2/24/25 More Than Aesthetics: Dr. Vip Dev on Surgery, Service & Shortages

The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Monday, February 24th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Management instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement Guest: Dr. Vipul Dev, M. D. website: http://plasticsurgery.vipmd.com/

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From the padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text in at 661-396-1000.

• 0:09Speaker 01

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• 0:29Speaker 02

  Securities offered through SCF Securities, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through SCF Investment Advisors, Inc. SCF Securities, Inc. and Money Wise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.

• 0:39Speaker 00

  Now, let's start the Money Wise Show.

• 0:42Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Gero Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 a.m., 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. Today, we're your hosts. I'm Sharad Waite.

• 1:03Speaker 04

  And I'm Sammy Abiyawie.

• 1:05Speaker 03

  Sammy, happy day, Sammy.

• 1:07Speaker 04

  Happy Monday to you, too.

• 1:08Speaker 03

  We've got a bunch to cover, and we've gotten some great listener questions before we have our guest come on here shortly. My vote is jump right into it.

• 1:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'll start with the first question. I really like this question. "Good afternoon, Money Wise. Can someone retire at 62 with $400,000 in 401K? Have a great day."

• 1:28Speaker 03

  Uh, thank you. Okay, so, you know, the quick answer to that is yeah. Yeah, I mean, somebody could because we don't know more information. So, for example, somebody who's 62 and has $400,000 in their 401K, they may have a big pension, right? Or their social security is enough to cover all of their expenses, and so the $400,000 would last forever. You know, we'd have to have a lot more information to sort of make that calculation. But this brings up, I think, a good conversation, which I've met with people in the past who have a figure in their mind for some reason. They say, "Well, once I get to a million dollars, then I'm going to retire."

• 2:10Speaker 03

  And yet they've never really done any of the of the calculations. And you have to take into account quite a few things that are are difficult for the average person. Thank goodness for us, because that's what's created our career.

• 2:22Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 2:23Speaker 03

  And our business.

• 2:24Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 2:24Speaker 03

  Is that, you know, we have the software, we have the technology and the experience to be able to kind of walk somebody through that. And then not only coming up with what your retirement number is, but also being able to stress test it and being able to show how how each year or whether it's quarterly or every year that we meet, how you're tracking and towards that goal, whether it's, you know, you want to die with a certain amount of money to pass on to your kids, or you want to die with that, you know, no money. It's very nuanced.

• 2:56Speaker 04

  So for me, when I when I saw the question, I thought, is there a percentage that people can base that number on? Then you have like to your point, at sixty sixty two, you you're not eligible for certain medical things like Medicare, correct?

• 3:15Speaker 03

  Right.

• 3:16Speaker 04

  Which you you get sixty five.

• 3:18Speaker 03

  Right.

• 3:18Speaker 04

  Which is a big expense, in my opinion. I mean, healthcare cost is on the rise, it's been on the rise for the last ten, twelve years. At sixty two, you have that three year window that you're going to be having to carry that cost.

• 3:31Speaker 03

  Right.

• 3:32Speaker 04

  So again, I think to your point, shared, little bit more data, maybe, or just input, because you have to have inflation, you have you have healthcare costs, you have, do you have other sources of income? Have you were you able to maybe build a small real estate portfolio of maybe a house or two houses, a couple of apartments that you're collecting rental from?

• 3:53Speaker 03

  Yeah. And what debt do you have?

• 3:55Speaker 04

  Yes, all of that goes into the equation. So definitely there.

• 4:01Speaker 04

  I think it's doable, but definitely seek the advice of a professional or financial advisor, in my opinion.

• 4:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, you're right, Sammy. In addition, one of the rules of thumb that we use is the 4% rule, which is the amount of money that you can withdraw from an account where you hope your money will last 25 or 30 years. So 4% of $400,000 would be about $16,000 a year, about $1,300 a month. So if you add that, plus your social security, and you don't have any debt, maybe you're there.

• 4:37Speaker 04

  Correct.

• 4:38Speaker 03

  Maybe you're within that timeframe. But that's a good place to start, I think, for somebody who's considering retirement, or they're looking at their 401(k) balance, is using that 4% rule. And that rule has changed a little bit, slightly, over the years. It used to be 5%, but then we went through a 20-year low-interest rate environment, and that kind of knocked that down.

• 5:00Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 5:01Speaker 03

  And then you had high inflation, and so, you know, higher inflation, I guess. Now we're back to more of historical averages. But a 4% rule is a good sort of baseline where you can start calculating how much you're going to need. Sometimes people will say, "Well, 4%? That's...I can get 4% at money market, you know, just sending in cash at the bank."

• 5:24Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 5:25Speaker 03

  But you have to remember, the reason why a 4% rule is that case is because it's taking into account inflation, and it's also taking into account required minimum distributions, for example. So from your retirement account, as you get older, at 73, you have to start withdrawing from that account. And it's just under 4% a year that you have to withdraw from. But as you get older, it becomes a higher percentage. So you have to sort of use some averages, which is why a 4% is a good rule right now. That's a great question.

• 6:02Speaker 04

  Very good question. Should we move to the next one?

• 6:04Speaker 03

  Let's do it, yeah.

• 6:05Speaker 04

  How could Trump's tariff proposals potentially intensify current inflation pressures, especially in sectors such as appliances and consumer electronics, where prices are already on the rise?

• 6:15Speaker 03

  This is, yeah, great question. This is where I have said many times before, you know, Americans really like buying that $30 microwave from Walmart.

• 6:26Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 6:26Speaker 03

  And and not maybe realizing that that was made over in China. It was made in in the in their factory where they don't pay what what they pay in other parts of the world, which is, you know, and then the tariffs, which were lower, you know, make it affordable for us, which is why China is this huge exporter and why we are a net importer. We we import so much more than we actually export because they make it cheaper in other parts of the world. So part of President Trump's desire here for tariffs is to try to balance the trade balance and to even the playing field by.

• 7:08Speaker 04

  And bring manufacturing back.

• 7:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:10Speaker 04

  To the United States.

• 7:11Speaker 03

  Right. But in the meantime, it takes a long time to build a factory here and to do manufacturing. So in the meantime, there are concerns, and not just us, economists and others are very concerned about the this being inflationary, the tariffs.

• 7:26Speaker 04

  That's true. So so I just bought a fridge, you know, it costs maybe fifteen hundred bucks, two thousand, depending on how much you want to spend, right?

• 7:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 7:33Speaker 04

  Now with tariffs, if we have twenty percent extra, who do you think is going to pay for that? Is it China or is it me? When I when I check out and I slide my card.

• 7:45Speaker 03

  It's you.

