Episode 15: Future Doctors Akhil & Tope on How They Hope to Shape the Medical System

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SPEAKERS: Dr. Andrew Wong, Akhil, Tope

Welcome to the Capital Integrative Health podcast, a podcast dedicated to transforming the consciousness around what it means to be healthy and understanding the root causes of both disease and wellness. I am Dr. Andrew Wong, co-founder of Capital Integrative Health, an integrative practice committed to expanding access to holistic root cause medicine to the global community.

Today we are bringing you a special conversation with two of our own amazing medical assistants, Tope and Akhil. Tope and Akhil joined their practice as medical assistants and both are planning to attend medical school next year. We had a great conversation today about how their experience here at Capital Integrative Health has shaped their vision of health care and how they hope to see integrative health brought to the forefront of medical care in the future.

Dr. Wong:

Welcome Akhil and Tope to the podcast. Thank you so much for being here.

Tope & Akhil:

Thank you glad to be here

Dr. Wong:

So let’s start first about some basics. What do you do at our practice, Capital Integrative Health? What brought you to CIH?

Akhil:

Yeah, so I am a medical assistant. I’m actually Dr. Wong’s. I’m your medical assistant so your like kind of your right hand man and I do a decent amount of things you know starting with triaging the patient, getting their vitals starting out you know we do an array of different tests such as EKGs, lung spirometries, and recently we started allergy testing a couple months ago in addition to you know just responding to any patient concerns, anything that they need such as medications, referrals, whatnot. And a big part of our job is being an integrative and functional medicine clinic, we have a bunch of unique different tests so a lot of my job too is patient education on those specialty labs and things that you are not normally getting at your day-to-day doctor’s office or your conventional doctor’s office.

Tope:

And I mostly work with the clinical assistant team so we do a lot of procedures such as our Evoke brain scans, our vital scans to test your nervous system. We also take a look at your stomach acid with the Heidelberg testing and then we also run the red light.

Dr. Wong:

Great. Well, thank you both so much and obviously you both do such a great job we’re so happy to have you here, grateful. What are your long-term goals and do you have any specialties in mind? We can talk about both of you, congratulations, you both have gotten into medical school recently.

Akhil:

Thank you so much.

Tope:

Thank you.

Akhil:

Very happy about that.

Tope:

Oh yeah, so happy.

Dr. Wong:

So proud of you.

Akhil:

So I guess long term goal wise obviously like a physician, that’s the end goal but I guess the thing throughout this whole process, it taught me it’s like it’s not just becoming a physician, it’s what kind of physician do you want to become and that’s not just specialty wise, right? Some of the specialties I’m involved in, I want to be, I’m interested in our primary care, that’s a huge one. Endocrinology, that’s another big one. Gastroenterology is probably my favorite out of all the subspecialties but in terms of long-term goals and type of physician, a lot like Dr. Wong. I want to be that inclusive physician you know. I want to be a physician that’s able to meet the patient where they’re at and you know kind of cater your health care, your plan to what that patient is going through and how I’m going to get there, I’m not sure yet. I think I took the first step with medical school and I have the experience of CIH so I know that it can be done so those are some of my goals, yeah.

Dr. Wong:

Well, hopefully, we can tape another episode in four years from now and have you both back on here. This would be great to kind of have a reunion at that point to see what happens after medical school when you guys decide. What about you, Tope?

Tope:

For me, I think my thoughts are in a similar vein as Akhil which is definitely I do want to be a doctor that definitely I guess hears out their patient, works with their patient, and really just like forms a solid connection with them. When it comes to my specialty, I’m also looking at endocrinology and then also dermatology seems pretty cool too. I’m super interested in that, it’s been a recent I guess interest of mine. Also, maybe who knows maybe someday we’ll decide to open up a little practice of our own. We’ll see what the future holds though.

Dr. Wong:

That’s awesome. Everyone loves skin health you know definitely can’t go wrong with that and certainly 88 to 90% of people have metabolic syndrome and have many issues with blood sugar and being overweight, hypertension and things like that so those are great potential specialties. What motivated you both to pursue medicine in general?

