael. Where were you born and do you still live in your birth country? Tell us a little about your family and what made you choose your current field.

I was born in Brooklyn NY and have lived, gone to school and worked all over the place. I now live in California on the glorious Central Coast. I’m the oldest of 3 children and both my parents have died.

Emergency Medicine is my chosen field for a wide variety of reasons including: patient variety, ability to quickly diagnose and treat, intellectual interest, ability to teach, write and travel in the specialty.

I’ve been in Emergency Medicine for 30 years, 33 if you count residency. The changes are too numerous to list. My first 8 years in the field were spent in the private sector, the remainder in academia at various teaching hospitals.

I’m a life-long learner always wanting to expand my horizons and skills and continue to make contributions.

I write for 3 reasons – joy of writing, reader reaction and sense of community.

That I’ve been able to help many in medicine succeed and reach their goals. Perhaps most proud of being the first Emergency Physician in the Netherlands and helping the Dutch establish EM as a specialty in their country. 

More writing and adventuring and far less clinical medicine. Ten years from now I’ll be a digital nomad, roaming the globe and an established writer (hopefully well before the 10 year mark).

Too complex to address here and not my area of expertise.

I’ve published extensively in the medical literature – Annals of EM, JAMA, etc. Medium is my home now.

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About Davina

Davina is a Registered Social Worker in Ontario, Canada. She is also a Certified Solution Focused Therapist (CSFT) with the Canadian Council of Professional Certification (CCPC) Global Inc. Davina has extensive Social Work experience working in the adult and pediatric rehabilitation sectors, inpatient and outpatient healthcare services, as well as community-based services. She is also the owner of Meaningful Independence, a virtual counselling practice that offers support to individuals, couples, and families by phone and online video across Ontario.

Tell us a little about yourself Davina. Where were you born and do you still live in your birth country? Tell us a little about your family and what made you choose your current field.

I was born in Ontario, Canada and still live there. I have very supportive parents as well as a close relationship with my siblings. My initial training was in Psychology and, as much as I enjoyed it, I chose to become a Social Worker instead as I realized how much value I find in supporting clients as they navigate different challenges and stressors, being part of an inter-professional team working toward common goals in support of clients, and working within the health, social, and community service systems. 

I have been working as a Social Worker since 2009. Over the years, I have gained a wealth of experience in inpatient, outpatient and community service settings, adult and pediatric populations, research and clinical experience, as well as an extensive background supporting people impacted by various disabilities and chronic illnesses. More recently, I have launched a private practice, called Meaningful Independence, where I offer virtual counselling to individuals, couples, and families across Ontario. My goal is to continue to grow my private practice over time and be able to support more people looking for help and support.

Seeing clients discover their strengths and abilities and observing them grow, learn, and problem solve through challenges and barriers are very inspiring and definitely motivate me in my daily work with clients.

Being able to write about topics of interest to me – whether it’s related to virtual counselling, mental health, health care, disabilities or chronic illness, life transitions, or other categories – allows me to find a way to express my experience, knowledge, and learnings in a way that feels very therapeutic and almost meditative.

The level of reflection and deep thinking that goes into writing each article allows me to communicate in a unique and special way with readers who may also be the client populations I serve, which is quite rewarding and fulfilling.

It is hard to believe I have been working for more than a decade and have held so many different roles in supporting client needs in some way or form. I am most proud of being able to help clients reach their “lightbulb” moment in sessions where they may come to a new insight or realization, figure out another way of approaching or handling a problem they are dealing with, or simply learn how to process their thoughts or feelings deeply in an effort to cope better in their daily lives.

I truly value being able to support a client as they go through the ups and downs of their journey and am honored that they trust me to be a part of that process.

In 10 years, it would be incredible to see my private practice expanding to the point where I may be able to do it on a full time basis. I am excited to see where my learning, writing, professional development, and experience take me as my career progresses.

Speaking purely out of experience offering virtual services in my private practice, I do feel that there will be more opportunities for online counselling in the future. The challenges brought by the pandemic have required us to engage with one another in a digital way for the sake of health and safety, and I wonder if this change in the way we interact may become more of a norm moving forward.

I also think that there are some benefits of virtual care as it can offer more convenience, access, and options to clients who others may not have in-person services available in their region that meets their specific needs.

In addition to writing for Medika Life, Being Well and creating posts on Medium, I am currently in the process of exploring other writing opportunities that are coming my way. Who knows what the future holds!  

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About Lisa

Tell us a little about yourself Lisa. Where were you born and do you still live in your birth country? Tell us a little about your family and what made you choose your current field.

Hello and welcome! My name is Lisa Bradburn, let me tell you a little about myself before we begin. I was born in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and apart from living previously in London UK and New York City, today I continue living in my home country and divide time between Toronto and a beautiful spot in the world called Rice Lake in the Kawartha Region of Southern Ontario.

My family dynamic is quite interesting and diverse – at last count, I have 15 siblings! Let me explain. I was adopted at three months old and as I’ve gotten older have discovered many other half-blood siblings. Along the way, my adopted parents have divorced a couple of times and step-siblings are included in the overall number. We are a large group and I stay in touch with those I know.

