Not every Life of Flow story is about medicine… sometimes it’s about Miguel’s wine operation in Texas 🤦🏻♂️🍷 This episode with Dr. Mike Watts has it all: sketchy garages, $248k cellars, and what it takes to understand wine like a sommelier. Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #87.
In this week’s episode, our guest takes us far beyond the OR and into the vineyards 🍇 Dr. Mike Watts, physician, collector, and certified sommelier, shares how a honeymoon in Napa became a $248k wine cellar, 1,000+ hours of training, and a second life studying vintages with the same intensity as medicine. A story of discipline, precision, and why the right bottle matters more than its price tag (and how to spot it 😉). Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #87.
What does it take for a physician to turn a personal interest into one of the most impressive wine collections in the country? In this week’s episode, Mike Watts, MD, FSIR, shares how a four-day honeymoon in Napa sparked a passion that led to over 1,000 hours of sommelier training and a wine cellar valued at $248,000. He explains how a professor’s wine shop nudged him beyond casual drinking, why White Burgundy still tops the hierarchy of fine wines, and how the history of the Mission grape shaped Napa’s earliest vintages. Mike also breaks down the NDA wine market, where top bottles are sold to protect brand prices, the pitfalls of auctions, and why wineries sometimes hold back their best years. 🎧 If you’ve ever wondered what collectors chase at auctions, why sommeliers obsess over Burgundy, or which wines under $15 to avoid, this episode is for you. 02:43 First encounters with wine during medical school 04:29 Honeymoon in Napa and realizing wine is science, art, and agriculture 06:31 Discovering Burgundy and why White Burgundy is considered the best in the world 13:07 Studying wine like radiology: how tasting follows a diagnostic flow sheet 24:18 From hobbyist to 1,000 hours of sommelier training 36:20 Miguel’s wine and the sketchy Texas garage pickup story 42:57 NDA wines and the hidden economy of scarcity and secrecy 50:20 Why the world’s best wines aren’t red 55:00 Inside a $248K wine cellar and what it takes to build one 57:10 What causes wine headaches (and it’s not sulfites) 💡 Who Should Listen This episode is for wine lovers curious about rare bottles and auctions, sommeliers looking to sharpen their craft, collectors building a cellar, and anyone who enjoys learning the stories and economics behind fine wine. About Mike Watts, MD, FSIR Mike Watts, MD, FSIR, is an interventional radiologist at the Vascular Institute of Atlantic Medical Imaging, dedicated to providing the highest level of service through clinical excellence and a commitment to patient and family-centered care. He is also a Partner at the Vascular Institute of Atlantic Medical Imaging in southern New Jersey. Dr. Watts graduated from Colgate University in 2002 with a major in Chemistry. He attended the University of Buffalo for his medical training, earning his MD in 2006, completed a surgical internship and radiology residency at the Cleveland Clinic in 2011, and his fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. Dr. Watts has specialized in advanced peripheral arterial disease techniques, minimally invasive cancer treatments, venous disease, and the management of portal hypertension. He has been invited to speak on these topics at multiple regional, national, and international conferences. Committed to education, he acted as the Interventional Radiology fellowship director and the University of Pennsylvania and created one of the first Interventional Radiology residencies in the country. His devotion to hands-on teaching of complex techniques has driven him to continuous improvement through a commitment to life-long learning and innovation of novel procedural techniques. Since 2016, he has been committed to limb preservation, treating CLI on a full-time basis using advanced and innovative techniques to bring unsurpassed quality of care to patients throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Outside of medicine, Dr. Watts has invested over 1,000 hours in wine education at the Wine School of Philadelphia, achieving Level 5 certification and building a personal cellar valued at $248,000. Connect with Mike 🐦 X: Mike Watts Follow Life of Flow 📲 Instagram: @LifeofFlowPodcast 👍 Facebook: Life of Flow Podcast 💼 LinkedIn: Life of Flow Podcast 🐦 X: @VascularPodcast If this episode gave you a new perspective on the world of fine wine, share it with a friend who would appreciate it. And if you’ve been enjoying the conversations, a quick review goes a long way in helping us keep them going.
New CEO every year. New “vision” every year. Same chaos. That revolving door is why fighting for scraps inside the system will never work. The only way forward is taking control of the pieces you can own. Your marketing, your growth, your leverage, and building a division that outworks everyone else no matter who’s in charge. Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #86.
If you don’t know how the business side works, someone else decides what your work is worth. Hospitals bleed money every day, and most physicians never see where it goes. Bad coding. Denials. Claims left on the table. Value lost. Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #86.