Akhil:

Yeah, so I feel like I’m writing my personal statement again with this answer. We’ve had to like answer this question a lot but it was a couple of different factors. For me, number one specifically, my cousin, he’s autistic and he was like my best friend growing up and you know I kind of saw that he wasn’t getting the health care that he needed and you know it was it was so interesting how to navigate that with him and I would you know observe some of the physicians that would work with him and I saw that the effect that they were having on my cousin and also like the care that they gave to our family, just the peace of mind with the patient education and that was my first I was like, “Oh, this is something really cool that I kind of want to get into”. And then over the years you know, I studied Neuroscience at the University of Michigan so that’s how I kind of got into it from there and over the years after graduating you know, I worked in research in the DC area, I worked as a scribe, I worked all these different types of jobs in the medical field and then I was like okay I think that after all these experiences I think I want to be in charge of the health care plan and the only way to really do that is if I become a physician so that’s what brought me to that direction.

Dr. Wong:

Great, thanks Akhil.

Tope:

And then for me, my mom actually has been a nurse pretty much since I was born so she’s been a huge I guess role model and motivator for me. She’s actually an NP now and I remember like throughout my youth, she was always just like studying books and I was like right next to her like at her hip so that’s kind of what got me interested in Medicine, just watching her do her thing and I guess after that I went to high school, I was able to do this like type of early medicine program where you got to train as like a CNA so we got like actual hospital experience and then that was kind of my actual like true foray into like Medicine and that’s when I really realized like oh I really like I can’t see myself actually doing a job where I’m not actually connecting with people and like helping manage their healthcare outcomes so that’s really what solidified like this is what I want to do for sure then after that I of course went to undergrad and did some volunteering here and there with different like clinical work but CIH was I guess my real first like actual clinical job and I really love the process, It’s been amazing. So that’s kind of what solidified me that will solidify to me that I definitely want a future in Medicine.

Dr. Wong:

When did you become interested in Integrative Health, Integrative Medicine?

Tope:

So I’ll say probably sometime within my first week of working here. I met you and I shadowed you and you were super passionate about what you’re doing and I was like okay I’ll take a look at this, we’ll see what’s going on, and then I remember Christine, our practice manager, she actually gave me some homework to actually look at what like what was Functional Medicine, what was Integrated Medicine. As I did my own research like late at night, I was like oh this is actually what I want to do. This is a type of Medicine that kind of takes a look at the patient’s like kind of like their whole history, their whole body, like everything about them, and then uses that to kind of like tweak their health and actually like give them the best healthcare outcomes as opposed to just like maybe just shoveling something at them, just being like okay just use this one thing because people are a little more nuanced.

Dr. Wong:

Kind of taking a deeper dive.

Tope:

Yeah.

Dr. Wong:

And like you said, I think before really listening to them. And how about you, Akhil?

Akhil:

So for me, it kind of started with kind of my own personal medical issuea. I have some thyroid problems and nothing was really helping me out you know. It even took a while for a doctor to diagnose me with that so after that I did a ton of research into okay, thyroid health, autoimmune disorders, and this and that and I noticed how diet and all these other external factors and internal factors outside of just taking medication could you know hugely benefit your overall health and it was so obvious to me I was like yeah of course eating healthy would make me feel healthier but I did a deep dive into it was like oh there’s certain foods you should stay away from, there’s certain diets you should try out you know. Meditation is an important thing, sleep’s an important thing, and I knew they’re important but to what extent, I don’t think I really understood until I did my own research and then obviously, it brought me like CIH too like it was a big reason why I applied here and really wanted to get the job here so.

Dr. Wong:

And you found that in your personal life to be helpful all those nutrition lifestyle pieces with your thyroid and everything?

Akhil:

Yeah, yeah. Definitely and I’m glad that I got such great practitioners here too to like just bounce off ideas like hey what do you think about this.

Dr. Wong:

Right.

Akhil:

Yeah, it was definitely incredibly helpful.

