Dr. Kate Gfeller on Cochlear Implants, Music Perception, and Becoming Yourself

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Kate Gfeller, PhD, Professor Emerita at the University of Iowa, about her career studying music perception, enjoyment, and rehabilitation for people with hearing loss, including NIH-funded work with cochlear implant users. Gfeller shares growing up on a rural Iowa farm amid a “tall poppy” culture of fitting in, and a pivotal moment when her father told her being like everyone else is not a life goal. She describes early mentors, scholarships, sexism in academia, and how she entered cochlear implant research by quickly preparing for an interdisciplinary opportunity and learning from surgeons and engineers. She discusses patient-centered research and offers strategies for living with hearing loss: accessible information, clinician coaching to apply it, building self-efficacy and self-advocacy with community support, and recognizing the impact of fatigue. She closes with reflections on identity, mentorship, kindness, and freedom of thought.

00:00 Meet Dr Kate Gfeller

01:52 Farm Girl Big Dreams

04:12 Tall Poppy Lessons

05:22 Path to a PhD

06:41 Breaking Into Research

08:57 Imposter Syndrome to Strength

09:58 Patient Centered Hearing Loss Insights

11:16 Three Keys to Self Advocacy

13:45 Growth Mindset and Asking for Help

14:47 Identity Kindness and Closing

New Roles, Shifting Identity, and Belonging

July 1 marks a common transition time for medical trainees, faculty, and others moving into new roles. Identity can shift when ending one chapter and starting another, a theme also present in Christine's middle-grade novel-in-verse, Love Language, releasing August 4th. Da Eun Yoon, the narrator of the audiobook, was featured on last week’s podcast and touched on how being bilingual and living in or visiting other countries can affect identity.

00:00 Welcome Back

00:02 New Roles July 1

00:09 Identity Shifts Ahead

00:16 Love Language Preview

00:26 Audiobook Narrator Spotlight

00:39 Support the Podcast

00:44 Holiday Sign Off

Da Eun Yoon on Names, Voice Work, and Living Between Cultures

Christine interviews multilingual actor, voice artist, and audiobook narrator Da Eun Yoon, announcing her as the narrator of the middle grade novel in verse Love Language (out August 4). Da Eun shares the meaning of her Korean name and her changing English names, describing challenges introducing “Da Eun” at Northwestern and eventually embracing it. She recounts moving to New York after graduating from Northwestern (2023), being encouraged to try voiceover, and discovering audiobook narration as a career. The conversation explores her upbringing in Korea speaking English at home, identity crises and accent work in both languages, the “shadowing” method for learning pronunciation, and feeling different across Korea and the U.S. She discusses passion as acting despite fear, her work as storyteller/translator bridging cultures, uncertainty about where to live, and how narrating Love Language resonated with her.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:07 The Story Behind Her Name

01:55 English Names and Identity

04:06 Announcing Love Language

04:37 Career Path to Audiobooks

06:34 Living Between Cultures

09:27 Relearning Korean and Shadowing

11:32 Northwestern and Family Talk

12:24 Finding Passion and Fear

14:10 Where to Live Next

15:18 Final Thoughts on Love Language

16:14 Thanks and Goodbye

Redefining “Normal” After Traumatic Brain Injury: Dr. Maria Stella Bonn on Disability, Advocacy, and Checklists

On The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Dr. Maria Stella Bonn, Associate Professor of Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, discusses her 2011 bicycle accident–related traumatic brain injury and her writing on disability and “normal,” including the idea that everyone’s baseline varies. She reflects on unpredictable health changes, including a breast cancer diagnosis two years after her TBI, and how recovery reshaped her views on capability and judgment. Bonn says she wishes others would assume people are okay and let actions demonstrate abilities, offering a story of walking her kindergarten-aged child to school during recovery. She emphasizes the importance of an advocate, describing how her husband ensured therapies occurred, pushed her to persist, and helped expedite replacement of her skull flap after an emergency craniectomy. She also discusses improving information handoffs in healthcare and co-parenting through simple checklists.

00:00 Meet Dr Maria Bonn

00:35 The Bike Accident

01:27 Normal Versus Disabled

03:26 Life Can Change Fast

05:05 Cancer After TBI

07:02 What Disability Means

08:37 Recovery With Her Child

09:17 Why You Need An Advocate

11:29 Medical Handoffs And Checklists

13:28 Closing Thanks

Dr. Jason L. Hornick on Balancing Academic Pathology, Parenting, and Personal Passions

Christine interviews Dr. Jason L. Hornick, a senior soft tissue and bone pathologist and academic leader, about balancing a demanding academic career with family and self-care. Hornick shares a personal love of cats and discusses parenting twins while managing work, emphasizing the importance of an understanding partner, being fully present at home, and separating clinical work from family time. He describes waking early to write and edit, prioritizing about seven hours of sleep, and critiques medical training culture that normalizes self-neglect and fatigue. Hornick highlights cooking and returning to rock music after a long break as key outlets that reduce burnout and model a well-rounded life for children. Professionally, he describes shifting from primary research to editing journals and textbooks and advises learning to say no to invitations to protect time and wellbeing.