El Dr. Frank Veith, MD, es uno de los cirujanos vasculares más influyentes de Estados Unidos y fue invitado en nuestro podcast. En esta conversación comparte sus experiencias como jefe de cirugía en el ejército colaborando con la CIA en misiones secretas, su transición del trasplante de pulmón a la cirugía vascular y los primeros intentos de salvar extremidades cuando la amputación era la norma. También revive cómo introdujo la cirugía endovascular en Nueva York junto a Juan Parodi y la historia detrás del simposio VEITH, que cumple 50 años como punto de encuentro clave para la comunidad vascular. ❗️Este episodio, grabado originalmente en inglés y ahora doblado al español, ofrece una mirada directa a la trayectoria de un pionero que convirtió obstáculos en avances que transformaron la cirugía vascular a nivel mundial. 00:00 Bienvenida y presentación de Frank Veith 00:22 El origen del libro The Medical Jungle 05:31 Experiencias en el ejército y colaboración con la CIA 09:26 De los trasplantes de pulmón a la cirugía vascular 13:26 Primeros intentos para salvar extremidades en pacientes descartados 15:51 Encuentro con los procedimientos endovasculares y primeras experiencias 18:12 La historia con Juan Parodi y el primer caso de reparación endovascular en Nueva York 22:07 El simposio VEITH y su crecimiento en 50 años 24:46 Innovación, industria y retos actuales en la cirugía vascular 26:59 Incentivos, ética médica y la realidad de los sistemas de salud 💡¿Quién debería escuchar este episodio? Cirujanos vasculares, médicos jóvenes interesados en la evolución de la especialidad y profesionales de la salud que quieran conocer de primera mano la visión de un referente global en cirugía vascular. Sobre Dr. Frank Veith, MD El Dr. Frank J. Veith es Professor of Surgery en la Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine y en NYU Medical Center, y ocupa la William J. von Liebig Chair in Vascular Surgery en la Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Graduado de Cornell y formado en Harvard, sirvió como Capitán del Cuerpo Médico del Ejército de EE.UU. y Jefe de Cirugía en Fort Carson, donde colaboró con la CIA en misiones secretas. Reconocido como pionero en el trasplante de pulmón, el salvamento de extremidades y la cirugía endovascular, ha publicado más de 1,000 artículos en revistas médicas líderes y dictado conferencias en más de 40 países. Ex presidente de la Society for Vascular Surgery y del American Board of Vascular Surgery, dirige el VEITHsymposium, considerado el curso de posgrado más influyente en cirugía vascular a nivel mundial. 🌐 Wikipedia: Frank J. Veith 📲 Perfil: Dr. Veith's Bio 💼 LinkedIn: Frank Veith Sigue a Life of Flow 📲 Instagram: @LifeofFlowPodcast 👍 Facebook: Life of Flow Podcast 💼 LinkedIn: Life of Flow Podcast 🐦 X: @VascularPodcast Si este episodio te aportó una nueva perspectiva o te hizo pensar en alguien que también enfrenta estos desafíos, compártelo con esa persona. Y si este espacio te resulta valioso, dejar una reseña o difundirlo en tus redes ayuda a que más voces puedan sumarse a la conversación.
Congrats, you matched into radiology… enjoy your 15-year countdown 🥶 Lucas didn’t hold back: AI already reads PEs faster than humans, and if your job is just diagnosis, robots are coming for it. In 50 years, the only surgeons left might be trauma… and plastics, because nobody wants the Amazon Prime Nose Job™ that makes you and your whole neighborhood look the same. Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #86.
Interventional Radiology is facing an identity crisis. In this episode, Dr. Kumar Madassery, MD shares what it took to establish one of the few independent IR departments in the country and why economic realities, training pathways, and hospital politics make that fight so complex. He discusses the struggle between diagnostic and procedural work, how reimbursement models undervalue complex interventions, why young physicians are drawn to IR despite the challenges, and how AI could both threaten and strengthen the specialty. 🎧 If you’ve wondered whether radiology could disappear in the age of AI, and what that means for interventionalists, this conversation is for you. 3:31 How long until AI takes away your job? 05:10 The origins of IR and a 60-year struggle for identity 07:20 The economic dilemma: imaging revenue vs. complex procedures 09:42 Integrated residency and why integrated residencies are essential to producing clinically grounded IR physicians. 13:12 Contracts that push new IRs back into diagnostic work 19:19 Subspecialization as the future of Interventional Radiology 20:33 Will AI erase diagnostic radiology, or make IR stronger? 25:19 What it took to build an independent IR department at Rush 31:28 Outpatient models, private equity, and the next frontier for IR 49:41 Why staying in a toxic job isn’t worth it 💡 Who Should Listen This episode is for interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, cardiologists, hospital administrators, medical students, and anyone interested in how economics, training, and AI are reshaping procedural medicine. About Dr. Kumar Madassery Dr. Kumar Madassery is Associate Professor of Vascular Interventional Radiology, Director of Peripheral Vascular Interventions and the CLTI Limb Preservation Program at Rush University Medical Center, and practices at Rush Oak Park Wound Care Center. Connect with Dr.Madassery 🐦 X: @kmadass 📲 Profile: Sreekumar Madassery, MD Follow Life of Flow 📲 Instagram: @LifeofFlowPodcast 👍 Facebook: Life of Flow Podcast 💼 LinkedIn: Life of Flow Podcast 🐦 X: @VascularPodcast If this episode made you think differently about the future of Interventional Radiology, share it with a colleague. And if you’ve been enjoying these conversations, leaving a quick review helps us keep them going.
Medicine trains you to grind. Staying miserable doesn’t make you a hero. It wrecks you and everyone around you. This week, we sat down with Dr. Kumar Madassery, MD, who fought through the politics and economics of interventional radiology to build one of the few independent IR departments in the country. His takeaway: protect your happiness like your career depends on it, because it DOES.
The next level for you isn’t more consulting, but building something you can own. Here’s why 👇 Consulting can open doors, but it rarely creates lasting wealth. Equity alone is risky since most startups don’t survive. The real leverage comes when you combine equity with consulting fees, or take a role where your expertise directly shapes outcomes. That balance lets you protect your time while building real influence. Go to the Life of Flow podcast channel and watch the full episode #85.