Dr. Wong:

Nice and do you feel that your experience at CIH has shaped how you see your future role as a doctor and if so, how so?

Tope:

I’d say definitely. Yeah, because before, I definitely didn’t see myself doing Integrated Medicine. I didn’t know what it was but the thought of me being a dermatologist, endocrinologist, and being able to implement like different aspects of Integrative Medicine, I think I’d be able to actually treat my patients like as fully as I’d like to or as I guess comprehensively as I believe I would want it to in the first place.

Dr. Wong:

Yes.

Akhil:

Yeah, 100%. It has and you know I think a lot of it too is coming from shadowing Dr. Wong, shadowing you specifically. Right, I’ve shadowed a ton of physicians before and I think appointments are a little bit longer, you’re able to kind of know the patient, get to know the patient. You ask about their family, what’s your social support system. I was like, “doctors ask that question?”. Like, I’ve never heard that in my life before and I think those are the type of questions I’ve always thought that I would like wish that they asked me as a patient and I saw you doing it and I was like, “Oh, it can be done”, so it’s just like what Tope was saying the whole like looking at a patient holistically figuring out all these different factors aside from what is the specific medical issue that you’re here for and I think that leads to healthier patients.

Tope:

True. And also just like promoting wellness.

Akhil:

Yeah.

Tope:

Which is something that I didn’t really hear about until I came here which is funny because like you think like healthcare practitioners would like really promote wellness but a lot of times we won’t really actually do that. We’ll just look at baseline okay let’s just get you to this point whereas with Integrative Medicine, I’ve seen that they actually decide to say like okay let’s see if we can like maximize how you’re feeling, your energy levels, your tiredness like your mood, how can we actually help you get to like a hundred percent.

Dr. Wong:

Yes and and just to add on to what you both said Dr. Mark Hyman is a leading Functional Medicine doctor often says that illness and symptoms are caused by certain root causes and so when we focus on wellness often, a lot of times the symptoms go away as a side effect of optimizing wellness so this is kind of what Integrative Health is about. Thank you so much for that insight there. What do you hope to gain from medical school? First of all, congratulations again to both of you. Now that you’re kind of on your way, welcome to the club, medical school. What do you hope to gain from medical school and then one corollary question of that, are there any areas that you may foresee being lacking in medical school that you might need to kind of bone up on the side things like nutrition and things like that.

Akhil:

Yeah so obviously for medical school you know, I want to gain the basis under basic understanding of what is Medicine you know, understand your biochemics, biochemical classes, your genetics, all these different things and just to get that basic understanding so I can understand and explain to things to patients for example, “Hey, this is biochemically what’s going on your body”, and also just the patient care you know the constant patient exposure and understanding you know what do I do if a patient’s having a heart attack you know. In theory, I know about that right now but not actually like I don’t know what I would do but you know gaining those experiences and also you know maybe even researching a little bit. That’s something that I got into a couple years ago and that’s something that I kind of want to continue specifically studying the gut microbiome. I know you had an episode with Araceli like that’s something I’m really interested in and some of the areas that I think are lacking like yeah I think I wish there was nutrition classes, I wish there may be more classes that would talk about you know how do you approach different patients from different demographics. I don’t fully know it, hopefully the school that I go to has all that incorporated in it but from my understanding of medical education, I think those are kind of some of the areas that are lacking.

Dr. Wong:

The University of Arizona Integrative Medicine program does have some sort of program for medical schools and residencies, it’s on their website I believe and they’re trying to advocate for more nutrition education, lifestyle education, integrative health education, and medical schools and residency so-

Akhil:

Yeah.

Dr. Wong:

It is coming. It’s sort of slow to change but it is coming so yeah thanks for that. And Tope, what about you? What do you hope to gain from medical school?

Tope:

What I would hope to gain from medical school is definitely just a regular just like conventional western medical training, looking for a lot of patient contact, and just kind of just how to communicate with patients. And what Id say what medical school won’t really offer me which I’m looking for is definitely nutrition because they don’t seem to offer that really at all and I found that out when I was working here, that was something I thought they did but I’m realizing now not as much. I’m also definitely interested in learning about like different modalities of Medicine like Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda, and also Herbalism too.

