THE HOUSE BRAZERYEN: 16JUL2024 š
Goobie and Doobie
Dearest Brazeryens: Can you believe what just happened? Central Cee dropped Mads for Ice Spice. WTF?
[Welcome to Issue Number 60 ofĀ The House Brazeryen, where we break down the latestĀ #ScientistCEO-related tings for you fortnightly, in roughly 5 minutes. Brought to you byĀ Brazen Bio,Ā Brazen CapitalĀ andĀ brainsurgerydropout.]
Was this forwarded to you? Mash this subscribe button, homie.
RE: THE *OTHER* BRAIN SURGERY DROPOUT
byĀ W. Shawn Carbonell, MD, PhD ā This week millions of people met Dr. Goobie in a viral YouTubeā¦
Heās a soft-spoken, freshly minted neurosurgeon who became increasingly disillusioned with his craft to the point of quitting altogether just a year after finishing residency training (fall 2023).
Dr. Goobie now makes YouTubes of nature with his dogāDoobieāand is being celebrated online for his courage (as well as being attacked by triggered haters).
BRAIN SURGERY DROPOUT, V1
As someone who also quit neurosurgery for related reasons, I suppose Iām one of only a handful of people in the world who can deeply relate with what Goobie is going through (as summarized by @safari7965 in the comments):
A former neurosurgeon, decided to quit his high-paying, well-respected job ā¦ because he realized that the surgeries he was performing were not addressing the root causes of patients' health issues. Despite initially pursuing neurosurgery with the goal of relieving suffering and helping people, he found that lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, stress management, and social support played a crucial role in patients' healing. This realization caused a moral dilemma for him, as the medical system's focus on profitable treatments like surgeries and medications conflicted with his understanding of true healing. With the support of his wife, he left his job to seek a more fulfilling and authentic life, despite the uncertainty and lack of a clear plan for the future.
Of course, I jestā¦ remove the medical context and insert your own industry (esp, academia lol) and this is something literally EVERYONE deals with in their life sooner or later.
The only question is whether you:
ignore it (likely the majority of people)
be the change (e.g., me when I wagered everything to found my biotech startup),
or John Galt it (e.g., Goobie and Doobie in the woods).
These are not mutually exclusive, e.g., Dr. Goobie with his new six figure YT following may now be able to monetize āJohn Galting itā in the name of ābeing the changeā.
SERIAL DROPOUT
The benefit of having dropped out of neurosurgery a full seven years prior to Dr. Goobie is that Iāve been afforded the opportunity to subsequently become disillusioned and deeply pained internally with many more things beyond neurosurgery and our medical system. lol.
I neednāt remind you of my thoughts on academiaā¦
To that we may also add my subsequent disillusionment with biotech startups, biotech venture capital, big biopharma, the FDA regulatory process, nonprofit institutionsā¦
The disillusionment isnāt necessarily an inherent aspect of these things existing, but rather itās the perverse incentives that have emerged as a side-effect of capitalism, e.g., profit-driven surgical imperative in the lucrative field of spine surgery (where typical spine surgeons like Dr. Goobie make seven-figures annually) over doing what is really best for patients long-term.
In response to this wealth of disillusionment, Iāve largely made the decision to ābe the changeā, but of course, Iām still very early on these journeys and Iām reporting to youāreal-timeāin this newsletter.
Maybe check back again in a decade (or *hint* next issue).
BRAZEN BREAKDOWN
In a sense, I have somewhat āJohn Galted itā in that I quit my startup (in 2019) and recently traded La La Land for my native Seattle where I am closer to family, have cultivated a community of DOZENS of pickleball addicts who I see almost daily, sleep easy, spend mornings in the garden with coffee, and live across the street from a secluded state park where I am often found forest bathing (all that is missing is my own Doobie).
Again, not mutually exclusive.
š BRAZEN SNAX
š§¬ You CANNOT model a disease in a dish, but I guess do it anyway
š¶ Cute published study on pet dogs and pigs by citizen scientists
š More evidence nuking your microbiome early is bad in the long run
š The case for python fangs in rotator cuff injury repair
š¬ Getting sued by big pharma is a good problem to have they said
š§ How to see open science not as a hurdle but a way to fortify your work
š“š¼ When is the right time to take way āpepawās keysā
ā° TikTokCrak:Ā itās time to scrub the crabs š§½ š¦
šŖ CARVEOUT
The aforementioned viral YouTube video: āI was an MIT educated neurosurgeon now Iām unemployed and alone in the mountains how did I get here?ā
One of my favorite comments explains why you should watch this raw 45 minute video: āYou did something 99.9999% of people would never be able to do (become a neurosurgeon) and now youāre doing something 99.9999999999% of people would never be able to do - living a fulfilling life.ā
šš½ A DOSE OF GRATITUDE
We are grateful for MIT educated neurosurgeons who quit and share their story for the benefit of millions.
š BRAZEN MEME
š BRAZEN THOUGHTS
āLife is the cruelest teacher because first it gives you the test and then it gives you the lesson.ā
āDavid Dunning as attributed to Vernon Law
āļø FEEDBACK
>99% of you donāt smash the like button and even fewer leave a comment! Itās actually pretty easy to doā¦ and letās continue the convo on X:Ā @brazencapital