“The heart of man is very much like the sea, it has its storms, it has its tides and in its depths it has its pearls too”
– Vincent van Gogh

The sunbeams emanating from the gentle rolling waves on the cover of Volume 13 of Physician Outlook Magazine warm my soul and inspire a sense of awe and admiration for the ocean’s vastness and beauty. I admire and respect the ocean almost as much as I love the practice of medicine.

What we don’t know about BOTH the ocean and the human body is infinite, and these two great mysterious entities provide endless opportunities for humble continuous learning and appreciation of the wonders and dangers that lie within each.

The crests and troughs of the rhythmic ocean tides remind me of the predictable ebbs and flows of human development. Our internal circadian clocks almost magically regulate not only our sleep and wake cycles, but also control our hormones, our behavior, and our overall physiology, right down to the cellular level.

We know that it is the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, combined with our Earth’s rotation on its axis, that creates the ocean’s beautiful crashing waves at high tide, and the vast seashell-filled sandbars at low tide.

It is equally amazing that for our human bodies, it is ALSO because of the Earth’s rotation on its axis that we are able to remain wakeful and alert during periods of light, and that it is during darkness (when sleep naturally prevails) that cells are able to rejuvenate and heal themselves.

I am a thalassophile at heart, and this summer I had the opportunity to again be able to “return to my roots” and combine my love of the ocean with a passion for my profession. For a few glorious weeks during the past several summers, I have had the distinct privilege of being able to see patients in one of my favorite places on the planet: the ‘tony’ ocean-lined Hamptons on the East End of New York’s Long Island, which my family and I used to call home. It has been 16 years since we moved away, but I am still drawn to the physical beauty and charm of the region, as well as the crisp, forgiving, and cleansing ocean air.

My workdays in the private office where I provide locum coverage are long and arduous, filled primarily with pediatric patients who are the children of Latino immigrants. In this practice, I also see some adult “dreamers” who were born in South America and continue to find comfort in a medical home that treats them with respect and dignity. In addition to the usual ear infections, colds, and other infections that can cause high fevers and rashes, my days are filled with treating children and adolescents with obesity, depression, seizure disorders, cancer, autism, ADHD, and anxiety, amongst many other diagnoses (in addition to the usual “bread and butter” well-child and adolescent visits). I get the unique opportunity to practice speaking in my native tongue of Spanish, a skill that I  do not get to use much near my home in rural Pennsylvania or at the small private rural NY university where I see students during the academic year.

My well-deserved reward at the end  of a busy Hamptons workday includes  being able to spend my evenings and  weekends ocean-side, relaxing with  my toes in the sand, going to the many  summer festivals (the Greek one in  Southampton is my favorite!), seeing old friends, sipping a locally produced  “Summer in a Bottle” rosé produced at the local Wolffer vineyard, watching the surfers at “The End” in Montauk, or enjoying a fabulous chef-prepared meal at one of the many fancy restaurants in the area.

The Hamptons have long been known as a “playground” for “rich and famous” Manhattanites, with many owning second homes that would usually only be inhabited for the summer months. The demographics of the area changed sharply after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks in 2001 (with a similar phenomenon occurring recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

In the wake of 9/11, frightened NYC families (including our own) decided to move their entire households “out East” year-round. My husband and I had purchased a modest 2-story cape-style house in 1998 in a middle-class neighborhood between East Hampton and Sag Harbor. As more and more families moved to the area year-round, the cost of living started to increase exponentially, and by 2006 (right before the subprime mortgage crisis created a housing crisis), we made the financially very wise decision to pack up and move away to north-central Pennsylvania.

It makes my heart happy to visit our old stomping grounds once a year to “re-connect” with the sea, but I could never imagine living there full-time. The traffic has quadrupled, and prices have continued to climb. As a pediatrician, I am blessed with having one of the most rewarding careers in all of Medicine, but cursed with it remaining as one of the lowest-paying specialties that exists.

“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always ourselves we find in the sea.”
– E. E. Cummings

The cover of this issue of Physician Outlook Magazine boasts a celestial image captured by the very talented and multi-faceted Dr. Desmond Bell, Executive Physician Coach for MDCoaches and amateur photographer. A foot and ankle podiatric surgeon with over 25 years of experience in the Operating Room, Dr. Bell is clearly a man of many talents. He has been blessed with an eye for the beauty in nature and also with a philanthropic heart. He is the Founder and President of the “Save a Leg, Save a Life Foundation,” dedicated to preventing amputations in patients with diabetes, hypertension, and other forms of peripheral artery disease.