• 7:45Speaker 04

  It's me.

• 7:46Speaker 03

  Yes, Americans will pay that.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 7:48Speaker 03

  Yep.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  And until we get that manufacturing back, it's going to take time to build, you know, factories, train people, have people that the skill set that we actually can compete with other countries where manufacturing is not more abundant like China, like other Asian countries, Korea, even African countries now, right? It's going to take some time, three, maybe four, five years.

• 8:13Speaker 03

  Right.

• 8:14Speaker 04

  Of those high prices until we get there.

• 8:16Speaker 03

  Which I don't think anybody has the political will to go five years, you know, before you can go back and point and say, see, I told you the tariffs would be worth it. That which is by it's always been my take that if we do see this, the tariffs go through and we start to see inflation hit, that's that's going to. likely have, we're going to see a reverse course and change of course in some of these tariffs. That would be my prediction because the almighty dollar and that that that is what really at the end of the day.

• 8:49Speaker 04

  So let me throw something at you to share. Today I read that Apple and another program called the Stargate program. Both are bringing $500 billion of investments over the next four years to the United States. Apple by itself said that they're going to invest $500 billion over the course of the next four years in the United States, increasing jobs, building factories, one of them in Texas. There's another investment group, multiple companies that is doing the same thing. Is that a response to this tariff talk?

• 9:28Speaker 03

  I'm sure it is. I'm sure it has some play into it and it's a good example of there are some benefits to having manufacturing here in the United States would benefit and ultimately Americans will benefit. In the in the long run, there could be a benefit for us, but it's what at what price?

• 9:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 9:49Speaker 03

  And is it worth that? So I don't I don't think that's why I'm saying if this takes four or five years for for for the tariffs to play out and for us for it to be a giant shift of manufacturing to the United States. Okay, I just don't see that. I don't see that working out.

• 10:06Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:06Speaker 03

  Because it's that's too long for people to complain about their refrigerator going from $500 to $1,000. Yeah, whatever it is. And and then the other aspect to this is I'm skeptical that the United States should even be heading that direction in some of these manufacturings because they're they're not they're not super great jobs necessarily. They're going to be as low paying as possible and they're still going to be higher than what what labor costs in other parts of the world is. So you're still at the end of the day, you can be paying more for those products, even though well, maybe you brought some of these jobs over, whereas maybe the focus for Americans should be jobs. That are more forward thinking.

• 10:50Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 10:50Speaker 03

  And more future proof. But it's very complicated and we're playing armchair economists here and

• 10:59Speaker 03

  economics is still in its infancy, I think, as a science. There's a long ways to go before we sort of know how this is supposed to play out. There's one more question. Did you skip the first one?

• 11:09Speaker 04

  Did I?

• 11:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, I can, I can read it.

• 11:11Speaker 04

  Oh, go ahead.

• 11:12Speaker 03

  How could, how could Doge's or Doge big drop in futures trading, open interest, affect its price swings in trading activity, even though its price hasn't changed much? So this is.

• 11:25Speaker 04

  All you shared.

• 11:26Speaker 03

  Yeah, I was gonna say, this is like a really, I had to look up Doge price and see what's going on with Doge coin. So for the, for the listeners out there, but most people, what, what this question is asking is open interest or the futures price of Doge coin. This is essentially what the, the open interest reflects the total number of outstanding futures contracts that haven't been settled. Or sort of another way of saying it is it's showing where the market sentiment is or the potential future volatility is. And if you have less interest in people buying into, into Doge,

• 12:09Speaker 03

  then yeah, in theory, what you'd see is it becomes more speculative and it could be more volatile. And, and so, but I would, I would just first caution anybody that's considering Doge as an investment, that you are buying into something that is incredibly speculative.

• 12:29Speaker 04

  Yeah, sharp, very sharp price swings.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 12:33Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:33Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's super sharp and it's, it's, it's a, it's a digital currency. So you, a currency is only worth what somebody else thinks the value is of it, is there's no intrinsic value to, to the currency. Take the dollar, for example, US dollar, well, I mean, it's just an, the idea is that the government will back. Back it up. You know, the Congress can tax Americans and they'll, they'll pay for what that $1 note is worth. And so it's, you know, it's like, it's in theory, the dollar's worth what the US government is willing to back it up for. But other than that, it's, it's worth whatever the piece of paper is and not worth anything.

• 13:17Speaker 03

  So you take a digital currency, not only is it not made out of anything physical, it's literally, it's just what somebody else is willing to pay for. So if you go in, the classic like pump and dump scheme is, or, or asset bubble, investment asset bubble is, gets to a certain point where all of a sudden the bubble, or that asset has gotten to a price so high, that the next person's like, well, I'm not going to pay for that. And then it just, this quick drop off in value because nobody wants to be left holding the bag. It's like a hot potato. And, you know, at least with some other assets, take, take like a stock, for example,

• 13:58Speaker 03

  it is tied to the assets of the company or the revenues of a company. And, and even if the revenues go down or the company goes bankrupt, you are put on a list of creditors.

• 14:10Speaker 04

  Yes.

• 14:11Speaker 03

  You're below bondholders, but you're, you're on the, on a list where you are owed whatever assets the company has at the end of the day.

• 14:20Speaker 04

  After liquidation.

• 14:20Speaker 03

  Yes. Now, most of the time, we know, especially with stock, this is the risk with stock, that you're, you're, stockholders are very, very seldom left with anything. Especially after they satisfy their bondholders, which they have to satisfy them first. But at least you've got something there. As long as the company is producing revenues.

• 14:39Speaker 04

  A going concern, yeah.

• 14:40Speaker 03

  And they're, they've got assets, then, you know, at least you have something to tie it to.

• 14:45Speaker 04

  Yeah. And you're investing, yes, in the assets of the company, but also the human aspect of that company. That's managing, leading, having the strategy and having the vision. Because as, as an investor, you're going to look at all of that before you buy that stock.

• 14:59Speaker 03

  That's right.

• 15:00Speaker 04

  That's what I would do. Right?

• 15:02Speaker 03

  Right. Right. Yeah. And you have, there's different ways that you can value. Value, a stock and you know Warren Buffett and we might, we may get to what Warren Buffett, you know, some of the things he said in his recent shareholder letter, but he's been famous to, to really be this value investor, which is, hey, I'm, I'm just looking at the numbers, you know, what are the debts, what are the, what are the incomes, what are the assets and how do you, you know, what is the share price? And you can, you know, you can, you can generally tell by taking emotion out of it, whether or not a company is overvalued or undervalued.

• 15:37Speaker 04

  That's true.

