EPI 251: Dr. Sheri Dewan - Board-Certified Neurosurgeon & Best Selling Author On Perseverance, Calming The Mind In High Pressure Situations, Meditation, Yoga, & Living Your Best Life.

Welcome back to another episode of the Peak Performance Life podcast. Today, I am very excited to have an expert with us on the line. Her name is Dr. Sheri DeWon. She is a board-certified neurosurgeon and best-selling author of the amazing book called Cutting a Path. She is the chair of neurosurgery at Ascension Health and serves as clinical professor at the Chicago Medical School. She is one of roughly only 200 or so board-certified women neurosurgeons in the United States Furthermore, she did that while raising kids, being a mother, being a wife, living an everyday life and being a neurosurgeon and giving back. We'll talk about a lot of things she's doing as well to give back. And so I'm really excited to get into it today because as you know, we have a lot of episodes here about health, nutrition, fitness, but I always think about the mental aspect of things as oftentimes being the most important. So we have someone who's a neurosurgeon, someone who's persevered through many challenges and situations that most people have never had. So Sheri, thank you so much for joining us here today. Thank you so much, Talora, for having me on the show. I'm absolutely thrilled to speak to your listeners today and talk a little bit about more about my path and the things that I love. Yes, yes. Let's jump right into it. And we'd love to catch people up to speed with a little bit of background of kind of how you got to where you are today. Yeah, so, you know, I tell people I got to becoming a neurosurgeon by loving books, really. And I was one of those kids that enjoyed the library and my mom had a mandate that my sister and I check out five books a week. So we were part of the generation that would go to the library on a Friday after school, check out five books, and the following Friday would return them. So really, I think my interest and my love for neuroscience began there, which is where I started learning and reading about the brain and became completely fascinated by the neural networks and the intricacies and the unknown really of the brain. That kind of dovetailed into interest in medicine. And I started, you know, reaching out to people who were physicians, you know, observing surgeries and working in labs. And so that's really where my interest began, I think, was really through books. Amazing, amazing. And now I know your book called Cutting a Path, the subtitle as well as the power of purpose, discipline, and determination, which I just absolutely love. Talk a little bit about that and how you've had to persevere in your career. And how did you do it? How did you handle raising kids while being a neurosurgeon, while doing everything else that you have to do in life? Yeah, I mean, it's such a great question. And I think it has so many facets to it. I started writing Cutting a Path. It was a 10 year project that I began when I was in residency. And I was actually pregnant with my daughter at the time, my first daughter, who's now 16. But at the time, I was resecting a brain tumor. And I developed this intense morning sickness while I was taking the tumor out. And I was with my chairman, and he was allowing me to do the surgery, you know, he was standing next to me, but allowing me to do it. And I thought, oh, my gosh, this is my opportunity to learn how to do this. And I'm blowing it because I have morning sickness, you know, and so I went through this internal dialogue of almost willing it away. And in the way of past and I continued the surgery and it was successful. And after that episode, I thought to myself, I've never read a book about a woman neurosurgeon, resecting a brain tuber, battling morning sickness, pregnant six months. So I started writing it. And I started keeping notes. This is back in the day before we had iPhones and voice memos and just good old fashion notebook. And by the time I was done with my residency training, I had 10 notebooks filled with stories filled with anecdotes, things that I wanted to put in it. And so then I finished my residency. And really, the books just sat there. Because at that point, I had my first daughter, my second daughter, and had my son. So it was five years after I finished my training. And then I really decided that I wanted to publish it. So I started typing everything up. I hired a transcriptionist and met an incredible literary agent who helped me get it to my publisher. So it really was, I would say, tenacity, length of time and will, I think, sheer will. And knowing that I think it would have an impact in the world in a positive way and wanting to affect people in a positive way. And so that was really the driver for it. Amazing. How do you think, are there any practices that you did? I know you're big into yoga, things like that, maybe meditation. Is there any practices that you think really helped you? Because for so many people, right, just being a neurosurgeon or just being a mom is so much to handle. So how do you think you were able to