10. Interview with Kent Olson, MD

Human School

Dr. Kent Olson is a clinical professor of Medicine and Pharmacy at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). From 1983 to 2017 he was the medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System where he was instrumental in the toxicology education of thousands of medical students, pharmacy students, resident physicians, pharmacists, and medical toxicology fellows. He concurrently worked as an emergency physician and taught at the UC Berkeley - UCSF joint medical school. In the midst of all that, he published hundreds of papers advancing the knowledge of caring for poisoned patients and started a new textbook called Poisoning and Drug Overdose which is now in its 8th edition. Dr. Olson is an expert clinician, model teacher and the go-to person for advice for so many people (including me- he's the toxicology mentor in Episode 4 that I refer to)! And not just advice, but leading by example. His teaching style is socratic and kind, never humiliating learners, and his administrative style is not removed, but in the trenches with everyone so that he knows what everyone is going through in order to improve things. I loved hearing what he learned from his mentors and how he followed his gut to do the things he was interested in while having a healthy work-life balance.
In our conversation we refer to Dr. Neal Benowitz, featured in Episode 2.
For an explanation on the term 'pimping' in medical education, refer to Episode 2.

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Music courtesy of Zach Effron, MD