In 2014 my Uncle Donald passed away from terminal bone cancer. A few months prior to his death, I left my consulting job, moved in, and took care of him in his time of need. The experience left a profound mark on me because I witnessed first hand the fragility of life and also the consequences of our actions. After Donald’s passing, I went through a period of grief and underwent various psychotherapy modalities to help reorient my behavior and ways of thinking and existing especially related to adoption, parental relationships, and of course time with my uncle.

After experiencing positive seismic shifts through deep therapy, I felt an overwhelming desire to pursue psychotherapy as a profession to complement the work I already do in my professional life as an Agile Coach. My vision is to be a lighthouse for others experiencing dark times with a focus on adoption, tech addictions, socialization, and leadership; topics near and dear to my heart.

How long have been in your profession and what changes have you seen? 

In this present moment, I am halfway through my third year of five studying Gestalt Psychotherapy; a particular modality of psychotherapy focused on principals of “here and now”, bodily awareness, and relational experiences with others to name a few key aspects. Next year I begin private practice through the Toronto Gestalt Student Clinic and will continue to utilize the skills in my corporate coaching practice.

My upcoming goals include furthering speaking engagements and webinars dedicated to Agile Coaching and Psychotherapy, opening up a virtual private practice, and building an online ecosystem through writing and videos dedicated to relevant topics in my fields. In 2021, I am also gearing up to become a professionally certified practitioner for the Enneagram, a system of personality typing that describes patterns in how people interpret the world and manage their emotions.

The Enneagram will be a vital part of my psychotherapy and coaching practice as a vital tool to allow clients to better understand the motivating factors behind their behavior. On top of future goals, I have also decided to “give back” and each year will dedicate pro-bono time to one client who otherwise cannot afford psychotherapy services with the hope of supporting small, purposeful shifts to the life of another.

What motivates you and drives you?

What drives me every day is having a vision and purpose – not only from the micro day-to-day level, also from a macro life perspective. The vision is somewhat fluid. For example, a decade ago, I never would have imagined entering into psychotherapy, however, the foundation or spark of interest was there whether I knew it or not.

Ultimately I love being the support for others to make positives change in their life. And I also believe life is to be enjoyed and to inject fun into everything I do. This aspect of my macro vision that existed in my twenties, is prevalent today and I guarantee will persist well into my eighties and God willing much longer!

What does your writing offer you, seen from an emotional perspective? 

Writing is a major passion of mine where I am able to communicate vulnerabilities and weaknesses to the world. Sometimes it is easier to relay the most difficult situations to an unknown audience than it is to a member of my family. Writing is personal therapy, and many times, allows me to better understand my emotional state.

I find a weird sense of joy writing about my shortcomings (spoiler alert – there are many!) and how I have overcome hardships in my life with the hope my words impact someone. One day in the not so distant future when I’m in private practice, if my clients read my work, they will quickly find out I’m as human as they are – a mix of flaws and shining qualities.

What are your goals and aspirations for the next decade? Where do you see yourself in ten years time? 

In this life I’m fortunate to have experienced numerous crowing glories. The reason is because I’m an “Achiever” personality type and goal oriented. Stuff get’s done! Keep in mind there are healthy and unhealthy sides of the coin. I used to live in an unhealthy state and the older I become, I am able to consciously gauge when the darker habits are trying to lurk back in. Perhaps the mindset shift IS the ultimate crowning glory!

The other week I participated in my first coaching and psychotherapy webinar. More speaking opportunities continue to surface and I look forward to getting comfortable public speaking and working with crowds. The experience is terrifying and exhilarating at the same time!

Other ultimate achievements in random order: escaped death at least 3x, have performed stand up comedy for Second City, drove a military truck up 5th Avenue, New York City to close the 2016 Veterans Day Parade, published author of short stories, working on becoming a Level 2 Ski Instructor etc. Keep throwing myself in uncomfortable situations and see what sticks!

What are your views on healthcare right now and how can we improve the quality of care to patients.

Since I’m a Canadian writer and health care professional, I can speak from a “northern” lens. While the global perception is that my socialist nation has “free” healthcare to all, and yes, there is some level of truth to this statement, the reality is, we too have fundamental structural and social flaws to our system.

Canadians face a two tier healthcare system – standard and private. Standard level care can mean long wait lines and pending where people live, a lack of necessary resources such as mental health professionals in rural or aboriginal areas. Private care allows people in higher income brackets to pay a membership fee for premium services and gain immediate access to health care providers.

One major difference between standard and private is the approach to healthcare with a focus on preventative and holistic measures in the latter category. For mental health professionals such as myself, I fully support and will utilize virtual/online therapy. As mentioned before, I am a champion of providing professional services pro-bono to underrepresented people who cannot afford the luxury of a psychotherapist.

If every therapist added 1 pro-bono client to their case load, I’d like to think we’d help make a significant difference in the lives of others. I also like the current research and trends for further exploring alternative therapies for patients suffering from trauma – such as clinical trials with psilocybin, MDMA and other modalities such as EMDR to name a few examples.

Finally, I also appreciate how healthcare is becoming more personalized to fit the needs of an individual rather than a one size fits all blanket approach.

Do you write for other publications, blogs and columns? 

At present moment, I am focusing on building a Medium audience and write for a variety of publications found within the online ecosystem. My work is also published across other international platforms such as Panodyssey in France and CoFoundersTown in India.

Finally, I’m in the early days of experimenting with video and intend on making my YouTube channel more professional in the months ahead. Please excuse the present user experience! .

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