The

Empowered

Surgeon

Group

Reconnecting You With Purpose and Passion in the Profession of Surgery

You love surgery, but it’d be better without this–

A day-to-day working environment that leaves you constantly saying, "This isn’t sustainable. This isn’t me. I don’t want to do this anymore."

Not recognizing yourself.

You used to dream of life as an attending surgeon—you imagined connecting with patients, doing surgeries, teaching residents, receiving appropriate compensation to support a comfortable life. You knew you were going to work hard, but, you thought, it will all be worth it. So why doesn’t it feel worth it?

That mountain of bureaucratic tasks–

An endless inbox of patient messages, pushback from insurance companies who won’t let you treat your patients based on your expertise and experience, and constant anxiety about making a mistake and being sued. It’s almost as if your brain doesn’t register good patient outcomes because it’s doing everything possible to prevent you from being blindsided by a bad google review, insurance denial, surgical complication, and malpractice suit.

A situation that seems unfixable.

You’ve tried to fix it, but nothing sticks. Your therapist doesn’t get it. Your spouse doesn’t get it. Your parents don’t get it. Your best friend doesn’t get it. But I get it. I’ve been there, and I know how to help you solve this.

Here’s the truth, and potentially some good news–

You’re not alone.

You are an exceptional human being—an overachiever, a perfectionist, a hard worker, and someone who has relied on external validation your entire life. But now that you’ve scaled surgeon mountain, you’re starting to realize the prize at the top is not that great.

You’re doing your best to survive a system that cares about maximizing profits for shareholders, not making it easy for you to provide your patients with excellent care. You’ve been told to put your nose to the grindstone and work within the system, but you’re realizing it just causes you suffering. It’s time for you to think creatively, diversify your identity, stop identifying as a victim, learn to tolerate uncertainty and risk, and reconnect with your “why”. These are just a few of the many skills you will learn in this program.

So, what’s really going on?

You’re Not Broken– The System is Broken.

Let’s be real. Corporatization of medicine has exacted moral injury on all of us. Either we work within the system, work to change the system, creatively destroy it and rebuild it, or leave it all together. Whatever you choose to do with your life, you deserve to be okay doing it.

You haven’t been given the tools to deal with the broken system you inherited– but that’s precisely what you get in The Empowered Surgeon Group.

You’ve internalized unrealistic expectations, creating a relationship with yourself and your work that’s toxic and unsustainable. You have to build yourself back up, learn how to have your own back, normalize showing up as the highest version of yourself, and stop looking outside of yourself to determine your worth. When you do this, you’ll be able to surf the waves of circumstances without letting them knock you off your board—even when insurance companies deny your patient’s surgery, equipment in the OR isn’t working, your office manager overbooks your clinic, patients have complications, you’re running behind, you’re understaffed, you’re dreading call—even when you feel like you are at capacity, this program will teach you how to manage your brain, get grounded, and find clarity, no matter the circumstances.

A Coaching Program Created

Specifically For Surgeons Who

Want To Succeed

Together, we’ll practice your skills of being Empowered versus Saying “Yes” because it feels safer than “No.”

No more feeling shame because you chose to go on a walk instead of adding on that patient with a non-urgent problem. No more pretending you want to martyr yourself for the profession. No more feeling like you’re the only surgeon who feels anxiety, fear, self-doubt, or inadequacy. No more avoiding difficult conversations for fear of feeling discomfort.

This isn’t about walking away from medicine or giving up your dreams.

It’s about creating a sustainable, fulfilling version of the surgeon you want to be while reconnecting with the reason you fell in love with this work in the first place—to have a positive impact.

What you’ll learn to do is reclaim your humanity and build relationships—with your profession, your patients, and yourself—that are grounded in truth, safety, and ease. You’ll learn how to feel safe at work. You’ll embody the belief that nothing can hurt you without your permission, not patients, not the system, not your coworkers, not the board of medicine.

A note from Mel–

The Empowered Surgeon Program + Plan

Coaching is not the same as therapy. Here’s what it is.

  • Therapy focuses on healing past emotional traumas and mental health issues to help a non-functional person become functional. Coaching is future-focused and meant to uplevel you to the next, most capable and purpose-driven version of yourself.

  • The International Coaching Federation (ICF) defines coaching as “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential.” As a coach, I am your thought partner. Everything boils down to mindset. The thoughts in your brain become beliefs, and those beliefs create emotions that drive actions, which produce results in your life. If you want a different result in your life, you have to change your thoughts and beliefs. That’s the heart of coaching.

What You Get By Practicing The Empowered Surgeon Method:

1– Clarity About Your Environment

  • Toxic martyrdom, perfectionism, vertical hierarchies, and pretending have plagued surgical training culture since its inception, and this program will show you how these mindsets skew your sense of self and sense of the world.

  • The Capacity Equation Module will teach you how to assertively say “No” and set healthy boundaries without feeling bad about it.

  • Humans love drama, but drama is such an energy suck. The Mastering Drama Modules will teach you to stay out of other people’s drama and stay on top of your own.

2– Clarity About Yourself

  • The Anatomy of a Surgeon Module will teach you how to manage your most powerful tool—your brain—and how to read your body compass to make decisions based on intuition, not fear.