handle it all? Yeah, it's funny. I had a friend the other day who said, well, you must have a therapist. And I said, well, actually, no, my therapist is Alex, my husband. I'll say through the years, I've done a lot of meditation, transcendental meditation I learned when I was in my teens. We used to visit my grandmother in India, and she'd had a, like a yogi who would come to the home. And he started working with me and teaching me these techniques. And at the time, I didn't quite process what I was learning, but he was teaching me visualization and being calm. And so I've carried that through my adult life. And even in neurosurgery, I mean, it's very high stress, high powered profession, life and death. And, you know, I feel the most calm now when I'm the most stressed. So I think that it's the practice that I've been doing for years, meditation, I think yoga has been a very big part of my life. You know, as I've gotten older, I run less, I do more strength training as I gotten older. So but I think those techniques have really helped me to balance the stresses of the profession, the family life, and all the joy that, you know, comes with it, but also the chaos that comes with it. Yeah. So would you say meditation and yoga really helped you to kind of quiet the mind, calm yourself, right? What you said is so incredible, like in your most stressful times, you are now the most calm, right? It's almost incomprehensible for many people to think about that. So clearly there's been a training of your mind you mentioned with the yogi, which I'm so jealous about, by the way, like, I just want to go to India and like meditate with yogis like so bad. That's one of my bucket list things to do. But, you know, so was it, you know, you do credit, do you think the meditation in the yoga is what kind of really helped? And do you have any advice for people who maybe want to start calming their mind more? Should they look into transcendental meditation or some other type? Yeah, I mean, I think meditation is really key for so many people. And I've heard, you know, from patients that I've had and friends that I've had through the years, it's really hard to meditate. It's hard to quiet my mind. So for those people, I say start small, like just go for one minute, you know, and just empty your head and, and then go for two minutes, then for three. And there's a lot of sorts of great apps that are out now, like Headspace and Calm and a lot of apps that, you know, we'll just play like the white noise for you while you try to kind of zone out for a little bit. So I mean, I'm a big proponent of it. It's been very helpful for me in my life and my practice. Obviously, not everyone can go to India and meditate with a yogi, although I would highly recommend it because it's like the most authentic experience I think you can have as a human being. But, you know, but I think there's a lot to be said for going back to the basics of life and, you know, with social media and with all this noise that's around us, I think we forget the power of just very simple things and being thankful, being grateful for what we have, relationships with people that we have. So I think a lot of times just going back to the basics of what makes us human and what makes us connected is just so important. Yes, I couldn't agree more. One of the things that I try to make a point of doing every morning, if I can, is go outside, get a little sunlight, but doing this, this gratitude, this appreciation, these visualizations and really just being so thankful. And in these, this kind of morning, quiet time, visualization, gratitude time, I actually, it became very clear to me that, and this is why with peak performance, our mission is to help people, inspire people to prioritize and transform their health, right? Because what we realize is that, right, a healthy person has a thousand wishes and a sick person has only one. And so this is something that really became clear to me because I think about, you know, business, whatever, success, this and that, whatever, in the end of the day, me, my wife, my daughters, we're all healthy, we're all happy, we're a close knit family, like that's really all that matters, right? We have our health, and so when I think about that, I just really focus on that and make that a top priority. And that's why health has been such a priority for me. And doing that gratitude every day just feels so good and puts me in such a good state of mind where I'm like, yes, I'm so thankful, like for everything. I mean, look how lucky we are just to be alive, to be in a country that allows you to have freedom, to be, to have health and happiness and everything that we have. So yeah, I think it's so powerful. And it's something that I think a lot of people, like people listening now, they're like, yeah, I've heard that before, but are you actually doing it? Like, are you actually doing it? Yeah, that's so true. I think it's easier said than done, right? When we get bogged down with the minutiae of the day and the stressors of the day. And you know, I do think though, you know, maybe being in medicine too, we're in such a unique