I met Alexis Milligan at a theater workshop for medical educators and immediately ran up to her afterward and said: can you please come on my podcast? Alexis is a movement director, actor, director, and the creator of the Theater of Medicine program at the Shaw Festival. This conversation is about what clinicians can learn from performers about presence, embodiment, and showing up fully for the humans in front of us. We talk about imposter syndrome, two-way theater as a metaphor for the clinical encounter, and why movement, sound, and image are just as essential to communication as words and numbers.

Connect with Alexis:

https://www.alexismilligan.com/

Theatre of Medicine program: https://trellis.org/theatreofmedicine

Creating Space 2026 is open for enrollment! Book your connection call with Joan - head to joanchanmd.com/space

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

Dr. Risa Adams is back for our fifth and final recorded IFS session together, and is a direct follow up from part 4 where I connect with a part stuck in a humiliating grade 4 classroom moment. Risa guides me through the unburdening process, and I share a song that this know-it-all part helped me write! Thank you for all your support of this vulnerable series, it’s been so meaningful and rewarding to share with you.

Connect with Risa: http://ifsmedicine.ca/

Creating Space 2026 is open for enrollment! Book your connection call with Joan - head to joanchanmd.com/space

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

It's the four-year anniversary of The Other Human in the Room, and I am reflecting on what's needed to die this past year — in my podcast, my teaching, my roles, my marriage — and what's quietly being born. From a three-month hiatus to a commencement keynote to becoming a co-site director to a poetry book I'm apparently writing now, this year has been less about building and more about composting.

Creating Space 2026 is open for enrollment! Book your connection call with Joan - head to joanchanmd.com/space

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

This week is all about inviting you to Create Space with me (Joan) this fall! Listen to the audio version of the Creating Space workshop, which includes a detailed description of the course and retreat.

Book your connection call with Joan: joanchanmd.com/space

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

Dr. Laura Vater is a medical oncologist, writer, and advocate for clinician humanity. In this conversation, we go deep on what it actually looks like to protect yourself inside a system that wasn't built with you in mind. We talk about sleep deprivation, suicidal ideation during training, and how Laura found the courage to advocate for change — not all at once, but through longitudinal relationships and slowly building trust. We also geek out together on teaching: how to show up for learners without losing your mind, why the "human skills" deserve the one-sheet, and what it means to lead with what you actually care about. If you've ever felt like you were trying to fit into a version of medicine that wasn't quite yours, this one's for you.

Connect with Laura:

https://www.lauravater.com/

https://www.instagram.com/doclauravater/

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

Dr. Risa Adams is back for our fourth recorded IFS session together, and this one goes somewhere I didn't expect: deep into a nine-year-old version of me who raised her hand in class, got laughed at, and quietly decided that not knowing things was dangerous. We explore what it means to really meet a part of yourself; not to fix her or convince her, but to let her feel genuinely witnessed. If you've ever been hard on yourself for caring too much about what people think, this episode is for you.

Connect with Risa: https://www.risaadamsmd.com/

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

What happens when a nurse and a pediatrician decide that the antidote to moral distress might be poetry, circles, and the Artist's Way? In this episode, I sit down with Laura Holford, RN and Dr. Anu Gorukanti, co-founders of Introspective Spaces, to talk about contemplative practice, community care, and what it actually looks like to bring your whole weird human self to work. We get into activism, interfaith community, blackout poetry in the NICU, and why creativity isn't a luxury — it's an ethical necessity. This one lit a little firework show in my brain, and I think it might do the same for you.

Connect with our guests:

https://www.introspectivespaces.com

https://www.instagram.com/introspectivespaces/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/introspectivespaces/

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

What do dirty dishes and a miscategorized inbox task have in common? More than you'd think. In this episode, I sit down with Alison Jamison — coach for women physicians and certified Fair Play facilitator — to talk about the invisible labor that quietly fuels resentment at home and at work. We dig into Eve Rodsky's Fair Play framework: the idea that true delegation means handing over conception, planning, and execution, not just the doing. If you've ever felt like you're carrying the mental load alone, or wondered why collaborations keep breaking down, this one's for you.

Connect with Alison:

Workbook - https://www.alisonjamison.com/fairplay

IG: https://www.instagram.com/alison_jamison_coaching/

Fair Play Website - https://www.fairplaylife.com/

And the direct link to the cards - https://fairplaypolicy.org/the-cards

Learn more about Hippocratic Collective: https://hippocraticcollective.org/

Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joanchanmd

P.S. If you've been wondering what Creating Space actually looks and feels like from the inside, the next cohort starts in October and registration is open now!

Head to joanchan.com/space to book your connection call with me