• 15:38Speaker 03

  And then now there's always some, some guessing in that, you know, what the management, what, what management's going to do, what, what future value could potentially be because of what management has in place and how they're allocating their assets and their income. There, there's some art involved in that, but generally you can look at a company and anybody can do this, look at it, look at a company's price earnings ratio and that, that can tell you a lot about the company's current value. And you, you know, I've seen so many of these, these, these companies, especially new tech companies, where they don't have the negative earnings.

• 16:18Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 16:18Speaker 03

  A perfect example is, is DJT.

• 16:20Speaker 04

  Oh, okay.

• 16:21Speaker 03

  DJT is, is Trump's stock that was part of a, a SPAC or a, like a blank check company, which it was just essentially a shell of a company, doesn't have, its earnings is almost nothing. It's a few hundred thousand dollars the company made last year. It lost hundreds of millions of dollars and yet its share price is trading at whatever 30 bucks a share. It's like, okay.

• 16:48Speaker 04

  It got up all the way to 90 at one time and then it went down.

• 16:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. So yeah, this big price swing. And so why would people hold that? Well, because they're anticipating that, oh, it's going to turn a corner. Eventually it will, but in the meantime, you're holding a very speculative asset right there because it doesn't have earnings. So what, what are you guessing on? Well, you're, you're banking on management being able to take it off or, or Trump taking office and then something happening and then it goes up. That's a risky, super risky business to be in. Man, I think we did it. We answered those questions.

• 17:23Speaker 04

  We did.

• 17:23Speaker 03

  Let's keep them coming our way. 661-396-1000. That's the number that you can text. We're going to take our first break of the day. We're Money Wise. We'll be right back.

• 17:31Speaker 00

  Are you curious to learn more about how you can be money wise? Check out the Money Wise website at MoneyWiseGuys.com to get more info about what we do.

• 17:47Speaker 03

  Welcome to the Money Wise Show. Sammy Abiyawis here. I'm Sharad Waite. We're your hosts. So excited right now to have our guest, Dr. Vip Dev. Dr. Dev is a is a plastic surgeon, Director of Plastic Surgery at California Institute of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Dev, welcome to the show.

• 18:05Speaker 05

  Well, thank you. Thank you both for having me.

• 18:07Speaker 03

  I got really excited here because just during the break, you were talking about some of your travels and where you essentially get to offer up your skill set of being a plastic surgeon to these underdeveloped countries. And you said, yeah, they don't have HIPAA in Palestine.

• 18:26Speaker 05

  No, and they don't have pain medication there either.

• 18:28Speaker 03

  Oh, man. Holy smoke. So, you know, my first question is, you know, so you're a plastic surgeon. That's got to be a dream come true to be able to actually go and like almost like life altering surgeries for these kids.

• 18:44Speaker 05

  You know, it's really interesting. People always say, why did you become a plastic surgeon? How did you become a plastic surgeon? You know, I became a plastic surgeon because initially, when I was doing general surgery training at Kern Medical, I wanted to be a heart surgeon. Like most general surgeons, we want to be trauma surgeons or heart surgeons, right? And so I was sitting in this break room where the big cardiac surgical group in town was there and I was in their group at that time rotating. And the older, two older surgeons were in the break room and I was taking a break and I just went there to get coffee, really. But they're like, hey, Vip, what are you going to do after general surgery? I said, well, I'm going to be a heart surgeon. He's like, you're an idiot.

• 19:25Speaker 03

  He's a heart surgeon.

• 19:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, he's like, you're an idiot. Why would you want to do that? You see how hard we're working? I'm like, yeah, but it's so cool, you know? And so he's like, listen, you don't want to do that. You want to be a plastic surgeon. I'm like, really? I want to be a plastic surgeon? Are you sure about that? Anyway, like most young surgeons, I didn't listen to him.

• 19:43Speaker 03

  Uh huh.

• 19:44Speaker 05

  So I went and I wanted to be a trauma surgeon, right? And so I'm like, all right, how about trauma surgery? So I was down in San Diego doing another rotation for burns.

• 19:54Speaker 03

  Ah.

• 19:54Speaker 05

  And I noticed that all the burn patients or the trauma patients never remembered the trauma surgeon, but they all knew the plastic surgeon.

• 20:04Speaker 03

  Ah, yeah.

• 20:05Speaker 05

  And I'm like, I get it. Those guys, that's what they were talking about.

• 20:08Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:09Speaker 05

  So I changed and I became a plastic surgeon. Right after that rotation, I'm like, I'm going to be a plastic surgeon. I want, if anything, I want people to remember who helped them.

• 20:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 20:19Speaker 05

  But I didn't realize, now getting to your real, a real answer to your question is, I didn't realize how rewarding plastic surgery was going to be, but I didn't realize how rewarding it was going to be when I came back to the town that I trained in.

• 20:35Speaker 03

  Yeah. Here in Bakersfield. So you did your residency at KMC?

• 20:39Speaker 05

  Yeah, at KMC.

• 20:40Speaker 03

  Wow. And where were you before then?

• 20:42Speaker 05

  So before then, I was still in Bakersfield, right? Before, I mean, went to finish med school and then when I needed to do a residency, I'm like, where am I going to go? And I thought, why don't I just come back to Bakersfield, right? I could live at home because my parents were here. I could live at home, do a residency and like learn everything right here. And it was, at that time, the Kern Medical Center, now it's Kern Medical, but the Kern Medical Center Surgery Training Program was amazing.

• 21:10Speaker 03

  It's world-class, right?

• 21:11Speaker 05

  It was one of the few.

• 21:12Speaker 03

  Trauma surgery?

• 21:13Speaker 05

  Yeah, totally, totally. It was one of the few surgical training programs where the general surgeon did everything. Like, we did neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, ENT, ophthalmology, urology, like, we did everything.

• 21:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:27Speaker 05

  So when you finished here, you were truly a general surgeon.

• 21:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:31Speaker 05

  Right? You could do anything.

• 21:32Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 21:33Speaker 05

  Now it's not that way anymore. Like everything else, you know, you're just.

• 21:37Speaker 04

  Specialized.

• 21:37Speaker 05

  Yeah, you have to go through all these specialty programs. But we were, I mean, we were well trained.

• 21:42Speaker 03

  Yeah, so what, what, what, um, so did you grow up here? Your family was here before?

• 21:47Speaker 05

  So, so my family was here. I grew up basically in Bakersfield and in a small town called Lubbock, Texas.

• 21:53Speaker 03

  Oh, yeah.

• 21:54Speaker 05

  Right?

• 21:54Speaker 03

  Lubbock, that's where, um.

• 21:56Speaker 05

  Buddy Holly.