profession in the sense that, you know, I tell people, I meet them on the worst day of their life, right? You're meeting a neurosurgeon, it's the worst day of your life, you're being told, you have a brain tumor, you're being told, you have to get spine surgery because you've been in a horrific car accident. So I think that perspective for me has brought a lot in my life too, where, you know, last year was, oh, I've got to work on Christmas. Well, at least I'm not in the hospital on Christmas, like in a hospital bed, right? And so I try to put things in a perspective and frame it in a way that makes sense, you know, and there's always an upside, there's always a positivity to every situation, whether it's a traumatic one. There's also always something that comes out of it later. And you know, in my book, I talk a little bit about that with my mom's situation. So, you know, the thing that led me to becoming a neurosurgeon was, you know, her aneurysm that ruptured at the age of 49, and her life was saved by a neurosurgeon. And so, you know, even through that trauma, you know, we were able to find a silver lining of, you know, my future career and really being passionate about what we choose to do in life. Yeah, yeah. And for people listening as well, this is really inspiring. And for me too, I've always, what I thought was the worst moment, the worst time in my life when I had massive pain and inflammations in my fingers, hands, arms. I just was in pain. I couldn't even type on a keyboard. I'm thinking I have a one in a two-year old daughter and I'm thinking, how am I going to get by? And all I know how to do is work on the computer and I can't even type. And I had to use a voice dictation software for two years. And as I was going through that, it was like, why is this happening to me? This is the worst thing that could ever happen. But when I look at it now, it was actually the best thing that ever happened to me, because it actually sent me on my health journey. Pete Performance was born out of that, of me, you know, wanting to create a business out of something I was passionate about that helped my life so much. And when I look back, I wouldn't have it any other day. Now, it's so hard to feel that way or see that when you're inside of the moment. But so many times I've heard situations like this where when you look back a few years later, you're like, you know, that was actually, that was actually a positive, more than a negative. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when you hit rock, bottom, there's nowhere else to go. You know what I mean? So you could just you could only go up. But I think the times in my life that have been the hardest have taught me the most. And I would never trade those times because it's actually shown me a lot about how much I can get through and how much I can do. And I think the other thing too is, you know, going through pregnancies, having my kids, being in training, I was, you know, the hardest thing I've really ever had to do. And then, you know, standing for 10, 15 hours while being pregnant, battling morning sickness, operating, taking care of patients. And so, you know, I look back on those experiences and, and I think, you know, I've done everything now. Like I've literally put myself through like a military style training, you know, and, and I've come out the other end. And so, you know, I want my story and my experiences to help inspire other people, to really look at what they're doing in their lives and think about, you know, how much capacity they really have. Because I think many times we sell ourselves short, you know, we think, we can't do it, you know, the reality is you actually can. And if you put your mind to anything, really put your mind to anything, there is always a way, always a way to do it. Yeah, that's beautifully said. And so for people listening now, maybe they're, you know, they're in their, they're in their comfortable routine, but you know, and they maybe, maybe they're, maybe they're working and coming back and watching TV or just kind of, just kind of coasting through life or something like that. Or, but they know deep down inside that they, they're, maybe they're meant to do more, they can do more, there's more in them. They don't want to look back when they're 100, you know, 100 years old, hopefully looking back at their lives and saying, I wish I would have done this or that or whatever. What advice would you have to people? Because I think that's the majority of the population, I would say, is kind of just accepting the status quo and coasting through life. Yeah, I mean, I try to live my life very similar to that where, you know, you do a look back at 90 and you say, you know, could I have done it? Should I have done it? It's so, you know, it's in, in business books, they call it going to the balcony, right? You go to the balcony and you, you look ahead and you look back and you say, should I have, could I have? Um, to anyone who's debating on taking a risk, I mean, you know, I think if you don't take the risks in life, you're, you're never going to challenge yourself. I think living the status quo