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Join us in this episode as we dive into the incredible bond between Sharyar Baradaran, a periodontist, and Arya Shamie, an orthopedic surgeon. Despite their different religious backgrounds and specializations, these two childhood friends from Iran have come a long way to excel in their respective fields and become thought leaders in the medical community. In this candid conversation, they share their inspiring journey of immigration, success, and the importance of valuing people based on character rather than religious or financial status.
Get ready to be inspired as they reveal how they came to live just a block away from each other by pure coincidence. Listen in as they reflect on the current situation in Iran, their individual faiths, and how their friendship has blossomed despite their differences. This episode serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of embracing diversity and the true keys to success in life and medicine.
Sharyar Baradaran is a periodontist. Arya Shamie is an orthopedic surgeon.
They share their stories and discuss the KevinMD article, “6 tips to make a lasting impact in the medical field.”
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Transcript
Kevin Pho: Hi, and welcome to the show. Subscribe at KevinMD.com/podcast. Get CME for this episode by clicking on the CME link in the show notes. Today on the show, we have Sharyar Baradaran, and he is a periodontist. Nick Shamie is an orthopedic surgeon. Together, they co-wrote the KevinMD article “6 tips to make a lasting impact in the medical field.” Sharyar and Nick, welcome to the show.
Sharyar Baradaran: Thank you for having us.
Arya Shamie: Thank you.
Kevin Pho: So I’m going to ask each of you just to briefly share your story and journey to where you are today, and then we’ll get to the article. Sharyar, why don’t you go first?
Sharyar Baradaran: I was born in Iran, a Middle Eastern country. I came here to the United States at the age of 12, in 1980, after the fall of the Shah and the revolution. We left the country because I’m of Jewish heritage, and we, living in a Muslim country, were afraid of being persecuted because of the fundamentalist Islamic government that took over. I went to an American school in Iran, and as such, when the schools closed, I didn’t have the opportunity to continue my education adequately. So my parents, my two other siblings, and I left the country. We first went to Switzerland, then to Israel, and then after a few months, we landed in America, and we started life over.
My father was a physician, and he started practicing at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills. I went to Beverly Hills High School, then to UCLA undergrad, then UCLA dental school, and got my master’s there. And then for two years, I went to Portland, Oregon, to OHSU for my residency. I’ve been in private practice in Beverly Hills since 1994. I have three beautiful children, two daughters and a son, 28, 25, and 19. My eldest daughters are out of college and live in New York, and my son is a second-year at NYU.
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Kevin Pho: Wonderful. Sharyar, tell us, how has your background influenced you professionally?
Sharyar Baradaran: I think it stems back to being raised in a family that cherishes and respects education tremendously. That became very true when the revolution happened and we had to leave the country. My father and my mom had to leave everything behind, and truly, the only thing they could take with them was their knowledge. My father was an obstetrician and an infertility specialist who had trained in the United States, and having to leave all his belongings back in his home country, the only thing he had was his brain. That was very significant, and a learning experience for us, the children, of the value of education and how important it is to be able to take it with you wherever you go.
Kevin Pho: All right. And Nick, just briefly share your story and journey to where you are today.
Arya Shamie: Sure. You know, a similar path to Sharyar’s, but I was actually born in the States. My dad was doing his residency at Detroit Receiving, Wayne State, and he met my mom there. I was born, and I was two when we went back to Iran. And after the revolution, you know, I grew up in a Muslim family. I’m not religious, so we don’t practice religion, but unlike Sharyar, who was concerned about being persecuted, being Muslim was not an issue. But my dad actually brought me here because he was worried about my future in a country that is so oppressed, and he wanted me to come here and further my education. I was 12 when I first came here, with my dad first, because the Iran-Iraq War was happening and I was going to be drafted to go to war. So he quickly brought me here so I could further my education, and my sister and my mom came a year later.
And you know, like Sharyar’s family, my dad’s a psychiatrist and my sister’s an ophthalmologist, so in my family, we value education. We love the medical field. I really enjoy taking care of my patients. My dad, who’s 86 now, is still practicing medicine. My sister’s a practicing ophthalmologist. So, you know, I think we all believe that through medicine, you can excel in your life and your career, set an example for your kids, and also be able to help the community. I mean, one of the biggest joys we have as doctors is to be able to help others. That’s probably one of those skills that, you know, just really transforms your life. And like Sharyar said, it gives you a skill set that is, you know, easily transported across borders. If you’re a doctor, dentist, or a professional, we’ve seen many examples of people who have emigrated, and immigrants to this country have succeeded when they come here with the skill set, right?
And you know, that’s something that we value and we cherish, and we share that with Sharyar. But the interesting thing, and one of the reasons we even wanted to do this, is to share with you that despite our differences, Sharyar and I have a lot of similarities. One, you heard: being from a medical family. But more importantly, we value people. We value what the person is about. So look at the similarities and the common denominator, which is the character of an individual, and a good character, rather than what the religious background or financial status is. Those are the things that we didn’t care about.