Dr. Wong:

You’ll have to get that after medical school. I’ll just let you know right now.

Tope:

Yeah the longer I study I’m like, “Oh, there’s more training.”

Dr. Wong:

Which I think Western Medicine is a good basis for kind of building on top of that, it’s a great foundation so I think both you will be well served you know, wherever you go, every medical school is excellent in their own right and I think we alluded to this before but do you think that lifestyle, nutrition are important for patient outcomes? How have you seen that work you know either here or or elsewhere?

Akhil:

No, it’s not important. No, i’m just kidding.

Dr. Wong:

Not important at all, okay.

Akhil:

Just take your medicine and you’ll be good.

Dr. Wong:

Yeah, okay.

Akhil:

Yeah, of course. I mean it’s incredibly important like if you’re having some sort of you know recurring like chronic illness you know I feel like majority of patients at least that we deal with you know here you know, they have maybe an autoimmune disorder, diabetes, obesity, something is going on that’s chronic that can be kind of managed a little bit and managing is not just done through taking the medications, it’s through your lifestyle like you know are you getting your seven eight hours of sleep every night, are you eating healthy, are you know like exercising, are you spending time with your family you know doing things that you want to be doing. And so, I think that’s incredibly- you can’t separate that from just that one health issue that you’re having like when you address your holistic self, I think that’s when you’re able to you know like weed out those other pressing like diseases that’s going on in your body.

Tope:

Yeah, I agree and definitely I’ll say one thing is that doctors definitely give you guidance but the person who puts in all the work is definitely the patient so how they handle like their lifestyle with once again just like how they handle stress, definitely nutrition, exercise, all that plays the biggest role in the patient outcome.

Dr. Wong:

So, you’re saying the patient is in charge of their own outcome, correct?

Tope:

Oh yeah.

Dr. Wong:

They’re in charge of their own body, that kind of makes sense to me.

Tope:

Yeah because I mean I guess we can say we. We’re all for well not yet but in four years, I’ll say we.

Dr. Wong:

You can say now. You’re there.

Tope:

I guess I’ll say it, we, but we only really get to be with the patient for let’s say how long like here which is very fortunate for most patients like an hour a session so that might turn out to like being two hours a year and the patient like they’re dealing with the other like how many thousands of hours so it’s important for them to actually take care of themselves and maximize that time because that’s time that really really counts.

Dr. Wong:

Goodness, said it better myself. Thank you so much. What other factors do you feel are important to patient outcomes, so things like the patient practitioner relationship, how the rest of the team, integrates with medical system, medical modalities such as Acupuncture, body work, PT, etc.?

Akhil:

Well, I think you have to like your doctor or your provider and your provider has to kind of like you and that has to work, right? So I think there has to be a baseline of just respect and understanding there. I feel like a lot of times, you may not get that with your provider. You’re just going to get a checkup, your doctor doesn’t know anything about you you know. And here you know, you kind of see like Dr. Wong knows about people’s family, how are your kids doing, like they’re playing their football game, all these type of things I think that allows the patient to open up more and talk about what are the reasons you may not be following a certain protocol that you recommended you know because there’s all these different issues that may be facing it and I think that’s super important, just that relationship to have and just that open and honest understanding so a patient can just truly be themselves and just get you know advice from a medical expert.

Dr. Wong:

And working in this clinic, how have you seen the integration of different modalities work with Medicine? Say like nutritionist, acupuncture, bodywork , PT, how have you both kind of witnessed that?

Tope:

With this clinic, it’s really nice because you definitely have everything all together so when they do see the provider and then you may know that they’re dealing with a certain problem and then you think that okay this modality might be useful for them. The fact that you can kind of just say, “Oh, can you go see Liz maybe on Wednesdays?”, or something like that right before your kids like basketball game so it’s really nice how we can just kind of like have one thing flow to another as opposed to my experiences just growing up which is you see a doctor and then they say okay you need to go to this other doctor like all the way across town and then I end up not going of course so it’s really nice how everything really is integrated into this like integrative practice as you can see so to say.