A highlight of my time in the Hamptons this summer was that I was able to rearrange patients during the third week of July so that I could personally attend Hamptons Tech Week, which was hosted by James Lane Post, Ethereal Global, and Southampton Arts Center. When it comes to technology, I am an experiential learner. I want to be AT the table when discussions are occurring about technology this time around, not ON the menu. I learned my lesson with the clunky EHRs that have ruined the practice of medicine for so many, and I want to understand what is being built for the future of our profession, and for my family as patients as we age. I am old enough to remember the slow, ear-piercing screechy dial-up AOL tone that first allowed entry onto the World Wide Web, but I didn’t pay attention to how the technology rapidly changed and how it was being deployed. I want things to be different this time around. As vehemently as I am opposed to the CPOM (corporate practice of medicine), so am I at odds with the “Metaverse” version of the internet that Zuckerberg and others are building. An alternative that many in the technology world are embracing is the concept of “Web 3.0,” which is a “decentralized” or community-owned version.

The Hamptons Tech Week conference educated guests on how Web3 is enhancing and progressing within a variety of industries, which included art, real estate, medicine, sports, the environment, and fashion. The conference kicked off with keynote speaker, Emmy and Peabody Award Winner Evan Shapiro, cohost of podcast Cancel Culture, and Professor of Media Studies at NYU, while the panels were hosted by Julie Lamb, Founder & Executive producer of NFT-vip.io.

The first speaker was Dr. Leah Houston, founder of http://www.HPEC.io, the Doctors’ DAO. She captured the attention of the largely non-medical audience with the story of HOW and WHY she became interested in creating a physician-founded AND physician-owned Decentralized Autonomous Organization. An Emergency Room physician, Dr. Houston, became the inadvertent victim of “identity theft” when a hospital she no longer worked for continued to use her credentials for billing of patients long after she had stopped providing services at that location. The technology that http://www.HPEC.io is building will allow physicians to truly OWN their credentials and self-sovereign identities in Web 3 and beyond. Physicians and patients need to retain ownership of their intellectual property and medical records, not insurance companies, hospitals, or other third parties.

Dr. Houston was part of a star-studded list of leaders in the fields of technology, cybersecurity, sports, entertainment, Women in Web3, social media, marketing, cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFTs, finance, and the legalities of Web3. Speakers included Erin Franzman (VP content social strategy at CBS), Josh Posner (head of commercialization at StageVerse), Janet Balis (Partner at EY’s Tech/Media group), Gary Adelman, Sarah Matz (both partners at the Adelman Matz P.C.), Scott Shine, (attorney at Aegon Asset Management), Mark Cianci (legal counsel for Ropes Gray), Elizabeth Nicholas (essayist and author), Amber Allen (founder & CEO of Double A labs), Katia Zaitsev (co-founder & chief business officer of Lexit), Marisa Sechrest CEO and producer of Altair Entertainment, Nea Simone (founder and CEO of Melanated Studios), Paola Origel Managing Partner & Head Investor Relations at Chainlink Capital), Jaclynn Brennan (Fyli co-founder), Nacera Belal (COO, co-founder of Landng), Kathleen Ross (CMO of SugarBear), Carey Shuffman director of Head of Women’s Segment Strategy at UBS, Tyler Brosious social media manager at New York Islanders/Adjunct Professor at Iona College, Peter Stein co-founder of Playrs) Nolan Carroll (former NFL player and director of football operations for Jacksonville Academy), Shannon Judd (founder of Transition), Stephen Zimkouski (partner of Celebrity Golf Tournament, Investor & NFT expert), Andy Valmorbida (River Labs founder), Samuel Austin (Chief Technology Officer at Apex Ledger Industries), and other speakers.

Guests enjoyed the Golden Jalapenos food truck as well as bites by Scott’s Protein Balls, juice from Natalie’s, and water from Liquid Death.

I enjoyed meeting all of these fascinating forward-thinking folks, and REALLY happy that I am an early adopter of www.HPEC.io, one of the many tools that is going to help us #TakeMedicineBack. ☤