What makes a doctor FAMOUS?

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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The Angriest Bird

The Angriest Bird

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To be honest, I am not terribly concerned with being a famous doctor, but my parents constantly ask me what makes a doctor "famous?" I don't really know the answer.

I know for a PhD, what makes you famous is some break-through scientific discovery. But pure clinicians (let's restrict our discussion to non-research-involved MDs) don't really make any big discoveries.

I used to think that what makes you famous is which school/hospital you went to for your med school and residency. However, then I realize many famous doctors I know did not go to Harvard for med school then Mass Gen for residency. And vise versa, many who follow the Harvard-MassGen path are not famous.

This just confuses me. Your thoughts?

In addition, does fame = more money? If yes, how much more?
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Good Yeast said:
To be honest, I am not terribly concerned with being a famous doctor, but my parents constantly ask me what makes a doctor "famous?" I don't really know the answer.

I know for a PhD, what makes you famous is some break-through scientific discovery. But pure clinicians (let's restrict our discussion to non-research-involved MDs) don't really make any big discoveries.

I used to think that what makes you famous is which school/hospital you went to for your med school and residency. However, then I realize many famous doctors I know did not go to Harvard for med school then Mass Gen for residency. And vise versa, many who follow the Harvard-MassGen path are not famous.

This just confuses me. Your thoughts?

In addition, does fame = more money? If yes, how much more?
Click to expand...

Come up with a new surgical procedure. A new treatment for a disease. Create new medical/surgical devices. Some M.D.s that are famous are:

DeBakey, Cooley and Yasargil. There are many more, but those are the ones that come to mind first.

It can lead to more money...it just depends on how business savvy you are.
 
Good Yeast said:
To be honest, I am not terribly concerned with being a famous doctor, but my parents constantly ask me what makes a doctor "famous?" I don't really know the answer.

I know for a PhD, what makes you famous is some break-through scientific discovery. But pure clinicians (let's restrict our discussion to non-research-involved MDs) don't really make any big discoveries.

I used to think that what makes you famous is which school/hospital you went to for your med school and residency. However, then I realize many famous doctors I know did not go to Harvard for med school then Mass Gen for residency. And vise versa, many who follow the Harvard-MassGen path are not famous.

This just confuses me. Your thoughts?

In addition, does fame = more money? If yes, how much more?
Click to expand...


The dudes on Dr 90210 are far more famous than most of the Harvard/MGH crowd. As is Jack Kervorkian. As is Sanjay Gupta on CNN. Fame is about publicity, notoriety. The majority of the folks who have the great academic pedigrees and who work at centers of excellence will never be known outside of physician circles. They may be well known at the annual specialty conventions but not by the public.

Fame can generate more money if you are in an out of pocket payor situation (as in cosmetic surgery), or if you are paid as a TV personality rather than as a physician, but if you are primarilly practicing medicine and working for insurance reimbursements, as most physicians are these days, fame probably does not translate to more money.
 
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Write a book.

or leave practice, enter politics and diagnose people from videos.
 
Good Yeast said:
To be honest, I am not terribly concerned with being a famous doctor, but...

...does fame = more money? If yes, how much more?
Click to expand...

👎 Is this post for real?

Even a plumber, used car salesman, or an ambulance-chasing attorney can be famous. It's called commercials, billboards, advertisements, etc. As Law2Doc alluded, fame has less to do with clinical accumen and more to do with marketing yourself. Having said that, being dashingly handsome and wearing dapper clothes surely doesn't hurt...
 
Sir Buckethead said:
Write a book.

or leave practice, enter politics and diagnose people from videos.
Click to expand...

I heard accurate diagnosis can be done through video alone. Especially if its done by a Republican who has political interest.
 
BlackNDecker said:
👎 Is this post for real?

Even a plumber, used car salesman, or an ambulance-chasing attorney can be famous. It's called commercials, billboards, advertisements, etc. As Law2Doc alluded, fame has less to do with clinical accumen and more to do with marketing yourself. Having said that, being dashingly handsome and wearing dapper clothes surely doesn't hurt...
Click to expand...

Why the 👎? Its a legitimate question.
 
Think fame is impressive? I have 2 words for you.






Suzukiman TV
 
Lots of airtime.
doctalk_revised.jpg


​
 
Ok, I probably mis-worded the original thread and led you guys to the wrong discussion. It's my bad.

The "famous doctor" I said does not mean publicity like celebrities. I really mean prestigious practitioners in a specific field.

