Umbereen S. Nehal, MD, MPH, MBA’s Post

Women with visible #aging = our showing the world we have lived experience and wisdom. #Midlife women should be celebrating this “#queen” phase (as some call it). I have earned every scar visible on my body (and every scar that causes me daily pain inside my body since my last surgery). My #grit, #perserverence, #wisdom differentiate me. Why would I erase almost a quarter century of extremely valuable experience? #menopause #womenshealth #wellness

❤️this! This week got a lovely compliment: was told I had a special talent for mentoring. Am grateful to pass on what I benefited from in early career, and even now. You always need mentors (and some of your mentors are going to be younger than you if they are more experienced in a domain you are entering). Mentoring is something that has allowed me to attract some of the brightest young talent for my venture and kept a loyal following that keep referring the venture to the next student. It is also something I have to keep in balance with the focus on business goals. If I had my druthers I'd just just #teach. That said, what am I teaching if I have not delivered results in the real world to real people? What I offer is more of an "apprenticeship" model where if you work with me, you'll learn a number of things that are not taught in classes but are learned via experience. I am transparent on how I think things through and decide on trade offs or how I "grease the skids" - do the pre-work and the relationship building, to ensure when I pitch, I am more successful. Some of success is sheer number of shots on goal and some of it is just taking better shots. When I took a tennis lesson years ago the advice from the coach was to get to the place where the ball will be faster, to wind up and then deliver a better return that had more power and precision. Instead, on LinkedIn I see a ton of #AI generated generic messages that are "spray and pray." Our modern world has become about doing a 30 minute online video or 6-week course then populating your LinkedIn with a bunch of certificates. What is needed is that human-to-human learning from experienced to novice, as was the way for generations. Not everything of the "old" ways should be jettisoned as we move into the future. When the young generation retorts with "Ok Boomer" - while that hubris of youth has always existed - it denies the importance of lived experience. I love young folks who stimulate new thinking and challenge us. We need both wisdom and innovation.

“#ChatGPT #pricing to jump 100x next year?” per one headline. This is where any #startup whose core #AI or #LLM product or value is based on ChatGPT is going to get strangled by skyrocketing operating costs. This is why savvy companies that can get by with smaller, more precise models, will be creating their own alternatives using other language model choices. Yes, others may not be as smooth in delivery as GPT but that finetuning work will be the cost instead of constant monthly loss of money via the external dependency on GPT.

Men: please speak up on violence against women. Most CEOs and heads of state and VC are men. You have the power to set better standards, norms, and accountabilty for male behavior. It should not be limited to men with careers in #DEI but all men taking responsibility for the culture of masculinity. Media: Do better. Women don’t passively “die” nor when a woman simply follows the legal process it is not “revenge.” These headlines either remove men from the headline as the perpetrator of the violence (headline that a woman “died” rather than “murdered”) or smear the victim of a crime as a vengeful harpy or witch (headline that the French wife repeatedly r*ped while unconscious by men her husband recruited by online ads called getting “revenge” for having a public trial that educates the public on the scope of the problem. “Revenge” likely would be gory.) As a #pediatrician who worked in #emergencymedicine, examining #children with unexplained injuries, some of which turn out to be assault and non-accidental trauma (abuse), I have seen this in “regular” families. Then, also, because I have been educated in and worked in places of “status”, unfortunately, that also selects for a high degree of power-seeking sociopathy in those spaces. At every single one of those institutions there were multiple cases of assault, harassment, r*pe, intimidation, cover up by faculty, administration, etc. While many of my career-oriented peers stay head down writing grants, publishing in the peer review, or networking with the most powerful, I tend to have a lot of conversations with the less powerful and I hear a lot more of these stories of abuse and harassment first hand. Imagine how much we could accomplish if we could remove this abuse, harassment, culture of fear. Imagine all this redirected to positive, to problem-solving, to being pro-social. Yes, we need fewer perpetrators and victims. We also need this time and energy applied to getting results instead.