  • You’ll learn how to grow an Unshakeable Surgeon Self-Concept grounded in trust, truth and deep self-compassion.

  • You’ll learn how to feel safe even when your patient has a surgical complication, someone gives you a bad review, or you’ve been named in a lawsuit.

  • The Authenticity Formula Module will teach you how to match your internal milieu with how you show up in the world, and the result will be closer relationships, increased efficiency in the clinic, and better diagnostic abilities.

  • The Mastering Emotions Module will show you how to generate emotions that move you forward, like curiosity, creativity, courage, motivation, and service.

You’ll integrate these skills in the real world, and in doing so, you’ll make mistakes, revert to old patterns, fail, and fall flat on your face. This is why we work together for 6 months. Every week, I’ll hold you in those failures. This is coaching. This is your hero’s journey. This is how you not only survive, but thrive, in both surgery and life.

Here’s what you get

Don’t spend another day wondering why you hate your job

JOIN The Empowered Surgeon Group

Surgeons, this 6-month container starts April 30th, 2025. We’ll coach via Zoom for 1 hour per week every Wednesday at 4 pm EST . What makes me an expert at this is my 12 years of experience as an ENT surgeon and over a year and hundreds of hours coaching surgeons just like you. I have seen surgeons transform their lives first-hand. I myself have applied these frameworks in the operating room and clinic, and I know this process works.

You’ll also get lifetime access to all the Empowered Surgeon Modules, self-directed videos that will take you through all of the most essential concepts.

You’ll have access to a digital copy of The Empowered Surgeon Workbook to implement these concepts in a hands-on, and introspective way.

If you’re an introvert, no problem. You’ll get transformation just by watching your peers getting coached by me. You can integrate these concepts on your own time by studying the modules and workbook, and if you miss a coaching call, you can watch the replay.

Finally, you’ll get lifetime access to the Empowered Surgeons Facebook Group, a community of peer support where you can cheer each other on and share your experiences in a space curated just for surgeons.

What Clients are Saying

  • "Mel is exceptional at what she does. Her ability to connect is her superpower. Very grateful for her work."

    Dr. D

  • "Mel Thacker is just amazing. She has helped me so much! I can’t even say how much my life has changed in the past year with her life coaching. From helping me manage my severe anxiety to helping me feel better about myself it’s been a miracle. "

    Lisa B

  • "Mel is amazing. Really helped me get back into my game and have real tools to fall back on. Worth every penny!"

    B D

  • "It’s hard to put into words what a special person and amazing coach Mel is. As surgeons we are surrounded by so much noise in our heads and elsewhere. She can help you get to the root of it and help you see what it is you’re missing and what you really want/need out of your career and life in general. I cannot recommend her more highly!"

    Colleen P

  • "Dr. Thacker is an amazing person, surgeon and coach. Life as a surgeon is a windy gravel road, and she will help you navigate it. I highly recommend coaching with Dr. Thacker. Don't hesitate to reach out to her."

    James S

  • "Mel has such profound insights about the surgical training system and the way we as humans adapted to get through training- and how many of those maladaptive patterns ultimately hold back attending surgeons in practice."

    Mia M

JOIN THE EMPOWERED SURGEON GROUP TODAY

The Group Calls begin on April 30, and you can start this work right now. Here’s what you’ll get today:

  • Immediate Access to the Empowered Surgeon Page with a welcome video from me

  • Immediate Access to the Empowered Surgeon Workbook in PDF form

  • Immediate Access to Empowered Surgeon Facebook Group

Hey there, I’m Mel

I’m a professional certified coach and surgeon just like you. I experienced the powerful effects of coaching first hand when a coach helped me manage anxiety and panic attacks at work. I became a coach through Martha Beck’s Wayfinder Coach Training Program and started coaching surgeons in the fall of 2023. The need for this became very clear as my coaching practice grew around me while I continued to take care of patients in my role as a surgeon. Hundreds of hours of coaching over the last year and a half have taught me what surgeons struggle with, why they struggle with those issues, and how to make them better. I’ve applied these concepts to my own life and seen the powerful effects of coaching in the clinic, the OR, and at home. I’m honored to usher you out of overwhelm, confusion, and disconnection and into clarity, control, and purpose.

Who I am as a human is a harder question to answer. My identity has shifted so many times in my life. As a kid, I would have identified as anxious, impoverished, determined, and precocious. As an adult, I attached my self-worth to external validation. Graduating top of my medical school class wasn’t enough. ENT residency and rhinology fellowship were not enough. Making 7 figures in 2018 was not enough. Getting a second board certification in lifestyle medicine wasn’t enough. Nothing was ever enough.

Through coaching, I realized nothing outside of me could fulfill me, that I have everything I need inside of me right here, right now. Then my brain exploded and my world shifted. I started shedding the layers of cultural narratives that were holding me back and taking courageous, aligned action.

So, I suppose I will introduce myself to you as an evolving human. I’ve climbed surgeon mountain and lived there for the last 12 years. My mission is no longer to serve patients directly but instead to serve surgeons like you.

I’m also a wife—married to the best guy—and a mother of two fun little humans, ages 9 and 11, and I’m a TEDx speaker (find my talk here), marathon runner, and podcaster.

I’m so excited you’re here!