and being the status quo is so easy, right? It's the easy path and there's nothing wrong with it. You know, if you want to live your life and you want to coast, that's fine. I mean, that's a personal choice, but, but I think if you have the opportunity and the desire to, to do more and, um, to really push yourself to the next level, I would say take the risk, you know, and, um, you know, I had an opportunity when I was in medical school to go into neurology, which is still medicine, you know, and still taking care of the brain, but it's non-surgical and it's much quicker path, right? Three, four years and very easy to have a family life and, um, but I had this dream to become a neurosurgeon. I wanted to be a brain surgeon. I wanted to, help take care of people like my mom was taking care of. And I remember my husband, Alex had said to me, you know, I know our life could be easier if you took the path of neurology. He's like, but I don't want you to regret in 15 years that you could have done this. And, you know, he was the one that convinced me to go down the road because I was so on the fence about what the life would look like and would I be able to have children and would I be able to be a good wife and a good mother and all of these doubts. And I think what's, what's challenging at least was for me, as I had no role models, right? There were so few women that were in the field and we, you know, they weren't visible. And so I didn't know if it was even possible to do something like that. And it was really him, you know, that had said to me that, you know, you have to do this because you're always going to wonder, you know, and then, and then you're going to be 70 years old and the time has passed, you know, to do any of these things. So I've tried to really live my life in that way where, whether it's a trip that I really want to take and, you know, I don't hold back on things like that or even for my kids now, experiences that I want to give them, ways I want them to grow. I take the, I take the steps because, because I think it's important for us, you know, as human beings. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's a great exercise for everyone listening to maybe do is think about yourself at a hundred years old, looking back at your life. What do you think you would regret that you're not doing now? And go ahead and take the leap and do it. So this is great. I want to shift gears a little bit because I do want to talk about another thing you're an expert in, which is brain health and everything related to neuroscience and things like that. So let's transition a little bit. In terms of brain health, people obviously want to, I think for me, one of the most important things, especially as I've seen my father's kind of suffering from dementia now in his eighties and things like that is, you know, and then I see other people that are, you know, you see a Warren Buffett and a Charlie Munger who are well into their nineties and their brain seems to be working as good as, as good as most 40 year olds. So what can we, and I know there's, we actually recently had someone on who talked about the importance of social connections. And we all probably have heard the Harvard study about, you know, social relationships being one of the most important things for your health. And I would imagine for brain health. But what are some of the things that maybe you've seen and learned over the years? Yeah. So obviously, you know, there's so many supplements and things on the market, you know, anti inflammation, turmeric, resveratrol, omega threes. I mean, we hear a lot about it. And, you know, I think for patients that I see, especially, you know, people get confused. It's, you know, what do I do? You know, I think going back to the basics is so important, you know, easy things, crossword puzzles, challenge your brain, you know, and instead of sitting and watching TV, which is a very passive activity, read, go out for a walk, fresh air, social connections, like you mentioned, there's even research to show that taking a new way home from the grocery store in the car can be something to stimulate the connections in your brain. Learning a new language, learning an instrument, things that we would say at 50 or 60, why bother, you know, those are the sorts of things I think the brain craves. I mean, the brain craves knowledge and it craves connectivity. I mean, the brain is chemicals, right? I mean, neurotransmitters, it's electrical activity, it's wires. And the same thing you would think about, like an electrical wire, if you don't stimulate at the source, that wire can slowly shrink. And so it's the same sort of concept in the brain that I would say is to continually challenge yourself in new ways, whether it's learning a new technology. Those are the sorts of things I think beyond the supplements and the pills and all of the other things that we have are very simple basic things. Yeah, you mentioned like crossword puzzles and, you know, sometimes these things like playing chess or doing a crossword puzzle or doing some memory game, you're like, oh man, it's going to take so much mental