It could also be we are not screening enough or often enough for cancers where just a 4 week delay in diagnosis results in higher mortality: “screening for breast cancer prevents only eight out of 28 breast cancer deaths for every 1,000 women screened over their lifetime. Every life saved is crucial, but it’s important to understand that screening is not a panacea.” No, screening was never “sold” as a panacea and to declare it “failed” if it does not solve for all stages of the patient journey in a complex, fragmented system, is wrong. With women experiencing delays in diagnosis by 3-10 years already, less screening is not the answer. With women not believed when expressing symptoms, relying on a woman to “complain” of symptoms then be heard and believed, puts the woman at too high risk of delayed diagnosis. For men, many do not seek care so may also be at risk of late diagnosis if screening frequency decreased. Less invasive options? Yes, I am all for that. #cancer #cancerscreening #populationhealth #publichealth

Finished result for braised beef short ribs from the “Pioneer Woman” recipe blog. Not my best version but very solid. The turkey bacon and beef both needed to be crisped and browned, almost burnt, a bit more to intensify the flavors… …In my family we enjoy the process of making food but if you love just enjoying food, savoring the flavors, being in the moment, you might be put off by our tendency to turn food critique at meal times - from the first bite we are already planning for the next try and identifying ways to optimize the next time. It’s an “#Agile” approach to cooking. 😄 My mindfulness time is during cooking.

Love this! ❤️👏👍 #data #populationhealth #publichealth

As a #pediatrician, especially working in #emergencymedicine, I faced this reality of abuse and assault - by those you should be able to trust - the depraved underbelly of society that is right there in your neighbor, your child’s coach, the religious scholar, etc. We see false cultural narratives that this culture or that culture is “barbaric” and r*pes women, children, and yes, even men - s*xual assaults against men can get the least attention. It is not the migrant you should fear the most but the person you trust, with whom you put your guard down, who has access, who will be able to manipulate to evade the truth. Sadly, all cultures have these types. Among the perpetrators (r*pists) in this case were a firefighter, a nurse, a journalist, even neighbor. The victim/survivor in this case chose a public trial, not as “revenge” as one headline claimed, but to educate and protect women by making it clear that “regular” men, married men with families, young men with more healthy dating options all were part of this. Even if the husband were depraved, why did so many seemingly normal trustworthy members of society partake and then keep the secret? What is appalling here is these ads had enough reach to recruit almost 100 men. How many more men read the ad? None of them reported this. The “guy code” held up across these men to protect a man and each other, not protect the unconscious woman. This is in France, by a French man, not in a culture portrayed as “barbaric.” This is the country that claims it knows best how to protect women …by banning hijab. In fact, if you know you are surrounded by men who think like this, yes, many women would want to be less visible to men in public. While it “should” not be a woman’s job to protect herself from all this, that “should” is different from the reality of the world. Even in this case, it is a woman taking the step to make this public to educate us all. Men: you need to step up to break this “bro” code of silence and be part of protecting society from all this. It is not enough to not r*pe yourself. There needs to be a new cultural norm where men promote positive masculinity and male behaviors.

#Cooking is always a great way to #relax because it activates so many senses. Chopping things by hand if a rhythmic tactile #mindful activity that releases aromas. There is an art to creating the dish. Now the apartment is filled with delicious smells while blaring musical songs and testing out my rusty singing voice. If my neighbor’s child can scream for hours, I can sing badly. #Cityliving Am considering if I should try making polenta for the first time. Typically I have served this with couscous or just skipped the extra carbs. Decided to finally use the larger size Le Creuset I had bought myself for a birthday a year or two ago. Previously I made this recipe where it *just* fit in the smaller Le Creuset but then it tended to overflow. The shopper this time chose mammoth short ribs so had to use the bigger Dutch oven. I had been planning to use it to make biryani but have yet to get all the moving parts together for that. Being a founder already has so much coordination to it that I can’t also coordinate social-related things. When you are a #tech #founder with a distributed team, it can easy to live your life on the computer, on Slack, and in Zoom meetings. It is important to let that part of your #brain rest and activate different parts of your brain and self. (That’s turkey bacon substituted for pancetta) #mindfulness #brainhealth #wellness #health #founderlife