• 21:57Speaker 03

  Buddy Holly, yeah.

• 21:57Speaker 05

  Buddy Holly, it's always comes up, right?

• 21:59Speaker 04

  Now it's coming back to me. Last time you were here, Garrett Ellis was the lead host.

• 22:03Speaker 05

  Right.

• 22:03Speaker 04

  And you guys talked football.

• 22:04Speaker 05

  That's right. We talked football.

• 22:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, we talked a lot of football because you went to college and you played football.

• 22:08Speaker 03

  Texas Tech?

• 22:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, Texas Tech, right.

• 22:10Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 22:10Speaker 05

  So it was really, it was a good time. We had so much fun in Lubbock, Texas. And when we came to Bakersfield, California, I thought, it's just like Lubbock.

• 22:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:19Speaker 05

  But Bakersfield has mountains around it.

• 22:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:21Speaker 05

  Lubbock has no mountains.

• 22:22Speaker 03

  Right.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  It's all flat and dusty, but it's heavily agriculture and oil, which is what Bakersfield is too. And so it ended up being a pretty good move.

• 22:30Speaker 03

  It, it's such a gem that we have with Kern Medical. The fact that it brings these residents, the residency program is incredible here. But there's a lot of doctors that then go away and go to other places. The fact that you, like, you chose to stay here in Bakersfield. Was there anything besides Kern Medical that attracted you to Bakersfield?

• 22:51Speaker 05

  The people. I'll tell you, the people here are amazing. The people are such good people.

• 22:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 22:58Speaker 05

  And, um, I've got great friends here.

• 23:00Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:01Speaker 05

  I mean, great, great friends that will last me the rest of my life. And, um, I don't have to go out of my way. I don't have to impress anyone. You don't have to do anything. Everyone just kind of takes you for what you are.

• 23:12Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:13Speaker 05

  And when they need you, they call you. And you help them out and they remember that forever.

• 23:18Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 23:19Speaker 05

  You know what I mean? And it's kind of cool. It's, it's, it's been really, it's been a great, uh, great practice for me so far.

• 23:24Speaker 03

  Uh, this is super exciting. Um, I want to take a break here and then come back. I've got so many questions for you. It's not every day I get to talk to a plastic surgeon. And I've got so many questions about that. And kind of my first question was about you going overseas and working in these underdeveloped countries.

• 23:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 23:42Speaker 03

  Um, so I'd love to hear some of these stories. We're joined now by Dr. Dev. He's director. Director of Plastic Surgery at California Institute of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery. I'm Sharad Waite, that's Sammy Abbiay.

• 23:52Speaker 00

  Are you an employee with a company-sponsored retirement plan? Do you fully understand how you're invested? And whether or not you are maximizing your retirement plan's options? For more information on a free assessment, contact MoneyWise's 401(k) Specialist, Justin Leland, at 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.

• 24:20Speaker 03

  Thanks so much for tuning in. We're MoneyWise. I'm Sharad, here with Sammy, joined by our guest, Dr. Vip Dev. He's Director of Plastic Surgery at California Institute of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery. Dr. Dev is one of, what we were just talking about, one of only three

• 24:35Speaker 05

  Three that live in town.

• 24:36Speaker 03

  That live in town.

• 24:37Speaker 05

  Right.

• 24:38Speaker 03

  And one of them is retiring. So, we're going to be down to just two plastic surgeons that live here in our community.

• 24:45Speaker 05

  Right.

• 24:46Speaker 03

  What does that mean? Why is this an issue?

• 24:49Speaker 05

  So, what that means is, our population, when it comes to, you know, first of all, let me step back for just a minute. When we say "plastic surgery," you know what the first thing is? People think it's cosmetic surgery.

• 25:03Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:03Speaker 05

  Right? So, what if I told you this? And just blank out your mind for a minute, but let me walk you through this. Every plastic surgeon is a cosmetic surgeon, but not every cosmetic surgeon is a plastic surgeon.

• 25:17Speaker 03

  Ah.

• 25:18Speaker 05

  Does that make sense?

• 25:18Speaker 03

  That makes sense, yeah.

• 25:20Speaker 05

  So, what does that mean? That means that the reconstructive surgery that everyone talks about is usually done by a plastic surgeon.

• 25:29Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:30Speaker 05

  But that plastic surgeon can also do cosmetic surgery.

• 25:32Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 25:33Speaker 05

  If there's a cosmetic surgeon, that cosmetic surgeon doesn't necessarily, or can do reconstructive surgery.

• 25:41Speaker 03

  Right.

• 25:42Speaker 05

  Two different things.

• 25:43Speaker 03

  Right.

• 25:43Speaker 05

  So, what we need, what the community needs, is a plastic surgeon. A plastic surgeon is going to be able to take care of that 110,000 number that we talk about as the population, right?

• 25:56Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 25:56Speaker 05

  Because what does that mean? That means that that plastic surgeon is going to take care of a facial fracture or a jaw fracture. If you get into an accident and you have a broken bone that's sticking out of the skin, well, the orthopedic surgeon is going to be able to fix the break. But if you're losing skin over that bone, you're going to need a plastic surgeon.

• 26:16Speaker 03

  Right.

• 26:16Speaker 05

  Right?

• 26:17Speaker 03

  Right.

• 26:17Speaker 05

  So that's the part that we're talking about that's really, really needed. Think about the people that become paraplegics. Well, they get pressure ulcers. Christopher Reeve, Superman.

• 26:27Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 26:28Speaker 05

  You know, he had a pressure ulcer, right? He ended up having a neck injury. Guess what? He's going to need a plastic surgeon at some point in his life.

• 26:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 26:36Speaker 05

  That's the plastic surgery that we're talking about. That's the stuff that our community will need. And our community's had a legacy of great plastic surgeons. By the way, I could throw out three or four names for you that historically, if you're 60 or 50 years old plus, you're saying, "Oh, yeah, I remember him. He did surgery on my kid or my son or me."

• 26:54Speaker 03

  Right.

• 26:54Speaker 05

  And these were, yeah, they were all men, actually. These were great men at that time. And they're all retired. A lot of them passed away. Now, we have one more, Dr. Mitz, who's such a great plastic surgeon, but he's going to retire too.

• 27:08Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 27:09Speaker 05

  You see? And so, we need, most societies fill the gap. Most communities, we haven't been able to do that.

• 27:15Speaker 04

  So, Doctor, that's been an issue for our community, for doctors in general.

• 27:20Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 27:21Speaker 04

  Bringing talent to this community has been an issue.

• 27:23Speaker 05

  Right.