Sharyar and I were best of friends back in Iran when we were little kids. I used to go to his house all the time and hang out. Until I came to the States and my sister went to college, I really didn’t know that Sharyar and I come from a different faith in our families. We never discussed it; it was never discussed in my family. And that’s what makes this really a special bond, because we really cared for each other for who we are, rather than what we practice or what our families practice as a religion. So, you know, that’s really unique in some ways. And we hope to share this story because this is what we believe are the true keys to success: seeing people for who they are and judging them based on character, not by, you know, what the differences are between us and them, right?
Kevin Pho: And you tell more about your story in the KevinMD article both of you wrote, “6 tips to make a lasting impact in the medical field.” Sharyar, tell us, how did this article come together?
Sharyar Baradaran: You know, Dr. Shamie and I, not only being childhood friends, you know, we’re neighbors, just by pure accident. We live nearly a block from one another. And we reached out to our colleagues to see how we can share our story of being immigrants in this country from 40 years ago. We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished as outstanding members of society. We’ve excelled in our professions, and we’ve become thought leaders in our specialties. And we thought, what better opportunity to share what’s happening, especially in light of what’s happening in Iran right now, the unrest and the struggle for freedom? It’s been a highlight in the news.
And we thought, you know, both of us come from different faiths. You know, I’m Jewish; Arya is Muslim. He doesn’t practice it very much. I practice my Jewish faith more in a traditional way, but I’m not religious. He became a spine surgeon; I became a periodontist. We came to America, we lost contact, and then all of a sudden, we saw each other, and we got back together, reconnected, and rekindled our relationship. Our fathers were colleagues.
And you know, we live in a difficult time in the world right now, with the political unrest that our country, our former country, is experiencing. I think, what better way than to share a lifetime of two people who met in second grade, and now, you know, we’re 55 years old, we have a family, we have a thriving practice, to be able to share how it is to make a life, to be successful, to be tolerant to other people, to be tolerant to other faiths, despite political differences or not. And we thought it would be a great opportunity to share this with the upcoming New Year’s celebration that we celebrate towards the beginning of spring. So it was just more to share a wonderful relationship of two friends from very young days and now adults.
Kevin Pho: So Sharyar, tell us, how did Nick influence you as a clinician?
Sharyar Baradaran: You know, he’s my go-to guy. I am proud and honored to be able to refer my patients, my family members, and my friends to him because he is an outstanding surgeon and he has an outstanding character. He treats the patients with sincere care and empathy. There’s no doubt that, you know, we’re both outstanding in our careers, and we know our trade very well. But then there is the character: how we treat a patient, how we sympathize with their ailments, how we can relate with their pain.
The patients Dr. Shamie sees are very, very difficult patients. These are patients who struggle to walk, to bend; they have chronic pain. So he’s very articulate, he’s very patient, he’s very kind, he has a kind eye, there’s a warmth about him. And I think as a physician in the health care industry, you need those basic skill sets that I don’t think can be taught. Yes, they can teach you to be a good surgeon. They can teach you to learn technical skills. But I think the innate skills to care deeply and be empathetic to a patient who’s in pain and struggling are something that comes innately, and this is a virtue that Dr. Shamie has. I’m proud to be his friend, and I’m proud to be able to refer him patients, and he has saved a lot of lives. I’m very proud of him.
Kevin Pho: And Nick, there’s clearly a lot of unrest in the world wherever you go, certainly in your home country of Iran and even here, of course, in the United States. How do you manage to focus on the positive, to focus on the bond that you and Sharyar have, with everything else that’s going on in the world?
Arya Shamie: Yeah, first off, I want to say thank you, Sharyar, for all the compliments. I echo the same sentiments about you, and it takes one to know one. You know, the unrest in Iran is obviously a troubling issue. We, not just as Iranians, but as the rest of the world, have witnessed how these people are being persecuted for just wanting to speak up for their beliefs. You know, it’s a tough time for us, because we left our home country to come and realize the potential that we all have and had, and we are now in a very wonderful place thanks to the opportunities we were offered in this country. You know, Americans are so lucky to be where we are, because we truly have all the wonderful things that any society wants. Nothing’s perfect, obviously. But this is true: I still believe that this is probably the best country anyone could live in, and we’re very fortunate. And the fortunes we had, they don’t have them in Iran. And when we see that, and see that so many young people are getting persecuted and being imprisoned and killed because they want just a small portion of what we all have here, it makes us, you know, feel like we have to do something.
We have all gone to demonstrations. We have tried to share our story with our friends and neighbors. And, you know, I’ve tried to connect, and as a professional, I tried to educate the students there. My family has done that. My sister and my brother-in-law went back and taught there right before this immediate unrest, because this has been brewing for 40-plus years. But, you know, I think we cope by trying to do what we can, and listening to people who have been there, and seeing what we can do to help. And I think spreading the word about the persecution, the bad things that are happening in Iran, is how we can make a change and make a difference.