energy or something. But it sounds like you're saying that's actually a good thing, right? We want to work out our brains the way that we would work out our muscles in the gym. And admittedly, I think I've been, I've been slapping there a little bit, you know, sometimes especially after a, I'd say a long day of work, I'm like, I don't really want to work my brain too hard. And so I will take it easy. But are you a fan of things like crossword puzzles and kind of memory games or things like that? Yeah, definitely memory games. I'll do some Sudoku every now and again. But I do a lot of reading. And I like to read just very different genres of books, because I was going into a genre where I was only reading memoir for a long time. And then I thought, you know, let me pivot. So I've now pivoted to fiction, historical fiction. So I keep trying to challenge myself. This year, I decided I was going to learn to play piano, which was a dream of mine that I'd had ever since I was a child, but never had the time. And so I think challenging myself in different ways has been has been really meaningful, you know, even for, for someone like me that's still in the working world and, you know, and dealing with the day to day. But I think it becomes even more important as we get older. Yeah, making sure we're working out our mind in some way. Yeah, I also heard I've been playing pickleball recently. So I'd like for you to confirm that paddle sports are also very good for brain health. They are in team sports, right? That kind of foster that social connection that you otherwise wouldn't have. You know, I think it's so amazing that so many people are joining gyms now and taking their health into focus as a priority and less alcohol, more activity, you know, so I think that's all societally been a really positive shift. Yeah, absolutely. What are the things that you've seen are some of the worst things for brain health that you've seen over the years? I mean, I really think the biggest issue is just being sedentary. I think if you stop moving, that is when everything in your body starts breaking down, including your brain, because it's the passivity, you know, sitting watching television or staring at a computer for a long period of time. And then I think the depression and anxiety can all filter into that, you know, into that mental health cycle where, you know, you're not having the social connections, you're mostly in your home, maybe you're retired, you know, you stopped in the stop working in the working world. And, and I think that's a very dangerous cycle to be in because I think many people who are retired have so much capacity, you know, they have this wisdom of the years that they could share. And so, so I do think that being sedentary is probably the biggest, the biggest issue with with respect to brain health. So just moving around, whether it be walking, hiking, working out in the gym, anything, anything will do. Anything and being social, being out and engaging with other, you know, people, I think is extremely important. Yeah. Yeah. Now you did mention supplements. Do you have any supplements that you think, hey, these are have shown real promise for for helping to improve brain health? Like you mentioned fish oil, that's a common one that people talk about for brain health. Yeah, I mean, there's so much research out there, whether it's accredited or not, you know, but resveratrol has been shown in some studies, especially with affecting the telomere length and line preserving longevity. We know about turmeric age old, are you a like Indian, you know, known because of the curcumin to basically diminish inflammation. So that's also something that I know patients of mine and myself I've used. Those are probably the big ones. And obviously, there's a lot of other research out there that's going to be coming out in the next few years. But I do think the biggest thing societally is not just living longer, but it's also living longer and living well, right? Because, you know, it's fine to live to 90. But if you're in a state where your mind isn't functioning for the last 10 years of your life, you know, that isn't necessarily what people want, right? I mean, ideally, we want to all be mentally fit throughout, you know, the majority of our lives. Yeah, 100%. Definitely agree there. Any other thing? What about foods? Have you seen certain types of foods that you think are really bad for brain health and others that are maybe very good for brain health or a certain way of eating that you recommend? Yeah, I mean, I personally like the Mediterranean diet. I just think it's a very, you know, a very easy, you know, the blue zones diet type of thing. Obviously, processed sugars, carbohydrates, high fat, anything that's going to, you know, cause inflammation in the brain is a big deal. But I do think that eating lean and eating high protein is good, especially for women with the aging process. So I would definitely espouse, you know, a high protein diet for many women and also introducing green tea into that diet as well as an antioxidant has been a very beneficial and I think really shown research