Akhil:

Yeah, I think the nutrition’s really cool too like I’ve never seen that at a doctor’s office before. We’re like, “Oh yeah, just go see the nutritionist right across the hall.”. It’s like, “Really?”, Like there’s nutritionists that you can just and that makes just so much sense to me to have a nutritionist working at a physician’s office or providers office because you know nutrition and lifestyle that’s so inextricably tied to your overall health and you know if a patient is struggling with diabetes obviously a lot of that is with nutrition issues so go see the nutritionist, you can work on that. And therefore, like what Tope was saying earlier, you only see your doctor for maybe two hours a year and with the nutritionist. you can work more hands-on and spend a little bit more time with them and you’re getting like this holistic approach to it and you know like Dr. Wango says, you take a team-based approach to the healthcare plan and we see that with the nutritionist, with IV nutrition, a whole bunch of different things.

Dr. Wong:

It takes a village and nutrition is a huge part of it because you know food is one of the best, if not the most powerful medicine, so we’re really lucky to have amazing nutritionists here. Also, just what you had said before is that relationship is really the foundation of healing and this is really important for all listeners out there whether you have an integrative doctor, functional doctor, naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist, massage therapist, physical therapist, you know any kind of Western-trained doctor. Right, so basically it doesn’t matter if the relationship is not there. The relationship’s got to be there with the practitioner and they have to trust and respect them. They have to ideally know you as a person, not just as a collection of diagnoses and that’s going to be really powerful and helpful for their healing.

Tope:

Yeah and I’ll say especially for this practice, it’s amazing how since everything’s all together and the person who you’re sending your patient to you know on a deep level and you see every day. When it comes to just communicating a patient’s needs, when it’s a nutritionist’s first time seeing a patient, it’s kind of not so much because they already know you and you’ve already shared so much about them with them where they’re just extra prepared to treat them.

Dr. Wong:

Yeah, the communication talk back and forth is really great. What do you think an ideal healthcare system would be like and are there any specific changes you

would like to see? There’s a future doctor of the world here, Akhil and Tope.

Akhil:

So, I think we should abolish prior authorizations.

Dr. Wong:

I agree. Okay, that might solve issues with the healthcare system right there but great.

Akhil:

I think obviously there’s a lot of problems with the healthcare system, I think we have a decent one I think it’s not great. The one thing that I hate to see is like when a patient is like, “Oh, I can’t afford to do this test.”, you know, I think that you know you shouldn’t have to worry about that if this is truly going to help you and your health care that you should get whatever test needs to be done, whatever protocol needs to be done, whatever treatment. And I think that is a really big issue that you know we’re constantly facing.

Dr. Wong:

Access.

Akhil:

And is access, exactly too. And you know like fortunately you know like some clinics will take Medicare, some clinics don’t you know and there’s all these different layers of access too that we have to approach and you know it’s a tall task. I know there’s a lot of people much much smarter than me that tried to figure it out that couldn’t so you know, I just hope that you know we can maybe as we get older and me and Tope like you know actual physicians like we can maybe propose a change or you know work through that.

Dr. Wong:

You could also run for congress, that’s another future.

Akhil:

I think I’m okay.

Dr. Wong:

There’s a lot of positions that I’ve done.

Akhil:

Who knows.

Dr. Wong:

Tope, what do you think an ideal healthcare system would be like and are there any specific changes you’d like to see? Same question for you.

Tope:

So, I’m definitely still learning more about the healthcare system so I don’t know if my answer is going to be as beautiful and nuanced as Akhil’s but I’ll say the healthcare system at least an ideal one definitely incentivizes I’d say more Preventative Medicine because I feel like that’s something that’s not really as looked at at least when it comes to I guess insurance and all that. I feel like they don’t give as much value to it as let’s say like procedures per se when Preventative Medicine is really the thing that’s going to help people live longer and more healthful lives.

