Restoring Physician Mental Health and Honoring the Legacy of Dr. Lorna Breen, With Dr. Stefanie Simmons

Most physicians know a colleague who has struggled. Many know one who didn't make it.In this episode of How I Doctor, Offcall co-founder Dr. Graham Walker sits down with Dr. Stefanie Simmons, Chief Medical Officer of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation and practicing emergency physician in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for one of the most important conversations in medicine right now.Physician mental health isn't an abstract policy issue. It's the licensing form that places a mental health history question directly after "are you a pedophile." It's the peripartum depression Stefanie developed during her own residency that she never treated because a formal diagnosis felt like a career risk. It's Dr. Lorna Breen, chair of emergency medicine at New York Presbyterian, working 18-hour days through the first COVID wave in Manhattan, who received mental health care and told her family she was terrified it would cost her her license. Stefanie didn't know Lorna before her death. But like every emergency physician in the country, she was one degree of separation from her. And when Lorna's family started hearing from hundreds, then thousands, of healthcare workers who said "she wasn't alone," Stefanie was one of the people who called.Stefanie makes the case that physician mental health is a systems failure, not a personal one, and that the fix is structural. The foundation has already changed the credentialing language at more than 2,000 hospitals and across 70 state licensing boards, covering more than 3 million health workers. The Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act was reauthorized in February 2026. The calculus is shifting. But the work is far from complete.This episode is an honest conversation about why physicians won't seek mental health care, what it costs when they don't, and how one foundation is rebuilding the system from the inside out.What You'll LearnHow the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act works, what it funds, and why its reauthorization matters for every physicianHow a single question on a licensing application has kept generations of physicians from getting help, and what the foundation is replacing it withWhy physicians massively overestimate how much their colleagues will judge them for seeking mental health care, and what the data actually showsWhat Stefanie's own experience with peripartum depression during residency taught her about the cost of not getting helpWhy burnout is an occupational syndrome, not a personal failingWhat a struggling physician can do right now, and where to find supportIf You or a Colleague Need Help988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 / 988lifeline.orgPhysician Support Line: free, confidential, anonymous, staffed by psychiatrists / 1 (888) 409-0141 / physiciansupportline.comEmotional PPE Project: free anonymous mental health care for clinicians / emotionalppe.comAll For Mental Health resource hub: drlornabreen.org/all-for-mental-healthResources and Where to Find Stefanie and the FoundationDr. Lorna Breen Heroes' Foundation: drlornabreen.org Take Action: drlornabreen.org/take-action All In Wellbeing First for Healthcare Coalition: drlornabreen.org/all-inFind Stefanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefsimmons/ Follow the Foundation on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drlornabreenheroesfoundation/ 🩺 Offcall is more than a platform — it’s a community. Join today!📝 For a full transcript of this episode click HERE🎧 Subscribe to receive new How I Doctor episodes directly in your feed here: https://episodes.fm/1767429315👨‍⚕️Follow Dr. Graham Walker onLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-walker-md/ IG https://www.instagram.com/ubergraham/ Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/drgrahamwalker.com ✉️ Join our newsletter On/Offcall here https://offcall.beehiiv.com/subscribe 🟧 Follow Offcall on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/joinoffcall/ IG https://www.instagram.com/offcalldotcom/ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@offcalldotcom