wise to be something that's useful. Oh, wow. Green tea. Okay. What do you think is it because of the antioxidants in the green tea? Yeah, exactly. Very interesting. Very, very interesting. Okay. Yeah. So what else in your book where you what else are you what are some of the other things that you kind of talk about in your book? And I know you have a new book that we want to talk about as well, a children's book that's coming out soon as well. Yeah. So, you know, other things that you could pick up for my book is obviously my love for yoga and I do a lot of spine surgery. And so, you know, one of the things that has been shown and the research is starting to come out is the use of yoga for spine health, which has been a big issue, you know, for people that have inflammation, joint problems. And so, I've started developing a yoga method actually for the spine specifically as somewhat of a program to try to help patients. It started with patients really, but now it's gone a step further and I've kind of designed it to help patients that have had maybe spine surgery so that it can do yoga moves that are safe and effective. And then also the other arm is for patients that have never had surgery who, you know, have a set of 24 exercises to do. So, that's been kind of an exciting project I've been working on for a few years. But really, you know, many of my projects are driven by need and by looking at, you know, what's my pain point? What's the issue that needs to be solved? And once I figure out what needs to be solved, you know, create a strategy to solve that problem. And so, that's kind of how my spine yoga program was born, was really through the need to put that literature out there. Amazing. I love when a spine surgeon is teaching people how to avoid spine surgery. Nothing more than I love more than that. And so, is that available for people who maybe are having back problems and considering some type of surgery? Maybe is there a way for them to access this yet? It's coming out. So, not quite yet. We're close. But when it does come out, I'll be sure to put it on my website and people can access the program. Amazing. Yeah, that'll be great. I did actually just want to ask you about, there's been a lot of talk about healthy fats for brain health. Like, you know, the C8 MCT oil that helps, you know, get or being more in ketosis or, you know, there was a book, I think, called like the end of Alzheimer's where he was talking about how a healthy, high fat, kind of low carb diet was good for Alzheimer's and brain health. And it's kind of interesting, right? Because these like coconut oils and MCT oils can be very high in saturated fats. So, you might have the heart doctor telling you, no, don't eat the saturated fats. But then the brain person is saying this is good for the brain. Would be curious to hear what are your thoughts about kind of like, I know, we're not talking about like a keto where people are just eating bacon and stuff like that all day, right? Like, if they're eating healthy fats and are very low carb, do you think that's better for brain health? Yeah, it's interesting because the brain has a lot of fatty components to it, right? And if you look at the composition of the neural network in the brain, it is kind of greased, if you will, by lipids and fats. I kind of always go back to what they did in ancient India, because I think about what my grandmother would do. And she basically used to feed us a teaspoon of ghee, which is basically a clarified butter every night when I visited her. So, I think that when you think about the fact that I don't think it's a good idea to do no fat whatsoever. I mean, our body is built on that. I mean, we have good cholesterol, right? And I think there is truth to providing the brain healthy nutrients like that in order to work to its top capacity. So, yeah, I do think there's validity in that. Okay. Yeah. So, and then any opinion on the like keto diet or being in ketosis versus being very low carb for people who have brain health issues? Have you seen anything like that work? I mean, the patients that I've had who are on keto, they complain of like a more of a brain fog. I personally have not done a keto diet, because it just to me never seemed the healthy way to go. But people that have, and I've had patients through the years that have done it, and they seem to complain that they're not functioning properly. Their brain is kind of scrambled or they're in a brain fog. So, I don't necessarily know if I'd espouse to doing it as a physician, you know, for patients. So, okay. Let's talk a little bit about your children's book that you have. I think by the time this episode is released, the children's book will be released as well. Tell us a little bit about it and how you came up with that. Yeah. So, much like many of my projects throughout life, it came out of like a light bulb inspiration moment. We traveled to India a few times every six to seven years, and we were visiting Rathambore, which is in North India. And it's actually where a tiger reserve is. And so, we usually like to go on a safari and see these incredible animals in the wild