Dr. Wong:

Kind of move the needle the most. I totally agree. How do you hope to influence the health care system as a future doctor? So, you’re looking at four years of medical school, prior residency after that and are there any specific ways of practicing that you would like to work towards? Doesn’t necessarily mean a mode, a specialty but kind of how would you like to practice.

Akhil:

So yeah, a really big thing that I want to do is whatever community that I decide to work in as a physician, I want to make sure that I’m incorporating the needs of that community into my healthcare. For example, if I’m working in a place that has you know extremely high rates of chronic disease that are preventable you know, have patient education classes you know like CIH does you know. We have those weekly seminars and Zoom meetings. I think that’s so incredibly important to have and just so patients can learn you know because people want to learn, they just don’t know where to look sometimes because there’s so much information all over the place and if they can they can just go directly to their doctor and be like, “Hey doc like what is diabetes exactly? What is obesity exactly? How do I reduce this?”. All these different thing I think would extremely help out your patient population and that’s kind of what I want to do and maybe even get involved at a younger age you know, teach classes in a high school like for high schoolers or middle schoolers like you know every weekend. Be like, “Hey, you know you can learn so you can shadow a doctor and learn how to suture, you can you know learn how to use a stethoscope”, like little things like that that I can make a meaningful change in my community because I think if you want to actually uplift the health of the whole community, of the country, of the world, you have to start in your little tiny corner first.

Dr. Wong:

Yeah, big changes start small, right?

Akhil:

Yep.

Dr. Wong:

It’s great.

Tope:

So, a specific way of practicing I’d like to work towards is definitely just being entrenched in a community and having a huge presence there just that I can gain the trust, the community so that when they come to me, they know that I’m someone they can trust and I can help them. I’m definitely looking to hopefully do something along the lines of what you’re doing with this podcast and with what you do with your different classes where you can just give patients a different avenue to learn more about their health where they don’t necessarily have to come into clinic to see you per se but they can just access you online and then benefit through that.

Dr. Wong:

Telehealth has been a big game changer for access and I think as both of you said knowledge is empowerment although too much knowledge is probably confusion, right? Too much information.

Tope:

True.

Dr. Wong:

Dr Google, etc. So, I think kind of separating it out a bit and seeing what’s important and that can be really helpful for people. Great, well we have some time for some fun questions here some closing questions for this podcast so first of all, do you have a morning routine and what is it and of course knowing both of you, does it include push-ups?

Akhil:

So, Tope’s morning routine is probably a lot better than mine. I wake up in the morning, I shower, I moisturize, I drink coffee, and I head to work. That’s about it.

Dr. Wong:

And what kind of coffee are you drinking in the morning?

Akhil:

So, I guess we just got this new mold-free coffee at CIH which is pretty good but I just drink regular. I drink the Trader Joe’s cold brew with maybe some oat milk depending on the day, yeah.

Dr. Wong:

I like Trader Joe’s.

Akhil:

Yeah.

Dr. Wong:

Tope, what about you?

Tope:

My morning routine kind of changes every other month, still trying to find a solid one but right now, I usually wake up kind of early in the morning, do a little reading and then do a little studying for Spanish because I’m trying to teach myself Spanish. It’s a work in progress but it’s moving forward.

Dr. Wong:

To put you on the spot, any favorite Spanish phrases so far?

Tope:

Es lo que es. It is what it is.

Dr. Wong:

It is what it is, yeah. Okay, yeah. Thank you. It’s a great one. What book or podcast you’re enjoying the most right now and what is it about and why do you like it?

Akhil:

Well obviously the podcast I’m enjoying right now is the CIH podcast.

Dr. Wong:

Obviously.

Akhil:

That’s the one that we’re listening to.

Dr. Wong:

Yeah.

Akhil:

Second favorite though, yeah. My second favorite, I don’t- but podcasts are something I haven’t really really gotten into too much. I’m trying to work my way into the the whole sphere of it but the book that I’m reading right now is I’m reading Anthony Bourdain’s kitchen confidential which is really cool you know. I’m really into cooking, I love you know like the whole like cooking chef culture and restaurant culture and all that so that’s something that’s been a really cool experience.