00:00 Meet Dr Hornick

01:09 Cats And Family

02:01 Parenting And Academia

04:11 Early Mornings Sleep

06:00 Self Care In Medicine

07:39 Cooking As Therapy

08:37 Returning To Rock Music

10:12 Hobbies Prevent Burnout

12:31 Work Life Culture Shift

13:35 Evolving Academic Focus

16:16 Research Without Goals

17:07 Learning To Say No

18:46 Closing Thoughts Mentorship

Finding Your Niche in Medicine with Ophthalmic and Dermatopathologist Dr. Anna Stagner

Christine interviews Dr. Anna Stagner, a Harvard Associate Professor and Massachusetts Eye and Ear director who is board certified in ophthalmology, anatomic pathology, and dermatopathology and has authored nearly 100 publications. Stagner shares her background growing up in a small town in northern Arizona and her path from ophthalmology to ocular pathology, anatomic pathology, and dermatopathology. She advises exploring interests even if unconventional, prioritizing what you enjoy over what you’re merely good at, and not fearing major training changes. For productivity, she recommends saying yes to meaningful projects, changing environments to work effectively, and using daily Post-it task lists. She discusses aligning career choices with personality, seeking helpers, her trainee-focused sign-out workday, and cautions that choosing a subspecialty makes you the destination for difficult cases in that area.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro

01:12 Podcast Chit Chat

01:32 Small Town Origins

02:38 Finding Your Passion

04:24 Productivity Habits

07:08 Changing Paths and Self Insight

09:18 Choosing the Unconventional Route

10:38 Specialty Planning Resources

12:18 A Day in Ocular Pathology

14:14 Picking Your Niche Wisely

15:45 Wrap Up and Thanks

Dr. Paul Han on Uncertainty in Medicine and Building Tolerance Through Adaptation

In this episode of The Girl Doc Survival Guide, Christine interviews Dr. Paul Han, an NIH Senior Scientist specializing in risk communication, medical decision-making, and uncertainty in healthcare, whose career shifted from general internal medicine and palliative care to research via an NCI cancer prevention fellowship. Han shares that persistent “gray zone” questions in primary and end-of-life care, plus personal circumstances like spousal support and financial stability, enabled his mid-career leap into the unknown. He explains uncertainty as two-sided: something healthcare tries to reduce but also a necessary source of curiosity for clinicians and hope for patients, especially in serious illness. Han connects uncertainty to cognitive biases as flawed attempts to regain certainty, and reframes “uncertainty tolerance” from merely enduring anxiety to situation-specific adaptation, emphasizing virtues such as humility, flexibility, and courage; he also notes his own recent prostate cancer diagnosis.

00:00 Meet Dr Paul Han

01:31 Midcareer Leap to Research

03:58 Drawn to Gray Zones

04:40 What Enables a Big Switch

06:48 Uncertainty as Friend and Foe

11:15 Why Uncertainty Feels Scary

13:48 Biases Born From Uncertainty

15:37 Rethinking Uncertainty Tolerance

18:32 Virtues for Adaptive Care

21:15 Letting Go of Outcomes

23:22 Closing Thoughts

Dr. Sook-Bin Woo on Adventure, Mentorship, and High Standards in Oral Pathology

Christine interviews Dr. Sook-Bin Woo, DMD, an expert in oral and maxillofacial pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, about her career, training, and life lessons. Woo shares a formative post–dental school adventure climbing Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia and a dangerous trip across Borneo, and describes later solo travel to Turkey. She explains pursuing oral pathology far from home and being shaped by rigorous “old school” mentorship emphasizing exacting standards and articulating what you do know, while also valuing humility when diagnoses remain uncertain. Woo advises early-career academics to collaborate with peers slightly ahead, discusses the importance of emotional and cultural intelligence in training and patient care, and reflects on challenges as a woman and immigrant, including limited maternity leave, wage disparities, and raising two children with long commutes and childcare support. She closes by urging curiosity and kindness.

00:00 Meet Dr Woo

00:52 Mount Kinabalu Adventure

03:32 Wasp Stings and Jeep Ride

05:11 Solo Travel in Turkey

05:53 Choosing Oral Pathology

06:51 Old School Training Standards

08:38 Rigor with Kindness

10:34 When You Truly Dont Know

12:28 Career Advice and Allies

13:39 Emotional Intelligence Matters

15:35 Women Immigrant Challenges

17:30 Raising Kids and Commuting

20:13 It Will Work Out

21:20 Curiosity and Kindness