Say a wealthy old man has got a rare leukemia or whatever, he wants to find a "famous doctor" in town so that he gets the best treatment or best possible outcome. This is not a good example. I do believe most doctors are equally competitive. You get my point.
 
Building a reputation (esp. word of mouth, good outcomes, publishing your results) over many years is what makes a person seek a particular physician.

I think this is more common for surgeries/invasive operations than internal medicine related pathology (i.e. leukemia), b/c outcomes are drastically different b/w surgeons and many people who have an operation are otherwise healthy (once the pathology is fixed/removed). The most obvious example is plastic surgery, but extends to heart transplant/valve replacement, and various congenital defects.

Someone with leukemia is obviously sick, but the medical intervention is standardized across all institutions. More commonly, patients will seek out a facility (Mayo clinic, Cleveland clinic, Texas Heart Institute, MD Anderson) rather than an individual practitioner.
 
Good Yeast said:
Ok, I probably mis-worded the original thread and led you guys to the wrong discussion. It's my bad.

The "famous doctor" I said does not mean publicity like celebrities. I really mean prestigious practitioners in a specific field.

Say a wealthy old man has got a rare leukemia or whatever, he wants to find a "famous doctor" in town so that he gets the best treatment or best possible outcome. This is not a good example. I do believe most doctors are equally competitive. You get my point.
Click to expand...


Word of mouth
 
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James Andrews( Ortho Surgery) is perfect example of a "famous" doctor.
 
Yeah I think this is an interesting question. Not famous like Sanjay Gupta, that's obvious, but famous in the sense that you go on a certain rotation or to a certain hospital and people say, "He's a big name in XXX field."

For example, I am doing Pathology and a name I have heard this about is Jan Silverman (Cytology at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh). Now, this is not a particularly widely known hospital and I don't doubt that he is a big name, but I wonder how that happens? One feature of a big name person is having written a book, but how do you even get to the point where people would publish or buy your book? Just write it and see what happens? I guess you could make big discoveries in research, but there is definitely a luck component. Any thoughts?
 
Controvery makes men fameous. If you carve your initials into your patients, or molest them, or something like that, people will know your name.
 
Local fame, such as knowing who the 'best nephrologist in town' is, is by word of mouth and reputation-building based on people skills, technical know-how and a smart practice. It's like any business, people gravitate to those they had good experiences with.

Nationwide fame for doctors are less obvious. As other mentioned, notariety is a start (Dr. Kevorkian), then there's Dr. Gupta and that doc on ABC news. They are famous because they're on TV.

Within academic circles, famous doctors would be those that pioneered some new procedure, like that heart surgeon who was recently awarded Congress' highest civilian award.

Of course, for those doctors that enjoys the 'good fame', it does help to have the top credentials. Dr. Gupta went to UofMich and is a neurosurgeon and professor at Emory, not exactly someone who labored from obscurity before going on CNN.....and people who tend to pioneer new medical procedures gravitate toward academic enters where people tend to value school credentials/residencies moreso. As a result, I would say that having top credentials does indirectly help to becoming a "famous" doctor---but it's hardly the fame that celebrities get, and many who do their residencies at MGH labor in obscurity for most of their lives.
 
Kill a bunch of people. Or just one person, in a particularly brutal way.

When I was a little kid, there was a dentist living down the street who killed his wife. The story was that he was doing something on her teeth, and while she was anesthetized, he took his dental drill and drilled her eyes out.

I'm not sure I buy that story, but it made him famous. At least locally.
 
Good Yeast said:
Ok, I probably mis-worded the original thread and led you guys to the wrong discussion. It's my bad.

The "famous doctor" I said does not mean publicity like celebrities. I really mean prestigious practitioners in a specific field.
Click to expand...

What makes for a famous doctor in a specific field?

nobel.jpg


Bling bling​
 
Become the next Dr. Netter or Dr. Robbins
 
Sean2tall said:
Yeah I think this is an interesting question. Not famous like Sanjay Gupta, that's obvious, but famous in the sense that you go on a certain rotation or to a certain hospital and people say, "He's a big name in XXX field."

For example, I am doing Pathology and a name I have heard this about is Jan Silverman (Cytology at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh). Now, this is not a particularly widely known hospital and I don't doubt that he is a big name, but I wonder how that happens? One feature of a big name person is having written a book, but how do you even get to the point where people would publish or buy your book? Just write it and see what happens? I guess you could make big discoveries in research, but there is definitely a luck component. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Pathology is a field that's got several big names due to the nature of the work. It's so academic that it's (relatively) easy to carve out a section of study that you want to be the king of through sheer hard work and TONS of study. You want to be the brain tumor king? Start looking at as many slides as you can find, and start publishing guidelines about discriminating certain types from eachother.