And I think the discussions have had an impact. You’ve seen many celebrities, many dignitaries, many politicians taking a step towards freedom for that country, which gives me great joy to see, for the people of Iran, for the people of the world. So I think we’re leading a charge in Iran that is a global charge. The charge is “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and this is something that we’ve all strived to achieve in our neighboring countries and in the world. As Americans, we want to promote that, and this is a great example of how we can hopefully change the world for the better.
Kevin Pho: And Nick, for those clinicians who are listening to this, what are some things that they can do to shine a light on what’s going on in Iran and really spread some of these stories?
Arya Shamie: Well, I think as physicians and as doctors, we have an incredible bond with our patients. We have developed this bond out of trust and out of respect. When someone trusts us to, you know, treat them, they have a special relationship with us. And when we have the opportunity to, you know, talk about this with our patients who are so involved, I think it’s going to make an impact, one person at a time, to educate our patients. If they ask us about what’s happening in Iran, I think we can really have a great discussion about what’s happening, and perhaps one of those discussions will have an impact and will have a domino effect.
And, you know, I think that’s something that we as clinicians can do: educate our patients, not just about their health and about medicine, but about their surroundings, and how it’s important to have peace in this world. Because unrest halfway around the world eventually will have an impact on all of us, right? We’ve seen that time and time again.
Sharyar Baradaran: If I may echo Dr. Shamie’s comment, we have to keep the narrative alive. And if we keep the awareness and narrative alive. It’s now nearly nine months since this new awareness and revolution in Iran has occurred. We’re having demonstrations not only in America but all across the world, peaceful demonstrations for our inalienable right to be able to practice our religion, our freedom, and our basic human rights. Talking about it and keeping the narrative alive is the most important.
Kevin Pho: We’re talking to Sharyar Baradaran and Nick Shamie. Sharyar is a periodontist. Nick is an orthopedic surgeon. Together, they co-wrote the KevinMD article “6 tips to make a lasting impact in the medical field.” Now, I’m going to ask both of you the same last question. We have a lot of clinicians experiencing burnout, especially after the pandemic. Both of you wrote some wonderful tips in terms of how clinicians can sustain and make that lasting impact in the medical field. So I’m going to ask each of you to maybe share one of those more important tips that clinicians can use, and then end up with some take-home messages. So Sharyar, why don’t you go first?
Sharyar Baradaran: Yes, it’s been a very, very difficult transition post-COVID in many professions, but I think the medical profession and the health providers were especially hit hard, not only because of the hard and difficult work hours, but the emotional struggle behind it and the psychological impact. And the burnout is a key factor.
I think in any aspect of our lives, balance is critical. I balance myself in burnout by exercising. I balance myself by trying to be present when I’m not working. And I think those are two critical attributes: exercising, and just turning off, whether it’s just for a Saturday morning, going for a two-hour walk and being present, is critical. And of course, you know, when you exercise, the release of endorphins is just such a rejuvenating, wonderful chemical, an enzyme that we secrete in our body, that replenishes our soul.
And lastly, I have to say you have to sleep well. If you don’t sleep well, that is the worst breakdown you can possibly have. And then when you exercise, you feel better, you sleep better. So it does become this interchanging way of trying to balance the stress. And I immensely respect our health care providers, post-COVID and always, because without them, we weren’t going to make it. So I’m proud of them.
Kevin Pho: All right, Nick, give us one tip on how clinicians can make that lasting impact in the medical field, and end up with some of your take-home messages.
Arya Shamie: Nicely said, Sharyar. I echo all the sentiments that he shared. And I think, you know, it comes down to balance, like he said. And this is what I tell the residents and our fellows and trainees, because my job is not just to teach them spine surgery, but it’s also to teach them how to be careful about their lifestyle so they can maintain their health, so they can continue helping people.
So what I tell them is, you know, when you went into medicine, your job and your goal was to help people, and that has to remain the focus, which actually helps with the burnout. Because despite all the political pressures, all the electronic medical records, and all the extra bookkeeping they have to do, which causes burnout, I think you have to focus on the patient and why you went into medicine to begin with. I think that’s number one. But at the same time, recognize that if you’re not healthy, you can’t help others.
So I use the analogy of what they tell you on the plane. What they tell you is put the oxygen mask on first before you help the others. When you’re so entrenched in caring for others, you sometimes forget about yourself, and if you forget about yourself, you can’t help others. So whether it be good sleep, exercise, good diet, and seeing the right kind of patients, who you can help, rather than patients who don’t want to help themselves. If I operate on a patient who doesn’t want to help themselves, they’re not going to get better. So that’s the part: You need to make sure that you put the oxygen mask on first and be completely clear on how you can help others before you can put the oxygen mask on them.
Kevin Pho: Sharyar and Nick, thank you so much for sharing your story, time, and insight, and thanks again for being on the show.
Sharyar Baradaran: Thank you, Kevin. Thanks for having us.
Arya Shamie: Thank you, Kevin.
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