• 27:23Speaker 04

  And we're talking about plastic surgeon, which is a specialty, on the top of specialty, it sounds like.

• 27:27Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 27:28Speaker 04

  And what has been your experience trying to recruit here to Bakersfield?

• 27:33Speaker 05

  So, I'd like to tell you the experience has been positive, but that's not the case. And the reason why, and this is a general statement for our community here, if they're listening, is this, is, look, we have to offer something back to these people that have trained.

• 27:48Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 27:49Speaker 05

  And most of these people are usually married because, you know, by the time you finish medical school and you go through training, you're in your late 30s, early 40s. A lot of these people have spouses, partners. or whatever and that person is going to be looking for a career or a community that's going to embrace them and welcome them to this community and they have to work or they have to have the arts they have to have activities their kids have to find things to do and so you have to be able to offer that and our community I think is great for that I grew up here so I know so many people that have that we're not Los Angeles we're not Santa Barbara

• 28:22Speaker 04

  yeah

• 28:23Speaker 05

  right clearly we're not but we have people

• 28:26Speaker 04

  yeah

• 28:27Speaker 05

  right our value are the people that live here and I think that you know we need it's going to take a village to recruit these specialists it's not going to take one person in other words I can get them here but I can't keep them here

• 28:44Speaker 04

  it's not a money thing what I'm hearing you say is hey I can throw as much money as possible but truly for somebody who's got a young family that's now comparing Bakersfield to the Los Angeles Santa Barbara even San Francisco they want something more

• 29:00Speaker 05

  they want something more they want something more and you know how appropriate we're on money wise and we're talking about this right because it's not about always the money

• 29:08Speaker 04

  right

• 29:08Speaker 05

  it's about the overall satisfaction

• 29:12Speaker 04

  that's right

• 29:12Speaker 05

  that we bring to the table right so I can bring them and the plastic surgeon that we hire is going to love it here because it's such a great practice it's you could see so many different patients and a lot of good pathology and our patients by the way are amazing they're so good but remember at home there's a partner or a spouse at home that may be working or may not be working

• 29:33Speaker 04

  hmm

• 29:34Speaker 05

  so what's going to happen to them

• 29:35Speaker 04

  right yeah

• 29:36Speaker 05

  how do we keep them here for that

• 29:38Speaker 04

  yeah

• 29:39Speaker 05

  and so every weekend they want to get away and they want to do something or even in the evenings they want to go out and they want to do something that's going to embrace their their their question for adventure

• 29:52Speaker 04

  yeah

• 29:52Speaker 05

  right

• 29:53Speaker 04

  right

• 29:53Speaker 05

  and so we have to fill that we have to fill that void And you can only do so much to keep them there.

• 29:59Speaker 03

  Yeah, this is, it's really concerning if we don't figure out a way to recruit.

• 30:04Speaker 05

  We have to fix it.

• 30:06Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:06Speaker 05

  I mean, we can't all leave town every week to get our healthcare.

• 30:10Speaker 03

  Right.

• 30:10Speaker 05

  We can't.

• 30:11Speaker 03

  Right.

• 30:11Speaker 05

  It doesn't make sense. So we have to offer it here.

• 30:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:15Speaker 05

  We have to figure that out.

• 30:16Speaker 03

  We've got a listener that just sent a message. He says, "Dev is the real guy and the biggest heart I've ever seen. He worked on my sister years ago at the wound center." So, so you got a fan listening, yeah.

• 30:28Speaker 05

  Yeah, I don't get to hear that all the time, but it's so cool to hear. I love it, you know, it's kinda cool. Which, by the way, the reviews online too, I think that's kinda changed practices overall in healthcare. You know, cause when I, when I was initially practicing, no one placed reviews or there was no such thing.

• 30:43Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 30:44Speaker 05

  Actually, I don't even read them. But the thing is, is that I think that affects things too. And so, you know, if, if we look at how people judge their healthcare and, and, and, and the quality of healthcare and so on, we have such great doctors here right now. The problem is, we're in our 50s and 60s.

• 31:03Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 31:03Speaker 05

  Right?

• 31:04Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 31:05Speaker 05

  So.

• 31:05Speaker 03

  Well, it's so hard to get into, well, first it's very difficult to get into medical school. I have, I, I know of people who've either gone into medical, medical school or just like literally applied for 30 different schools and barely got into one.

• 31:21Speaker 05

  Right.

• 31:21Speaker 03

  It's, it's so competitive. I wish there was a better, I wish it was more accessible for people to get into.

• 31:28Speaker 05

  You're right. And, and, and I think, you know, we're probably getting more philosophical than you'd like to, but I, I think we're looking at maybe, you know, looking at teaching people the importance of medical practice. Right? Like what, what the value is that they bring to the table.

• 31:45Speaker 03

  Mm-hmm.

• 31:46Speaker 05

  And I think that might change, or saying, "Hey, what community are you from?" No one ever asked me that when I was, when I was going through. No one said, "Hey, are you from, you're from Bakersfield?" You know what? It might be really nice if we trained you and molded you to go back to Bakersfield and help out.

• 31:59Speaker 03

  Right, right. Like if someone would have said. You just happen to already have a good perception of your hometown and.

• 32:05Speaker 05

  Totally, totally. But if most people would do that, then maybe we would be training some kids here that are in high school. Right? And for that reason, by the way, we work with ROC. I don't know if you're familiar with ROC.

• 32:16Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 32:17Speaker 05

  So we have ROC students come to us.

• 32:18Speaker 04

  We have one here like.

• 32:20Speaker 03

  An intern.

• 32:21Speaker 04

  An intern.

• 32:21Speaker 05

  They're amazing.

• 32:22Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 32:23Speaker 05

  Right? We have students come with us all the time. And if a high school student or a college student says, hey, you know, I'm interested in being a kind of a plastic, I'm like, yeah, come anytime.

• 32:30Speaker 03

  That's cool.

• 32:31Speaker 05

  Because if we don't foster that, how are they going to know that this is something they want to do?

• 32:36Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 32:37Speaker 05

  And they might want to just come back to the community.

• 32:39Speaker 03

  You know, you bring up the difference between cosmetic surgery and reconstructive or plastic surgery.

• 32:44Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 32:44Speaker 03

  At first time really even crossed my mind because usually I think like most people that think of plastic surgery, they're thinking of Botox and.

• 32:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, right.

• 32:51Speaker 03

  Cosmet- things that are like, you know, just how your appearance is, but it's not, it's not a necessarily like a functionality thing or an issue of her lifestyle.

• 33:03Speaker 04

  Which like the burn center, which Dr. Dev is involved in, and I knew this from years ago, you do a lot of pro bono work.