As shocking as it is, pathologists have sections even THEY don't know what to do with. So they end up getting sent to the guy who's seen the most. Have NO idea what this sarcoma is? Send it off to the guy who gets all the sarcomas in the world to him. This help builds their fame.
 
Good Yeast said:
To be honest, I am not terribly concerned with being a famous doctor, but my parents constantly ask me what makes a doctor "famous?" I don't really know the answer.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, but your parents are asking the wrong question. I would just ask them why they are so concerned about "fame" and then go from there. They may have a misunderstanding about why you want to be a doctor. And hopefully this is a choice you have made, and haven't been pushed into it by your parents.
 
rickthetwinkie said:
Why the 👎? Its a legitimate question.
Click to expand...
Yes its a legitimate question, one I also ironically pondered maybe 3 days ago!
{some may not have the depth to answer this kind of q} My thoughts to the first misconstrued q.

1)Be a doc who wins a Nobel peace prize!

2)Become either the surgeon general or assistant surgeon general..

3) letsmake a distinction between good and bad, where if its someting negative the doc is more likely to be INFAMOUS..

4)Be a Presidents doctor..

5)Be a "concierge doctor"- a West coast phenomenom (spelling?)where the doc is paid large sums up front by an aristocrat to be at his beck and call at ANYTIME.

6)Michael Badin the pathologist in the Simpson Case became more popular because of the Simpson case..


#2a) being the best doc in a field actually is done more by word of mouth, then by the book "the Best Doc Docs in New York" or wherever.. Because the Book the "Best Docs a lot of times is Politically driven..Word of mouth does a heck of a lot here!! Although the book the best docs may be a little helpful..

2b)Word of mouth IN the "fraternity" of medicine is also helpful..

3)Nothing beats a real life testimonial from a docs patient.. For example- A lady leaving his office as you enter and she is saying "he fixed my hand, he fixed my mothers shoulder".. Also something to the fact-"his father is a carpenter and his mother is a seamstres". So he is just purely a great orthopedic surgeon who is purely excellent with his hands.. [instead of staples he sews..]

Also there is not a d--- thing wrong with ones parents wanting them to be a famous doc!!!!!
As long as you recall what Barbara Fadem said: " you dont go into medicine for money. But if you happen to make some along the way its ok"

I rest my case.
 
Terpskins99 said:
Who outside of medicine has ever heard of Netter or Robbins?

Nobody!
Click to expand...

Actually, oddly enough my sister knows Netter. She's an artist, though, so that kind of makes sense.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
Be like that Jarvik guy and invent a device that doesn't work (or well doesn't work very well and never succeeds) and then get to be on Lipitor commercials. I still don't get why that dude's an authority.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16039753/
Click to expand...

I think it has something to do with his having hypercholesterolemia also and being one of the first heart transplant surgeons and Lipitor being Pfizers #1 product.. Wrong!!! I was thinking of Christian Barnard..
 
Doctor said:
I'm sorry, but your parents are asking the wrong question. I would just ask them why they are so concerned about "fame" and then go from there. They may have a misunderstanding about why you want to be a doctor. And hopefully this is a choice you have made, and haven't been pushed into it by your parents.
Click to expand...

Shut up.
 
Terpskins99 said:
Lots of airtime.
doctalk_revised.jpg


​
Click to expand...

Of course, it's easier to get on air without wasting 7+ years of your life in medical school and residency! The best way to be a famous doc is to not be a doc at all. I mean, look at House M.D. .... Hugh Laurie didn't go to medical school and he's probably the most-recognized "doc" to the public.

Go into acting to get famous, or do something else you love for a career. If that's medicine, great. If not, tell your helicopter parents to back off (just kidding, you haven't filled in the blanks enough to indicate that your parents are constantly hovering over your career decisions... but you'd be surprised at how many pre-meds I've known over the years who have been "pushed" in that direction by overzealous parents).
 
show up on infomercials 😀

hey, i just noticed a change of template here! happened like 2 mins ago
 
Meatwad said:
Actually, oddly enough my sister knows Netter. She's an artist, though, so that kind of makes sense.
Click to expand...

She knew Netter. He is no longer alive.
 
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