We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dr. Gopi Shah, Dr. Ashley Agan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Dr. Gopi Shah, Dr. Ashley Agan, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?

Dr. Gopi Shah: After almost two years of co-hosting a medical podcast, I have realized that there is a no such thing as a dumb question. Our podcast has been a space for me to find my own voice and bring authenticity to the BackTable community. I am less nervous about interviewing and recording myself now.

Dr. Ashley Agan: I agree, and it’s great when our guests and audience are curious about the same things as we are. As we conduct an interview, we try to help the guest identify what they are passionate about, and most of the time, the conversation takes a course of its own. Those are the best episodes– the ones that evolve into a really interesting topic that we had not initially planned to discuss. According to our audience surveys, the conversational format is very appealing. Entering each conversation with an open mind makes all of this possible. I also think that we are doing less active guest recruitment. Instead, potential guests are reaching out to us through social media and our website. It’s really special when a listener finds so much value in our platform that they feel compelled to contribute to it.

Dr. Gopi Shah, Dr. Ashley Agan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Dr. Agan: I am most proud of our diversity of topics. Our goal is to make BackTable ENT a welcoming platform to discuss all topics around medicine, not just clinical ones. In fact, our first episode ever was a conversation on wellness and how much of an impact it has on physicians’ professional and clinical spheres. There are so many things that affect our ENT careers– other life factors, social determinants of health in our communities, global health opportunities, entrepreneurship, to name a few. In fact, we launched a Health Equity series in which we interview scholars who help us reflect on our own biases and how we can enact institutional change. We’re proud to say that we have had conversations over a rich library of topics, and plan to continue branching out even more.

Dr. Shah: We are two physician co-hosts, but our guests come from a variety of backgrounds. We’ve interviewed healthcare professionals outside of physicians and even outside of the otolaryngology field. In the past year, we’ve had guests discuss their roles as physical therapists, plastic surgeons, authors, medical device inventors, personal finance experts, and even other medical podcast hosts. Healthcare is made up of teams, and the field of otolaryngology is no exception. For example, our field commonly collaborates with plastic surgeons to provide gender-affirming care, so we invited Dr. Sarah Saxon to come onto the show to discuss these surgeries and consideration for transgender patient care. In the coming years, we aspire to keep the platform as diverse as possible and present the widest variety of viewpoints.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Dr. Shah: Our consistency has been crucial to our success. We keep a timely schedule and release an episode every Tuesday, so our audience knows when to expect new content. We also follow up with our guests, engage with them online, and support them even after their interviews. Our BackTable ENT community is constantly growing and it feels great to connect with new friends and colleagues throughout the world.

In the spirit of enhancing the diversity of our guests and topics, we have plans to invite more international guests on the show, and potentially conduct interviews in different languages. It’s really important for us to take these steps and reach a broader global audience, since there are exciting new research findings and different clinical practice patterns from all around the world.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Dr. Agan: I agree that consistency is key. We always want to deliver high quality content, in terms of sound production and also in the depth of our conversations. Historically, medical information has been locked away, with access being limited to only people with access to journals and libraries. Our mission is to reverse that status quo and have these transparent conversations that anyone can tune into. Our episodes will always be free to stream on our website. We also offer Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits for healthcare professionals through our partnership with CMEfy.

While our episodes take their own course, we always end with a segment to summarize “pearls of wisdom.” These last few minutes really give the guests the opportunity to hone in on their message and provide our listeners with key actionable takeaways.

Finally, we try to consistently live by the principles that we share on the podcast. For me, it has been prioritizing wellness and feeling comfortable with saying “no” to things that I don’t have a high level of enthusiasm for. If I don’t feel like I can bring my whole self to a project, I will not pursue it. This mindset has helped me identify my true interests.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.backtable.com/shows/ent
• Instagram: @_BackTableENT
• Linkedin: BackTable ENT
• Twitter: @_BackTableENT
• Youtube: BackTable ENT Podcast
• Other: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Megaphone: BackTable ENT