Episode 15: Dr. Mehrdad Soleimani - The ER Doc Who Built a Wellness Empire by Putting People First

Dr. Mehrdad Soleimani — Emergency medicine physician in Temecula, CA, and founder of a med spa and wellness practice. Former ICU nurse turned surgeon turned ER doc, with a deep focus on physician wellness and community engagement. Chair of his hospital's department of wellness and organizer of the "Wellness in the Vines" physician retreat in Temecula wine country.Dr. Mehrdad Soleimani joins Dr. Erik Lundquist and brother Dr. Davin Lundquist to share the journey from ICU nurse to emergency medicine physician to med spa entrepreneur — and the common thread through all of it: taking care of people. Mehrdad discusses how his nursing background gave him a fundamentally different perspective on physician behavior and burnout, ultimately leading him to switch from surgery to emergency medicine when he didn't like the person the lifestyle was making him become.  On the business side, Mehrdad offers candid lessons from building a med spa in Temecula: the importance of hiring the right people over the cheapest option, partnering with an experienced practice manager, starting lean without a large space, and the costly trial-and-error process of finding a marketing firm that actually delivers. His advice: hold vendors accountable, set deadlines, and fire fast when it's not working. Instagram and organic community engagement — including Chamber of Commerce involvement and supporting small businesses during COVID — proved more effective than expensive agencies.  The conversation closes with Mehrdad's passion for physician wellness, his root cause analysis approach to physician behavioral issues, and the simple power of asking a colleague "how are you doing?" — a question many physicians say no one has ever asked them.  For practitioners exploring med spa models, navigating marketing vendors, or thinking about physician burnout from a systems level.