• 33:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 33:14Speaker 04

  For that center. And at one time you managed it even.

• 33:17Speaker 05

  Yeah, I did. And now it's the Grossman Burn Center, which is so good. Peter Grossman is such a good friend of mine, has been for a long time. And you know, that burn center, by the way, unbeknownst to most people, is a world-class burn center.

• 33:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:31Speaker 05

  You know, across the country, the Grossman Burn Centers have such a great name.

• 33:35Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 33:35Speaker 05

  And it's right here.

• 33:37Speaker 04

  In Bakersfield.

• 33:37Speaker 05

  In our community, you know? I mean, the stuff that we see and do here as surgeons, if people only knew in LA, you know? To give you guys another statistical idea, when I became a plastic surgeon and I was at Hoag Hospital, because I have privileges everywhere, you know how many plastic surgeons we had on staff at one hospital? Sixty-nine.

• 33:57Speaker 03

  Whoa.

• 33:58Speaker 05

  At one hospital, there were sixty-nine plastic surgeons on staff. At that time, you know how many plastic surgeons we had at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital?

• 34:04Speaker 03

  Oh, boy.

• 34:05Speaker 05

  We had three.

• 34:06Speaker 03

  Oh, boy.

• 34:08Speaker 05

  We had three plastic surgeons.

• 34:09Speaker 04

  Again, you're talking about Hoag, is that Orange County?

• 34:12Speaker 05

  Orange County, Newport Beach.

• 34:13Speaker 04

  Newport Beach, right? I mean, the culture, the community, all the stuff that the doctors can

• 34:18Speaker 05

  Right.

• 34:18Speaker 04

  can do for their families.

• 34:20Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 34:21Speaker 04

  That makes sense.

• 34:22Speaker 05

  It makes sense, right? So, think about this. What do you think the average plastic surgeon? How many patients you think they're going to operate on versus the average plastic surgeon in Bakersfield in a day? You see what I mean? Think about the numbers. Obviously, we're going to do so many more cases and have so much more experience

• 34:39Speaker 03

  Right.

• 34:39Speaker 05

  than the plastic surgeons down there.

• 34:41Speaker 03

  Right.

• 34:41Speaker 04

  That's right.

• 34:42Speaker 05

  You think about it.

• 34:43Speaker 03

  So, explain then what you're like? It seems like you're going to be busy all the time. What's your lifestyle like?

• 34:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, so let me tell you. I have, you know, after you've been doing this for so long, the one thing I have, and I think Sammy knows this, is I have the same staff I've had for such a long time. You know what that does? That makes me look like I'm better than I really am.

• 35:05Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:06Speaker 05

  You know? Because they're so efficient and they do things so well and so perfect. It's like a machine. It's a litany, right? They do it so well every single day. So, having said that, basically, my week is Monday through Thursday. And then Fridays are like administrative days, catch-up days, and you know, because the staff has to have time to catch up. So, on Mondays, every Monday without fail, I'm at the Wound Care Center.

• 35:30Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:31Speaker 05

  I operate every Tuesday, Thursday, and then I see patients again on Wednesday. And that's pretty much the schedule. Now, yes, I do other things. I speak around the country. I, you know, I have other groups and we look at primary care and all this stuff, and I help run other things. But those are done on in-between times and all that. It may look like I'm busier than I really am, to be honest with you, because I can do lots of things at the same time while in-between cases I'm operating

• 35:59Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 35:59Speaker 05

  or in the evening, because I'm usually done by 2 or 3 o'clock because it's that efficient. You know, like, we can do 10 surgeries and be done by 3.

• 36:07Speaker 03

  This, this might be a stupid question, but do you, do you get nervous at all anymore? Ever like getting ready to cut?

• 36:15Speaker 05

  No, not at all. You know, I was telling a student this before. I said, look, I've already decided what I'm going to do on the patient from the moment I've, I see them. And usually I have a plan for every single patient before I even walk into the room.

• 36:27Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:28Speaker 05

  So when I'm, when, when a patient comes to me for a consult and I open their chart, I'm like, oh yeah, they're here because they had an accident. All right, great. I know what I'm doing with this patient. So that doesn't change.

• 36:36Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:37Speaker 05

  I will tell you, I had, I decided a long time ago that if I've made my mind up on what I'm going to do for a patient, that's not going to change unless there's a complication in the operating room.

• 36:46Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:47Speaker 05

  Right?

• 36:48Speaker 03

  You've got to be confident.

• 36:49Speaker 05

  That's what I was trained to do, right? I was trained to execute.

• 36:52Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 36:52Speaker 05

  And so I have to execute first. And then the other thing I was trained to do is decide if I'm going to change midstream. And I, it has to be the right decision at that time. So I don't look around. I don't ask them, hey, what do you think I'm going to do here? No, they, they already know. Okay. Vips knows that he's got a problem here. He's going to change it up and this is what's going to happen.

• 37:11Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:12Speaker 05

  Right? That's what I was trained to do.

• 37:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 37:15Speaker 05

  And that can't change.

• 37:16Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah. Otherwise, yeah, I could see the major problems that would come along.

• 37:21Speaker 05

  Right, right.

• 37:21Speaker 03

  So talk about this pro bono work that you've done.

• 37:24Speaker 05

  Yeah. So we have a couple of different programs kind of in place and I'd like to tell you it's, it's like a policy and it's set in stone, but it's really not because it can't be. The one thing that is set is actually after a very good family friend of ours, Katie Kerschman and, or Katie Valentich, rather. And so what, what, she has, she had a history of breast cancer, such a dear family friend of ours. And I decided at one of her birthdays, one of the presents I gave her is, you know, if a patient, if a, if a female comes and she has breast cancer and she can't get help, I'm going to do it and we're going to figure, I'll figure out a way to do it at no cost to her. So we have that program in place to this day.

• 38:07Speaker 03

  Wow.

• 38:08Speaker 05

  So anybody that has breast cancer and they can't get help, I'm going to figure out a way to make sure that they get something back that they want.

• 38:14Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 38:14Speaker 05

  And that's one. The other one is with kids. So if there's a kid- That shows up or the ER calls or someone says, hey, you know, I have a kid with a dog bite. Or there's a family that has a kid that needs help and they can't afford it. I'll get it done. We'll figure out a way and we'll get it done. The other is usually burn patients or if there are any kind of kids with adults or a kid with deformities and they can't get it done, I'll figure out a way. And if I can't do it, then I'll get them to some of my friends wherever they are and we'll figure out a way to get it done. I have ties to the Bunky Clinic in San Francisco. And so I can send them up there and they never say no to anything I send up. And then I have ties to USC and they never say no. So it's a great little, you know, network that you create.

