On this episode of Survive & Thrive 8791 Podcast, I welcome Dr. Toby Campbell to the Buck & Honey's remote studios. Dr. Campbell is an oncologist specializing in lung cancer and palliative care at UW Health in Madison, Wisconsin, where he has been a trusted physician, educator, and advocate since 2007.

Dr. Campbell’s journey into medicine began far from Wisconsin. He grew up in both Oregon and rural Virginia, experiences that helped shape his grounded, compassionate approach to care. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Virginia, where he earned his undergraduate degree and continued on to complete medical school. He later completed his residency at the University of Wisconsin and a fellowship at Northwestern University, bringing together a wealth of training and perspective that now informs his work with patients facing serious illness.

For more than a decade, Dr. Campbell has focused not only on treating disease, but on the human side of medicine—particularly the complex, once-in-a-lifetime conversations that occur when discussing serious diagnoses, end-of-life care, and organ donation. For the past twelve years, he has studied how patients, families, and physicians navigate these deeply emotional moments, and what helps people cope when the stakes are highest.

In April 2025, Dr. Campbell expanded this work beyond the exam room by launching his podcast, Extraordinary Conversations, where he explores meaningful dialogue, vulnerability, and connection in organ donation & healthcare and in life.

In this episode, Dr. Campbell shares the coping strategies that sustain him as he regularly delivers difficult news, the lessons he’s learned from patients and families, and how honest, compassionate conversations can bring clarity, comfort, and humanity—even in life’s hardest moments.