Dr. Wong:

That’s great

And right now, what am I reading? I’m reading a few things. One of them I guess is the Spanish short stories book, it’s by Olly Richards. He’s one of these like linguists on Youtube. It’s a great book. It has like of course short simple stories that someone who’s like beginner to like intermediate level can easily absorb, understand, and learn from. And when it comes to podcasts, one of my favorite right now is it’s called BioBros. It’s pretty much this like wellness and like pharmacology podcast where they talk about like bodybuilding, they talk about just overall like longevity and it’s mostly what I’m pretty interested in right now, a lot because of CIH.

Dr. Wong:

Is it like a one of the biohacking podcasts maybe like how to optimize your physiology and-

Tope:

Yeah, it’s all about like optimizing your physiology and all that.

Dr. Wong:

Nice. What do you do every day to cultivate joy, really important.

Tope:

I’d say, what I do everyday is 100% I practice gratitude and then working out for me really just like cultivates joy. I just love moving my body so just being able to do that every day really brings me a sense of happiness/

Akhil:

Yeah. I think for me just because like the past couple of months with applications and finishing up my master’s program it’s just been a sprint and I haven’t really had that much time to rest.

Dr. Wong:

So that has not been joyful?

Akhil:

So that has not. So like I’ve kind of gotten back into it, like some parts of it are great you know but I’ve kind of gotten back into the things that I like to do which honestly like I like to watch Netflix. Frankly, I like to lay on my couch like-

Dr. Wong:

Let’s be real, Netflix is a good opportunity to relax.

Akhil:

I like to you know I’m the annoying friend who’s always facetiming you, you know it’s like I’m that guy so it’s like I’m calling my friends on my way back from home and saying, “Hey, how are you doing?”.

Dr. Wong:

That’s one of the best way to cultivate joy.

Akhil:

Yeah, exactly. I just love being around people and it’s my mom like I call my mom every day and she’s like, “okay you’re calling me a little too much now like I have stuff to do”, but it’s you know just being around people and obviously like Tope is saying, I’ve like recently got back into working out too so, and listening to music you know caught up with a whole bunch of music I haven’t listened to in a while.

Dr. Wong:

Any favorites? Both of you, music? Right now?

Tope:

Right now, I’m getting back into 50 cent again.

Akhil:

Yeah, old school.

Dr. Wong:

Yeah, alright.

Akhil:

There’s a new Don Toliver album that came out and then also Snoh Aalegra which is a great r&b artist and you should check her out if you guys are into r&b.

Dr. Wong:

So, I’m going to do a little quiz for you guys and this is not going to be graded or be the prerequisites of medical school admission at all. We kind of talk about here about these five lifestyle aspects, smart lifestyle so sleep, mindset, activity, real food, and ties. I’m just kind of curious after working here for a while seeing patients and implementing these smart lifestyles yourself, which of these would be most important to you and why?

Akhil:

Sleep, frankly. I think sleep is a huge one for me. I normally am a pretty low energy type person in general so I usually need my seven to eight hours and when I can get the eight hours of sleep like I notice like my entire day changes. I’m able to think way more clearly like completely reduce my brain fog. I get way more things done, I feel motivated, I feel happier, all these different things so sleep is definitely the one for me.

Tope:

Yeah, same here, sleep definitely for me. I know you got to see me around the office when I don’t get my sleep, I’m walking around like a zombie.

Akhil:

Yeah.

Tope:

So, sleep is something that I’ve definitely been trying to like optimize especially over this last like year of applications which has been the most stress ever.

Akhil:

Yeah.

Tope:

So yeah, I think once I finally master my sleep, I’ll be where I want to be which is soon.

Dr. Wong:

Thank you so much Tope and Akhil for being on the podcast today, it’s been a pleasure and we look forward to following your amazing journeys, both of you, as you move forward with medical school and beyond so thank you so much.

Akhil:

Thank you so much, Dr. Wong.

Tope:

Thanks.

Akhil:

Thanks, CIH!