#4: An Interview With a Cardiothoracic Surgeon

Olugbenga T. Okusanya MD FACS, is currently an assistant professor of surgery in the Department of Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He was a highly decorated general surgery resident winning multiple teaching and leadership awards. He then completed his cardiothoracic fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he was recruited to stay on as a faculty member in 2018. He was then recruited to Thomas Jefferson University in 2020. Dr. Okusanya has been recognized as a leader in thoracic surgery having been selected to participate in the Society of Thoracic Surgery and the American Association of Thoracic Society leadership academies. He was recognized as the Reviewer of the Year of the Annals of Thoracic Surgery in 2021 and has published more than fifty peer-reviewed papers. He is also a nationally recognized expert on robotic thoracic surgery and the racial disparities in the utilization of surgery of thoracic malignancies.
Follow him on Twitter: okusanyamd?ref_sr...
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0:00 - Intro
1:40 - Statistics About Cardiothoracic Surgery
6:56 - Chief Years, Love for Teaching and Throwing Scalpels
14:41 - What Is Cardiothoracic Surgery?
21:44 - An Average Day/Week of a Surgeon
28:25 - If I Give You $100 Million, What Would You Do?
31:08 - What Kept You Going as a Medical Student/Resident?
33:16 - Second Thoughts While Choosing a Specialty
37:24 - CT Residency
43:06 - Building Systems
52:20 - Going up Stages in CT Surgery
1:02:00 - Lifestyle of a CT Surgeon and Comparison With PM&R
1:04:42 - Future Career Plans
1:06:30 - Characteristics of a Student for Surgery
1:08:05 - Advice for Students Going Into Surgery
1:11:31 - Extremely Important Question!!!
1:13:10 - Outro
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View the Show Notes Page for This Episode for transcript and more information: zhighley.com/podcast
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Connect with Dr. Okusanya
Twitter: okusanyamd?ref_sr...
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Connect With Zach
Main KZbin: @ZachHighley
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Website: zhighley.com
Twitter: / zachhighley
Linkedln: / zach-highley-gergel-44...
Business Inquiries: [e-mail]
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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!

[@MCMMADDOGXCV]

Ok this is literally GOLD! The quality of the video, audio, questions, host attitude, and the guest personality, OMG this is something this is really something. I gotta say I’m here before the 1 million.

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Dr. Okusanya is a stellar guest that I was lucky to have, thanks!

[@jessedonorovich4225]

This is SUCH a high quality interview in every way! Dr Okusanya had such good points and I was invested all the way through. I love your new setup and cannot wait for more interviews!

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

He has some fantastic points, every other week there will be a new one!

[@ramongutierrez-gq4cq]

18 years completely focused in one path takes true dedication and knowing exactly what your after, you set your waypoints and try not to deviate. However, starting at 18 years and done at 36 is actually young age with huge accomplishments, most people at 36 can’t even land a good job or have little to no skills.

[@anshumanjha3138]

He is brilliant

[@emretoner8282]

Thank you for this fantastic interview

[@iAmDubem]

Loved this conversation. He’s extremely intelligent and you can tell he’s a great physician. He reminds me so much of the surgeons I know, which is cool lol. Really enjoying your podcast!

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

An extremely driven, intelligent, and caring guy - anyone would be lucky to have him be their doctor!

[@anacarpenter9254]

Living in New Zealand 🇳🇿 USA 🇺🇸 this gentleman's academic efficiency is outstanding. With all that he commends his wife for her proficiency also. Should all cardiologists meet this gentleman's standards the world 🌎 ♥ has so much to offer when opportunities happen. What a good listen, especially with a highly skilled interviewer. Thanks Zach. nb: recently retired 68 year old Maori nurse. Arohanui ❤❤😊

[@anshumanjha3138]

I am a family physician working in Singapore and it warms my heart to see so many brilliant doctors on your podcast totally in love with their work . I am not brilliant but my life's motive has always been to be a very good doctor and it makes me feel good that all the great doctors on your podcast all share this trait. Keep up the amazing work man.

