203. What Medical School Doesn’t Teach About Health, Fulfillment, and Finding Your Why | Brian Devorkin

Dr. Darsh Shah and Dr. Altamash Raja sit down with Brian Devorkin, a third-year medical student at Case Western and host of BackedBriScience, for a wide-ranging conversation on fulfillment, longevity, chronic illness, and the harder questions behind choosing medicine. Brian shares how chronic fatigue and Lyme disease shaped his understanding of health, agency, and what it means to “get your life back.” From his gap year working with longevity researcher David Sinclair to the realities of medical school, the conversation explores success versus fulfillment, the loneliness of thinking differently, the slippery slope of wellness marketing, and why the basics - sleep, exercise, nutrition, relationships, and stress - still matter most. At its core, this episode asks why health span matters more than simply living longer. TOPICS COVERED Why success and fulfillment are not the same thing How health shapes agency, identity, and the ability to live fully Brian’s experience with chronic fatigue, Lyme disease, and feeling like himself again Why health span matters more than simply living longer The problem with chasing supplements, protocols, and “silver bullet” wellness How functional medicine, longevity medicine, and PM&R overlap — and where the language can get complicated How exercise, nutrition, and discipline become part of someone’s identity The difference between healthy discipline and unhealthy rigidity The loneliness that can come with thinking differently in medical school Whether living forever would actually make life more meaningful RESOURCES MENTIONED Brian Devorkin/BackedBriScience Website: https://www.backedbriscience.com/ Instagram: @briandevorkin (https://www.instagram.com/briandevorkin/) Podcast: BackedBriScience (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backedbriscience/id1725648624) David Sinclair (https://davidasinclair.com/) Lifespan by David Sinclair (https://lifespanbook.com/) Jocko Willink (https://jocko.com/) Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink (https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Equals-Freedom-Field-Manual/dp/1250156947) Chris Williamson (https://chriswillx.com/) Modern Wisdom Podcast (https://chriswillx.com/podcast/) The Consistency Project Podcast by EC Synkowski (https://optimizemenutrition.com/theconsistencyproject/) Charles Duhigg (https://charlesduhigg.com/) The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (https://charlesduhigg.com/the-power-of-habit/) Longevity escape velocity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_escape_velocity) Health span (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthspan) Functional medicine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_medicine) PM&R / Physiatry (https://www.aapmr.org/about-physiatry) FOLLOW US Website: medicineredefined.com (https://medicineredefined.com) Instagram / X: @medredefined (https://instagram.com/medredefined) Dr. Altamash Raja Instagram: @draltraja (https://instagram.com/draltraja) LinkedIn: Altamash Raja (https://www.linkedin.com/in/altamash-raja-do-rmsk-cscs) Refining Health & Performance (https://refininghealthrx.com) Dr. Darsh Shah Instagram: @doctor.darsh (https://www.instagram.com/doctor.darsh/) LinkedIn: doctordarsh (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doctordarsh/) Ready to stop guessing and start performing? Dr. Raja is now seeing patients through his telemedicine practice — limited founding member spots available at refininghealthrx.com (https://refininghealthrx.com)