Brian Till, MD is a PGY-4 in surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Born in San Francisco and went to Haverford College where he studied political science, then University of Vermont college of medicine. Brian has been awarded multiple grants for his outstanding research and innovations. Amazingly, Brian is also an accomplished writer, still writing articles for such places at The New Republic, Foreign Affairs, and The Atlantic. He has also written a book, “Conversations With Power,” where he performed original interviews from people such as Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev. Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianTillMD Checkout his book: https://a.co/d/1ZBYYKO Email him: Brian.Till@jefferson.edu ___ 0:00 - Intro 0:32 - Writing and Politics Before Medicine 4:00 - Transitioning Into Medicine 6:11 - What Event/Experience Made You Decide on Medicine? 7:41 - Goals  11:33 - Entering Med School Older Than Most People 12:42 - Being Dyslexic and Dealing With It 15:55 - The Hardest Thing You Have Done? 17:39 - Average Day/Week as a General Surgery Resident 29:08 - Years of General Surgery Residency 33:41 - Things You Wish You Knew Before Going Into GS Residency 35:14 - Maximizing Competitiveness as a Med Student Going Into GS Residency 37:26 - Ending Part 1 37:50 - Part 2 38:24 - If I Give You $100 Million, What Would You Do? 42:25 - Med School Debts 44:06 - Best Things About Being a Surgeon 46:04 - Worst Things About Being a Surgeon 47:04 - Characteristics of a Student for Surgery 54:32 - General Life Advice for People 1:00:15 - People That Have Helped/Inspired You in Surgery 1:06:42 - Common Mistakes You See 1:07:13 - What Would You Say to Year 1 Med School Brian Till? 1:18:14 - Getting Interviews With Bill Clinton and Gorbachev 1:26:47 - How Do You Write a Book? 1:29:08 - Book Recommendations 1:32:17 - Closing Message 1:35:50 - Outro ___ Resources: Conversations with Power by Brian Till: https://a.co/d/1ZBYYKO When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanith: https://amzn.eu/d/4zn4RFc  The House of God by Samuel Shem: https://a.co/d/2bhGtPR  The Cost Conundrum: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/06/01/the-cost-conundrum  ___ View the Show Notes Page for This Episode for transcript and more information: zhighley.com/podcast ___ Connect with Dr. Till Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianTillMD Checkout his book: https://a.co/d/1ZBYYKO Email him: Brian.Till@jefferson.edu ___ Connect With Zach Main YouTube: @ZachHighley  Newsletter: https://zhighley.com/newsletter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zachhighley/?hl=en Website: https://zhighley.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/zachhighley Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zach-highley-gergel-44763766/ Business Inquiries: zachhighley@nebula.tv ___ Listen for Free Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/23TvJdEBAJuW5WY1QHEc6A?si=cf65ae0abbaf46a4 Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-zach-highley-show/id1666374777 ___ Welcome to the Zach Highley Show, where we discuss personal growth and medicine to figure out how to improve our lives. My name is Zach and I’m a medical student, and soon to be physician, in Philadelphia. Throughout these episodes I’ll interview top performers from around the world in business, life, and medicine in hopes of extracting the resources and techniques they use to get to the top. The best way to help the show is share episodes on any platform. If you think a friend or family member will like a certain episode, send it to them! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.