[@anacarpenter9254]

Good morning listening to this interview has made me feel comfortable 😌 that my life would be safe hands with this doctor. Fifteen years of self commitment with Education Efficiency to reach the levels that this gentleman has is reassuring. Thank you bless you❤❤😊

[@MuhammadAbdullah-kp2pz]

Thank you so much for having this Interview! I'll keep coming back to this.

[@JN-kk4nk]

What an inspirational persona!! Great interview

[@Neuroinfantryangel]

Not even a medical student, but these interviews are very intriguing. Please don’t stop 🙏

[@Anthony1._288]

Absolutely amazing

[@Tsala29]

Exactly what I needed to see! Hopefully you get the chance to do a Neurosurgeon at some point.

[@hearttalk-drcharleslee]

One of the BEST Podcast deliveries I have heard. Brilliant.

[@sameerebrahim8718]

Absolutely amazing bro, could you do one with an orthopedic surgeon please?

[@marthawall3318]

Wow. So much wisdom! Excellent interview and well worth the time and I am not a med student nor doctor!

[@DCYTB]

Oh this is a brilliant, brilliant person

[@SaimCalgary]

I would love to see an interview with a pediatric surgeon. Great questions :)

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Noted!

[@jamielevine3821]

Zach these interviews are great!!

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Thanks so much!

[@medicogram]

Great podcast! 🫶🏻

[@arjunsreekumar8185]

This was amazing! I aspire to be a CT surgeon and this was so insightful. Thank you :)

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Glad it was helpful!

[@NillaThunder13]

Wow this was great ! 🤩

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Thank you! My guest was really fantastic here.

[@kevinakyuz6762]

This was so good

[@marqevietoney9737]

This is a great interview, you can tell doc is well educated

[@OldDiamonds02]

Yes , Considering all of his achievements , dedication and hard work it’s to be expected . Along with him pushing on understanding of his profession. There are low quality doctors and nurses which causes multiple issues sadly

[@Krish-kz2ww]

Such an insightful talk...Even for a non medical student✨✨

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Yeah he gives good life tips here as well

[@kritika91]

This guys a medical student with a show like this? Very rare. Reminds me of that doctor mike guy. The look and ability to talk. Interesting.

[@mohamedazizjallouli8591]

great video !! plastic surgeon ASAP please !

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

On it!

[@ki4n444]

A black brother in the field, i love seeing black people in medicine! Thank you for this interview!

[@timas2791]

Just had to bring race into it.

[@dasiamonet]

@@timas2791 why does that bother you?

[@princeo242]

@@timas2791if this is your mentality and you’re interested in medicine, that’s a yikes

[@AshrafOsama-ul5qs]

@@dasiamonetbecause you have to remind people of racism and differences . Racism will disappear when you forget about it .

[@DFOlover1]

@@AshrafOsama-ul5qsno one mentioned racism but you. And it’s stupid to believe racism disappears just because you ignore it lmao

[@thebehaviouristguy]

I like this style...

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Thank you!

[@dventurimramos]

Awesome

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

He is!

[@abcdefghijklmno1009]

I'm confused. So he did 5 years general surgery, 2 chief years, 2 research years, and then 2 years fellowship? Dang that's much more than I expected.

[@DrLeeBrainSurg]

WOW!

[@summerdow7149]

Wait, how many years did it take for Dr. Okusayna to become a cardiothoracic surgeon? Did he say 18?

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

18 years of higher education and training yea

[@summerdow7149]

@@TheZachHighleyshow thank you!:) I love this podcast 💕♥️

[@livelaughscience]

Some interviews with female surgeons would be cool to see

[@TheZachHighleyshow]

Hey you can check out my neurosurgery interview, urology interview, and OB-GYN interview, but more to come!

[@kalenuka-bestlifegeng461]

I would love to see an interview with a black female cardio thoracic surgeon

[@DJ-jq8if]

Dude I thought this was a Tyler the creator interview for a second lol

[@lycanunleashed]

he is more qualified then i will ever be even in 10 reincarnations

[@user-mk7wr7jm2e]

When did Tyler the creator become a surgeon?

[@andrewtaylor1610]

He looks like a cross between Tyler the Creator and Ben Carson

[@cvleb777]

Why tf do you look like Tyler The Creator's dad?