in their own habitat. So, I had gone with my kids and we were on safari and saw just this incredible tiger come out of the depths of the jungle. It was a male Bengal tiger and came right up to the truck. In India, there's no protection. So, it's not like Africa. You're not in a cage. It's totally open. There's no guns. There's no walkie-talkies. There's nothing. It's a very raw kind of experience. And it was so magical to myself and my kids that we decided to write a children's book about a tiger. And at the time, the kids were younger. They were reading a lot of books about princesses and princes and being saved. And so, we thought, wouldn't it be cool if the main female protagonist was the tiger? And so, we named her Sita, S-I-T-A, which is kind of a nod to Hindu mythology, where there is a god, that's named Sita. And we started writing it. So, it is basically an illustrated children's book. It's for ages seven to 12. So, it almost hits that tween reader category. And it's a three-part series that is coming out in April. So, our publisher is Brown Books Kids. So, it's a kids division publisher. And we're just really thrilled to put it out in the world. Some of the proceeds go to the Tiger Reserves in India for conservation purposes. So, we're hoping that we're also able to give back to some of these places in the world as well. Yeah, I know you're also big on charity and giving back. Tell us a little bit more about some of the initiatives that you've done there. Yeah, so, the conservation has been a big thing for me with the tigers. That's been a really big thing over the last 10 years. I also operate in South India for charity. So, I'll go there every few years and just do about 10 to 15 charity surgeries for patients. So, I think that's really, you know, and what I always say about that is, it doesn't matter if you're a human being in Africa, in Asia, in Europe, United States, we all have the same anatomy, right? And so, it doesn't really matter the color of your skin, it doesn't matter what language you speak, but we're really all the same on the inside. So, I think it's been really an incredible part of my career to go to other countries and operate. I do work in Qatar, in Doha as well. So, that's actually been kind of an incredible thing, I think, as a neurosurgeon that I've been a part of. And to have the connections with other doctors, other surgeons around the globe, it's been really, really amazing, I think, in this world of connectivity that we have. And so, I do charity through that as well. Amazing. What are some of the differences you see in, I guess, the medical systems in some of these other countries compared to our country? I'm curious. Yeah, I come back from a lot of these trips, feeling so grateful for what we have. Last time I was in South India, we were operating, there was no air conditioning, and it was close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. So, I came back and I just thought, oh my gosh, I'm grateful for air conditioning. But the supplies that we use, we have so many supplies in the United States, we do one surgery and there's bags of garbage afterwards. And in India, everything's washable, everything's reusable. And afterwards, they'll have like a little 10-year-old boy washing the drapes and washing the linens and reusing. And so, I think the hygiene is really what I see here. It's just light years above what it can be in other countries. And then I think the infection rates are lower because of it. So, I do think there is such an incredible and massive need for global health equalization. And one of the other things that I'm really passionate about is equalizing that barrier for people across geography. So, maybe in my next big project that I take on for the next decade of my life, it'll be that. It'll be global health. Yeah, I wonder if the acceleration of AI and things like that. I mean, what's your opinion on AI and its role in medicine going forward? Yeah, I mean, I use surgical robotics. So, AI is a part of kind of the every week, every month type of scenario. I do think we've learned a lot about the safe uses of AI and medicine. And now we have the goggles, the Apple goggles that you can use. And we could put them on here in the United States and show a surgeon in Africa how to clip into brain aneurysm. So, it's gone a long way. And I think it's going to be really exciting where the next five to 10 years goes. I'm not one of those physicians that's afraid of AI. I don't think it's going to make me jobless. And I do think it's going to work better in terms of triaging. If you have 100 patients, maybe AI will be used to triage more. But I think there'll always be a need for human beings to be practical and come up with a treatment plan for a patient. I don't think AI will do that. Yeah. So, you mentioned you're using some sort of robotics right now. Like I was curious, is there a lot of robotics currently being used in surgery? And if you look 20, 30 years down the road, do you think full surgeries or 80% of surgeries would be performed by sort of robots, I guess? Yeah. So, I started doing, I shifted to Spine Robotics in 2019 