Ep. 152 - Make The Why Your Compass (w. Dr. Alister Martin, MD, MPP)

 

Really excited to be back with you guys as we get to speak with an incredible individual with a truly remarkable story that stands out as a true example of both passion and purpose.

From his humble New Jersey beginnings,  and by overcoming his fair share of personal struggles, Dr. Alister Martin's own sense determination and fierce conviction eventually led him to both an MD from Harvard Medical School as well as a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

He is an emergency physician who straddles the worlds of medicine, public health, and social justice. He is also faculty at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Social Justice and Health Equity at Harvard Medical School. 

Dr. Martin previously served as Chief Resident at MGH/Brigham Hospital. He now leverages his background in politics, healthcare policy, and the field of behavioural economics to use the ED as a place to build programs that serve the needs of vulnerable patients.

He leads programs that: transition homeless patients into permanent supportive housing, get patients struggling with addiction into recovery, and offer patients who are unregistered voters the opportunity to register to vote through a program called VotER. 

His work has been written about in the Boston Globe as well as NPR.

I'm honoured for Dr. Martin's generous time in being on the podcast as we discuss the selflessness of caring for our fellow human being, the importance of vision and purpose, being solution-driven when wanting to solve problems, relentless mindset...and so much more.

Dr. Martin's incredible parting quote :

"Lately I have come to the conclusion, and you may disagree, that pretty much every experience we have moves us either toward life or away from it. There are some things that suck the life out of you, that make you feel smaller and less human, that alienate you from yourself; they calcify your fear and carve a monument out of your emptiness. Then there are those that bring you closer to life, that grow in you the desire to create, to nurture, to see beautiful things and become them. This is the love that increases your attachment to people and animals, makes you smile at children or go outside to see the moon. Every experience is either life-affirming or life-denying.

There is just one trick. It sometimes happens that to move toward love — true, active, life-affirming love — means to move toward death."

 

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