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–
From Dissection to Integration: Becoming Whole Again
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– AKA It’s Not Just YOU
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 Classroom 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– AKA What You Control and What You Don’t
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.
In the Unshakeable Surgeon Self-Concept Modules, you’ll learn how to evolve an identity that allows you to execute excellently in the OR and extract value when things go wrong.
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 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.
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You’ll discover how viewing life as cyclical rather than linear can reignite your sense of purpose. You'll explore how common yet limiting mindsets—such as the arrival fallacy, the sunk cost fallacy, and the illusion of golden handcuffs—shape your thinking and how to reframe them for greater clarity and fulfillment. Through engaging exercises, this workbook will guide you in redefining your self-perception and deepening your connection to the world, helping you cultivate a confident and grounded sense of self.
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You’re going to fall. You’re going to fail. Patients are going to have complications and then your brain is going to harass you. You’re going to say “yes” when you really mean “no”. You’re going to feel unsafe. This is why we coach for 6 months. I will hold you and coach you through these moments. Failures are the most powerful teachers. Together we will extract meaning, and the entire room will experience transformation. After 6 months of mini-transformations, you’ll leave this container a completely different person with a whole new perspective.
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A unique and empowering community for surgeons who are jazzed about personal development. You’ll share your fails and celebrate each other in a non-judgmental space curated for surgeons.
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Implementation is the hardest part. Many of the concepts we will cover in this program are not going to feel new to you, but hearing them said in many different, surgeon-oriented ways will help you internalize them and implement them in your day to day life. Like learning a new language, these skills take practice. By rewatching the modules, you’ll see them with fresh eyes and get new insights each time.
Here’s What You Get
Don’t spend another day wondering why you hate your job
JOIN The Empowered Surgeon Group
Surgeons,
This self-directed program offers 7.5 hours of video classrooms designed to fill the gaps left behind after training. Residency taught you physical and intellectual resilience—this program will teach you emotional resilience, a skill essential for success and sustainability.
The first set of modules, Anatomy of a Surgeon, lays the foundation and provides clarity on why you feel the way you do. The second set, Unshakeable Surgeon Self-Concept, helps you master the crucial “who” behind the “how.” Mastering Drama equips you to manage the most energy-draining action our brain takes: engaging in drama. Mastering Emotions teaches you emotional agility, vocabulary, and resilience—giving you the freedom to take aligned action toward any goal, fearlessly.
You’ll also get bonus videos, including Surgical Mistakes and Complications, a resource to turn to when you inevitably face challenges in the OR or with poor patient outcomes. Additionally, mindset resets for OR and clinic days will help you show up as the best version of yourself in those settings.
Program Details
Our 6-month coaching container begins April 30, 2025. We’ll meet via Zoom every Wednesday at 4 PM EST for 1 hour.
What makes me an expert? Twelve years as an ENT surgeon and hundreds of hours coaching surgeons like you. I’ve seen firsthand how these frameworks transform lives—I’ve applied them in my own practice, and I know they work.
What’s Included:
✔ Lifetime access to the Empowered Surgeon Modules—self-directed videos covering essential concepts.
✔ The Empowered Surgeon Workbook (digital copy) for hands-on, introspective application.
✔ Lifetime access to the Empowered Surgeons Facebook Group—a curated community for peer support and shared experiences.
✔ Coaching replays for easy integration if you miss a live session.
If you’re an introvert, don’t worry—you’ll gain transformation simply by observing your peers being coached. You can absorb the material at your own pace through the modules and workbook.
This program is designed to give you the emotional strength and clarity you need to thrive in your surgical career. Are you ready?
What Clients are Saying
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 Curriculum modules
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!