• 39:00Speaker 05

  And I don't like to go through agencies because as I told you before, I don't like bureaucracies. I like to just pick up the phone and call my friend and they say, sure, send them down. That's, I love that because that's what I know Bakersfield to be like.

• 39:12Speaker 03

  Yes. And so you've traveled around the world.

• 39:15Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 39:15Speaker 03

  And we were just talking how you went to Morocco even.

• 39:19Speaker 04

  So Dr. Dev and I, we've known each other for about 15, 16 years, most of my banking career. And one year he's like, hey, I want to go to Morocco and take my family. I'm like, I got the guy.

• 39:31Speaker 03

  Of course you do.

• 39:33Speaker 04

  So I hooked him up with a friend of the family in Morocco who's an American expat living in Morocco with the, he's got a traveling agency. His name is Jaleel and he took a really good care of Dr. Dev, his wife and kids. And a couple of months after, Dr. Dev calls me like, I'm going back to Morocco.

• 39:49Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 39:49Speaker 04

  For what? I'm like, I'm not taking the kids. I'm just going with my wife and we're going to do some, we're going to do some work and we're going to just have fun. I needed like a hundred surgeries on, on kids.

• 39:57Speaker 05

  I mean, you know, when I went there the first time, we met Jaleel and Jaleel introduced me to an ophthalmologist, an eye doctor there. And we were just talking one, just having coffee and talking. He goes, you know, I'm going to be doing surgeries here in February. And we went over Thanksgiving. He goes, we're gonna, we're gonna have these surgeries. We're gonna, I'm sorry, we went over Christmas. And so I'm like, really? Do you need help? And he's like, yeah, we can always use help. I'm like, all right. So we went back in February and I operated with him. And about three other French doctors that came down and we all went to a little town called Dessiria and we operated pretty much all day for two days and it was awesome. We did eyes,

• 40:40Speaker 05

  we did whatever came in. It was really a great time. Really a great time.

• 40:44Speaker 03

  Oh, I can imagine. It just seems like a dream to be able to go and do that kind of stuff and they just had them lined up.

• 40:50Speaker 04

  How rewarding is that?

• 40:51Speaker 05

  How rewarding is that?

• 40:52Speaker 03

  So rewarding.

• 40:53Speaker 05

  I mean, the coolest thing, guys, the really cool thing is there were people lined up in the village, right? And it was a really nice village, by the way, because it's right by the sea. Such a cool town. And there was these people lined up with loaves of bread and little sweets, little things coming to just give to the doctors. You know what I mean? Like, you didn't even know these people. And they're just so cool. It's just like.

• 41:12Speaker 04

  They're so thankful because without you, they would not have had the surgery. They would not have been able to afford the surgery in the first place.

• 41:19Speaker 03

  You know, I've been so envious of doctors. If I was smart, smarter, I would love to be a doctor because in our profession, like, I'm not going to go to a third world and give financial advice. It's not gonna, it doesn't work that way.

• 41:31Speaker 04

  Well, I mean, you helped, shared. I mean, to your credit, when we had the earthquake, you've helped tremendously financially and another thing. And you allowed me to go and have time off. So, no, no, no.

• 41:44Speaker 05

  Everyone has a part. Everyone has a part. I will tell you, I just happen to be lucky that as a physician, you know, this whole trust factor is a big thing now, right?

• 41:54Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 41:54Speaker 05

  What if I told you that I can see patients, I can see someone within five minutes in the office, literally five minutes, and they'll let me operate on them? Like, where does that, you know, where else does that trust factor exist? Nowhere in the world does that exist, where you say, hey, how you doing? My name's Dr. Dev. You have a problem? Yeah, don't worry, we're gonna, we're gonna book you and they show up and I'm operating on them.

• 42:19Speaker 03

  Right, right.

• 42:20Speaker 04

  In my own experience.

• 42:21Speaker 03

  That's pretty crazy.

• 42:22Speaker 04

  I had a car accident and I, one of the first people I called was Dr. Dev. Like, I'm in the ambulance driving to the hospital to KMC. In fact, I called the doctor, he was like, hey, I just got into an accident. He was like, okay, tomorrow morning, you come to the office. The following day, I was in his office, his contact. Dr. Mallory. I don't know if he's retired or not.

• 42:40Speaker 05

  No, he's still working.

• 42:41Speaker 04

  And he got me in my hand and all and I was in pain. Like a lot of pain and I had stitches and all. He took care of me the following day.

• 42:50Speaker 00

  You know, if we're gonna share stories. Oh, yeah. I've got Steven here.

• 42:54Speaker 03

  Did you work on Steven?

• 42:55Speaker 00

  Dr. Dev's the one that saved my life.

• 42:56Speaker 03

  Oh, my gosh. That's why he's so handsome. Right, right, right. You did such a good job.

• 43:02Speaker 05

  And there you go.

• 43:06Speaker 05

  And that wasn't charity work at all, though. I mean, you know, it just.

• 43:08Speaker 00

  No. Well, I had a bad run with the, uh, with the different hospital and, you know, went home and killed the MRSA and had all this and, uh, a good friend of mine and, and his Scott, put us together and, uh, you know, he, he saved my life. He let me pick my own hospital if, if I was comfortable with and, you know, within 48 hours, I was walking in, back home with my family. So I, I am truly blessed and, uh, I always tear up every time I see him, but I love.

• 43:35Speaker 03

  I've heard you talk about Dr. Dev before, now just make, now making that connection, but you've,

• 43:40Speaker 05

  So that's a clear example, like where, you know, where are you gonna meet someone, right? That you don't really know, because I didn't know him, really that well at all before I had to hurt him, but, you know, he let me open his, open his skull.

• 43:52Speaker 03

  Right.

• 43:53Speaker 05

  And put it back, just because, just because.

• 43:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 43:56Speaker 05

  He just heard that it's a possibility.

• 43:58Speaker 03

  Right. And just trusting you know what you're doing.

• 44:00Speaker 05

  I'm like, you know, are you really sure about this? Because I'm a plastic surgeon. You know that, right?

• 44:04Speaker 03

  But also, like, coming back to the community in Bakersfield thing, you, you like, you know, you, he's, he's your neighbor, you know, he lives here and, and here you are and, you know, we're.

• 44:14Speaker 04

  You're gonna see him at Costco.

• 44:15Speaker 03

  Yeah. Yeah, we gotta get that message out to more plastic surgeons and get more plastic surgeons here.

• 44:21Speaker 05

  The rewarding of, of, of your job, right? It's, it's really satisfaction.

• 44:26Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:26Speaker 05

  Job satisfaction is so key.

