Dr. William Lo is a resident physician in radiation oncology in St. Louis, and MD-PhD graduate from Harvard Medical School. We talk about his journey into medicine (including recent experience on the COVID front line), engage in a rapid-fire round of personal questions, and top it off with career and relationship advice.

• (0:33) Introduction
• (1:08) How residency program works and fits into the overall training program for doctors and physician-scientists
• (2:30) Recent experience with pediatric cancer cases, thinking about how to optimize radiation dosage to reduce recurrence rate and minimize potential long-term complications.
• (4:21) Connecting three dots getting to where he is today – from the Canadian Red Cross to summer classes (6:35) and a research program with the Princess Margaret Cancer Center (7:00) alongside an undergraduate computer engineering degree to personal experience with cancer care in the last year of medical school (7:44).
• (9:03) Being on COVID front line – "Overnight, some of the wards were turned into intensive care units" with beds for the patients, and nurses were now ICU nurses (for the intensive care unit) – coming up with ways for family members to visit in person with enough personal protective equipment (PPE) or virtually with iPads, thinking about tough end of life conversations and moments. "You really are dedicating your life to the welfare of these patients." (11:00)
• (16:15) Deciding whether to do rapid fire questions to lift the mood or dive into advice right away... went with rapid fire questions!
• (16:49) One thing everybody should know about maintaining their health – eat well, exercise, maintain mind body and spirit.
• (17:14) Most outlandish other career path you would pursue... pilot and astronaut!
• (18:12) Favorite thing to do in free time – drive around, take road trips, explore new places, (like the lake where he took my call).
• (18:50) One of your ultimate life questions... having been exposed to cancer care it reveals how unpredictable life can be, so how can I really do everything that I love to do within the time I have, and do the best I can so that I don't regret it? How do I seize every opportunity to expand my horizons and do things I didn't think were possible?
• (20:02) Something somebody has said that made you feel awesome ... gratitude from cancer patients, especially with respect to how the care was provided. "It's the way you go about it, the way you explain things to people." "People don't really remember how smart you are, until you show them how much you care about them as an individual, whether or not you are able to cure their disease."
• (21:27) Three core values you strive to live by... #1 Integrity (true to your word and yourself), #2 Happiness (enjoy what you do), #3 Optimism (that things will be better)
• (22:34) Top advice for people who want to go into medicine (22:53) – "have the perseverance and dedication" to see it through. "It's a long career path, but also really rewarding." "We work very very long hours, especially during our training. There's a lot to learn and sometimes very little time to learn all of it." (24:10) "But this is a good time to go into medicine because things are transforming, e.g. through telemedicine and using tech to overcome challenges associated with the pandemic."
• (25:07) Advice for relationships e.g. patients, family, or personal life. (25:28) "You can build the best relationships with people if you're really genuine about each interaction. You can build relationships with a lot of people, but you can also build very deep relationships with fewer people, but really meaningful ones. There's obviously a balance there." (26:04) Value your long-term deeper relationships, and remember the people who've helped you along the way. We're all standing on the shoulders of giants, as the saying goes.

William's one of those people who's helped me along my journey as my freshman advisor in college. Thanks William, you rock! Keep walking the talk :)

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