What if you didn't get on the wrong train? What if you simply became a different person along the way?
In this episode of Surgeon, Interrupted, Frances Mei sits down with Dr. Wai-Jia Tam, a Singaporean humanitarian doctor whose career has spanned public health, humanitarian medicine, COVID response, and global health leadership.
Dr. Wai-Jia Tam shares an extraordinary story of following a path that looked successful on paper while gradually losing touch with the person she wanted to be. From becoming a physician after growing up dreaming of being a wildlife documentary host, to humanitarian work, moving her family to Tanzania, and now finding her way toward conservation, her story is ultimately about something bigger than career change.
It's about reclaiming yourself.
The conversation explores:
- What happens when the career you've built no longer feels like the right destination
- Why physicians can struggle to recognize their own definition of success
- The pressure to prove yourself in medicine and high-achieving cultures
- Reconnecting with the dreams you had as a child
- Why changing direction doesn't mean your past was a mistake
- The difference between reinventing yourself and reclaiming yourself
- How a major health setback forced Dr. Wai-Jia Tam to reconsider her identity
- Finding purpose outside of credentials, titles, and professional achievement
- How one cold DM led to an unexpected opportunity in wildlife conservation
- Why the work you do quietly for years may eventually open an unexpected door
- Giving yourself permission to get off the “wrong train”
Dr. Wai-Jia Tam also shares the remarkable story of creating a children's book as a teenager to raise money for a home for girls she met in Nepal. Despite being told she couldn't do it—and being told her paintings were terrible—she taught herself to paint, published the book, and ultimately raised $100,000 to build the home.
For physicians and other high achievers who have ever wondered “Is this really what I want?”, this is a conversation about permission: permission to change, to pause, to choose differently, and to become more fully yourself.
And Dr. Wai-Jia Tam leaves us with a beautiful definition of healing:
Healing isn't about returning to who you were before the pain. It's about giving yourself permission to be who you were always meant to be.
Host: Frances Mei Hardin, MD
Guest: Dr. Wai-Jia Tam
Connect with Wai Jia: @drwaijiatam
Presented by: The Hippocratic Collective
Follow Frances Mei on Instagram & Tiktok @francesmeimd
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