• 44:28Speaker 03

  Yes. Yeah. So the, you mentioned the trust factor also here with doctors. Is, is it, is it different overseas? I mean, is, is America the place to go to, to get to become a, a doctor or surgeon? Still?

• 44:42Speaker 05

  Well, I'll tell you what, you know, um, do you remember this, this whole thing with doctors being a noble profession?

• 44:47Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 44:47Speaker 05

  Right? Remember that? I mean, I, I heard that growing up all the time.

• 44:50Speaker 03

  Sure.

• 44:51Speaker 05

  So I'll be candid because I, I can with you guys, right? I, I think in our country, the, the noble profession is going away. In other countries, not so much. In other countries, I think there's still that that that little aura that that you have as a physician in the community.

• 45:10Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:10Speaker 05

  Especially in smaller, you know, it still exists in parts of Europe, parts of Asia, it still exists. I think the the the presence of physicians on social media and doing all this other stuff has kind of changed the view of society as we see physicians. But again, you know what? I'm an older guy talking about it. I think you could talk to another thirty year old physician that might have a totally

• 45:32Speaker 03

  Different view on it.

• 45:33Speaker 05

  And I'm also, you know, I still have the Bakersfield kind of conservative view on that, right? But that doesn't mean it's right. I'm just telling you that that's how I see it. And I I think that's changing a little bit as far as how society sees physicians, because when I grew up, we couldn't, we couldn't review anything, we couldn't post any, I couldn't go tell someone, you know, so I think we're held to a different standard now.

• 45:58Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 45:58Speaker 05

  Which is fine. I think being held to a different standard is amazing, right? That makes all of us better.

• 46:02Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:03Speaker 05

  But we should be better. I think as physicians, our goal should always be better and better and better the more we practice. We should become better and better at taking care of the patients that we're supposed to.

• 46:18Speaker 03

  Do you see anything on the horizon or anything that's happening right now in your field of medicine that that's exciting or innovating?

• 46:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah. So I'll tell you what, AI.

• 46:28Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 46:29Speaker 05

  You know, you guys have heard about this already, but I think in the in the healthcare world, you know where I think AI is really good is right now, not my practice, but other like family practice, internal medicine, where you see these guys have all these problems of patients, so they have to enter stuff on the computer, so the patient's back here and they're facing the screen. I think AI is going to allow them to look at the patient and AI is going to record the note. Perfectly.

• 46:56Speaker 03

  Yes.

• 46:56Speaker 05

  I think that's gonna help tremendously. Because now they don't have to worry about gee, did you get all that? Did you, you know, did you check this or that or not? It's not gonna matter.

• 47:05Speaker 03

  I've seen some of the studies that are showing the efficacy of AI and analyzing like CAT scans and X-rays. And it's like beating humans.

• 47:15Speaker 05

  Right.

• 47:15Speaker 03

  It's better.

• 47:16Speaker 05

  And quicker.

• 47:17Speaker 03

  And quicker, yeah.

• 47:18Speaker 05

  Quicker, right? So that's good. The only place that I think it won't is truly hands-on surgical.

• 47:24Speaker 03

  Ah, no, so the robots, huh? You're skeptical of the robots?

• 47:28Speaker 05

  Well, no, well, I'm not skeptical of the robots, cuz I see it. I see the Da Vinci being used by my colleagues regularly. I don't know if the touch and feel is the same as a human, right? In other words, when I touch your skin versus a robot touching your skin, are they gonna sense the same thing that I am?

• 47:47Speaker 03

  Right, no way.

• 47:48Speaker 05

  I have no idea.

• 47:49Speaker 03

  Not right now. I don't think it's, especially, I mean, in, in, in plastic surgery.

• 47:53Speaker 05

  Right.

• 47:53Speaker 03

  You think especially.

• 47:54Speaker 05

  Correct.

• 47:55Speaker 03

  It's gonna be, it's gonna be a while before that happens.

• 47:58Speaker 05

  Yes, exactly. I think that's gonna take a, a, a, quite a bit of time.

• 48:02Speaker 04

  But also the variables. I mean, you, you said that you pivot sometimes.

• 48:05Speaker 05

  Right.

• 48:05Speaker 04

  Like in the middle of the surgery, you have to make a decision and pivot.

• 48:08Speaker 05

  Right.

• 48:09Speaker 04

  I mean, is, is, is the robot gonna be able to do that?

• 48:11Speaker 05

  Are they gonna be able to do that?

• 48:12Speaker 04

  You know, I don't know.

• 48:13Speaker 03

  I don't know either.

• 48:14Speaker 05

  Well, I mean, you know, I, I don't know AI, but if I think about it, it's an algorithm, right? It's a constant algorithm.

• 48:20Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:21Speaker 05

  But I don't always have a constant algorithm.

• 48:23Speaker 03

  Right. Yeah. I mean, it, it's, it's proving itself in so many different fields. It's probably a matter of time before, you know, it catches up to some of these things. But any advice that you would give to anybody that's thinking of getting into medicine?

• 48:39Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think, I think it's still a great profession. I think it's incredibly rewarding. The last thing I'll tell you is, it's what you make it. I mean, if you want to get in because you really, really love it and don't worry about all the other noise, you're going to love it forever. And it's one that you can do forever.

• 48:57Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 48:57Speaker 05

  Literally, you could practice for a long time.

• 48:59Speaker 03

  Right.

• 48:59Speaker 05

  You don't have to retire at 62 or 65.

• 49:01Speaker 03

  Right.

• 49:02Speaker 05

  Okay. I think the only other last thing is, I think, choose your communities that are a little smaller.

• 49:09Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 49:09Speaker 05

  And I think you will enjoy it more. But then again, what do I know, right?

• 49:13Speaker 03

  You're a little biased.

• 49:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'm a little biased, right?

• 49:16Speaker 03

  I'm so glad you're biased, and I know our listeners are as well. And the community is so grateful that you're here.

• 49:21Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 49:21Speaker 03

  And giving back in this way. Dr. Dev, thanks so much for coming on the show.

• 49:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, thank you, guys. I love it. It's great. I love being here.

• 49:28Speaker 03

  Yeah, it's been super fun talking to you. Again, that's Dr. Dev. He is the Director of Plastic Surgery at California Institute of Cosmetic and Reconstructive Surgery and a huge benefit here to Kern County and Pakersfield. We want to remind all of our listeners, if you missed any of this or previous shows, you can go to MoneyWiseGuys.com. You can also listen to us wherever you listen to your podcasts, whether it's Spotify, Apple Music, we're there. Also, remember these three things as we leave: be smart, be safe, and always be Money Wise.

• 50:05Speaker 02

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