Ep 162 Becoming a surgeon entrepreneur with Dr. Shirin Towfigh

The latest BOSS podcast features Dr. Shirin Towfigh a hernia specialist in private practice, owner of a hernia center in Beverly Hills and innovator in the field of surgery. She mentioned that innovation for her was born out of frustration. She never set out to be in private practice, she thought she would be a leader in academic medicine. She found significant benefits of being her own boss and the freedom to pursue her passions:  "I don't think I'll leave this job. I love my employer, who is me, and she doesn't discriminate based on gender. I don't have a pay discrepancy based on my chromosome.  And she's really great at allowing me to do what I like to do and not bombard me with fluff." Dr. Towfigh emphasized the importance of understanding the business side of medicine, including billing and revenue cycles. She also talks about her innovations in hernia care, including gender-based hernia mesh designs and her efforts to improve research in women's hernia care. She created an online patient education platform and leads international hernia collaborations.-- Dr. Shirin Towfigh is a Board Certified General Surgeon and owner of her own private practice at the Beverly Hills Hernia Center. Her practice is exclusively dedicated to hernias and their complications. Dr. Towfigh went to medical school at UC San Diego and finished her surgical residency at UCLA. She is internationally known for her tailored approach to treatment of hernias, with the goal of reducing chronic pain and related complication, much of which is outlined in her book, The SAGES Manual of Groin Pain. Her research includes innovations to promote the hernia field. She was awarded an honorary certificate in Abdominal Wall Surgery granted by the European Board of Surgery. As an advocate for patient perspectives in hernia care, she started the free patient discussion forum herniatalk.com and hosts the weekly podcast, HerniaTalk LIVE, which showcases topics and fellow physicians to discuss hernia related topics. She is CEO of her tech company, Hexagon Health, Inc., whose mission is to promote gender based advances in hernia care through innovation and research. She holds 9 patents for gender based inguinal hernia mesh designs. She also sponsors the annual Female Factors in Hernia research award at the American Hernia Society. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herniadoc Twitter/X: https://x.com/herniadoc Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dr.Towfigh LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shirintowfigh/