for a lot of my spine surgeries. I remember I had seen it trialed at a medical conference and I thought, no one's ever going to use that. And then 10 years later, the hospital purchased one and we started using it. And now we have about four or five companies on the market that have spine robots. So, it's becoming very common. I don't know if it'll ever fully replace the need for open surgery. I think there is a specific patient that it could be used for in a specific scenario. But I do think it's going to become more common. And I do think people are asking for it. It does make things easier. It makes their time in the hospital shorter too. So, I do think there's a role for it in the next 10 years. Amazing. I know we don't have too much time left, but is there any other general health advice that you would give for people? For example, are you a fan of full body scans, right? Where maybe they're also getting scans on the brain and seeing if there's something there. Any kind of things like that that you would recommend for people? Yeah, the full body scans I think are a double-edged sword in many ways, right? Like in some ways, it's fantastic. You're detecting a brain tumor when it's small. You're detecting a problem in the spine. But on the flip side of it, what I've seen in a couple instances is the panic that it can create for patients. And I've had people who have called me, friends that have called me and have said, I got this Prunovo scan and I found this. What does this mean? And so, I think it's good in many ways. And in some ways, I think it could be detrimental because it can make people just completely upset and nervous and panicked. I do think there should be a way to take the information from that scan and filter it to maybe a specialist in a very thoughtful way so the specialist can vet it and say, okay, this is something to worry about. This is something to follow up on. This is something to not worry about. I do think I would get one just because I think I'd be able to vet the information through it, hopefully to some degree. But they're also very costly and most insurances don't pay for them. So I think it'd be great to bring that down to the general population so that everybody could afford it. But then also, I think the information that goes along with it, which is what do I do with these words on a page? There should be a clear pathway for that as well. Yeah. I always wonder too, and I'm curious your thoughts on this, if there's any concern about unnecessary surgeries maybe doing or things that maybe you could get it removed or maybe it would just be benign for the rest of your life and there would be no issue there. I actually know someone who actually had one of these scans a few years ago and they said that everything was okay, no problems, you're fine. Got scanned again recently and they're like, oh, you actually have, I don't know if it was an aneurysm or something in the brain or something that they saw. And they said, you should really basically have brain surgery and get this removed. And then they look back at the first scan, they're like, well, it was there then, it didn't grow at all. No one said anything about it the first time. Now they're telling me I got to have brain surgery and this person's like freaking out. They don't know what to do. Should you get surgery? Should you not? Brain surgery is a pretty serious thing here. I wonder if you just overall your general thoughts about things like that? Yeah, we pick up stuff that actually happens. I would say not infrequently because you have different radiologists who are reading the images, number one and number two, there's different strength magnets. So a magnet's 1.5 Tesla or two Tesla, it may be picking up smaller things. So I feel like a lot of times we're finding things that we're making patients go and get this scan and get this scan. And so they come in for an MRI of their brain and all of a sudden they need an MRI of their kidney or they need this or that, you know, and so I do think there again, there is a lot of panic and a lot of misinformation about things. And I think a platform where the results are vetted through a specialist is really what needs to happen, you know, as an next logical step so that it doesn't make the patient feel like they're lost. I mean, because now it's their responsibility, right, to go and make all the phone calls and figure out what to do with all the information. And it's really hard to navigate the medical system, I think, for many people today. Yeah, yeah. Well, Sherry, this has been amazing. I want to please let people know where they can follow you, find you, learn more, stay connected if you're on any social channels or anything like that. Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram at Dr. Sherry DeWon and also my website, which is just www.dr. SherryDeWon.com. And I have links for my books there if anybody would like to check them out. Amazing. Thank you so much for joining us. And I hope we can do this again sometime. Absolutely. It was a pleasure being here today. Thank you. Thank you. 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