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Welcome everyone to the Becker Health care podcast

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team. I am Mariah Mohammed, Ryder and Moderator

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Will Becker Health care. And I've thrilled also

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to have with me today. Doctor. Leo Sa.

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The new founding Dean of Xavier, Os, College

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of Medicine. Doctor it's very nice to have

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you on the podcast today. To get started,

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would you mind, please d introducing yourself and

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telling us a bit about your around?

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Well, it's great to be here.

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I'm... I'm actually a Cuban American who

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as a a young child

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to United States, and I grew up in

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New Orleans.

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You can hear in the accent.

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And

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very, very excited, proud to serve as the

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privilege to serve as the founding need of

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the College of medicine.

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I may pulmonary critical care and lung transplant

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physician by trade. I did my medical school

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training at Ls sc in New orleans and

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my residency in internal Medicine and Ua

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followed by my pulmonary credit repair lung transplant

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fellowship and

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my career 25 year career has been in

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medical education and so

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being able to be part of the leadership

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team to develop

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this

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or will be the fifth H

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Medical School or Medical school in the United

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States to train more diverse physicians to meet

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the needs our community

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is truly an honor and the privilege.

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Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you so much for

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giving us that background.

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So with all you're doing right now, what

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are some of the biggest issues you're following

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in health care for this year?

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Well, I think 1 of the biggest issues

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that doesn't get all the depressed. Unless you

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are

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part of

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a group this trying to hire physicians or

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your patient who's trying to make an appointment

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and the next available is 3 months down

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the road.

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Is that

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today in the United States, we have a

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physician

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shortage crisis.

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The Aa

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which is the organization and

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the association of American Medical colleges,

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that oversees medical schools in the United States

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every other year they put out a report.

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It really estimates that estimates the physician shortage.

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This report just came out a month ago

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for 20 24

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and it estimates that by 2036,

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we will be 86000

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positions.

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Now of course,

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for areas like the south or the state

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of Louisiana where I live,

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we feel that

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much more acutely than other areas.

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And so

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starting a new medical school

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to address the physician workforce crisis

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is 1 of the things that's key in

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top of my mind,

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but there's another issue there. There's an incredible

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laugh a diversity

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among physicians. If we look at Hispanics, we

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make up 19 percent of the U. S.

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Population but we only make up 6.9

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percent of U. S. Physicians.

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If you look at

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those who identify as African American or Black,

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they make up 14 percent of the U.

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S. Population, but they only make up 5.7

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percent

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of the U. S. Physicians.

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And although the Aa amc

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has had this as 1 of their

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initiatives. So the last 30 years, to increase

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diversity among U. S. Positions,

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there has been little to no significant movement

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in those percentages.

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So

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this is important,

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not just for the social reasons.

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It's also important for the health and wellness

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or our communities because there's a growing data

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that demonstrates that

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when physicians represent the community they serve

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those communities get better health care.

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And so it really does help address some

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of the health and inequities equities that we

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see in space.

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Yeah. Thank you so much for giving us

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that information in those stats.

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Is there anything that's making you excited or

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nervous in health care?

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Well,

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I'm a critical care physician, so we don't

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get very nervous, right? Time of crisis not

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time to to to be nervous. So not

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a lot makes me nervous. But there's a

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lot that that that has me excited.

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You know, 1 is obviously starting this new

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medical school. Know, Xavier University

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is the only Catholic

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H

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in the United States and and then

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next year they'll be celebrating their hundredth

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anniversary. And Za University of Louisiana

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is a long history and excellence

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in science

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education. And in fact, they carry the distinction

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of

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putting more African Americans

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and blacks

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who complete medical school and then any other

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university

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in the United States.

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And this this is not a large medical

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not a large

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college. So when you think about Xavier University

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of Louisiana with this total student enrollment are

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around 4000 students. And the fact that they

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put more African American and Black

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into medical school that completed then university universities

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of Michigan with 50000 or any of these

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Southeast conference schools that run 35000 to 40000.

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It's client an achievement, and they consistently do

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that. And so

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After health, the largest academic health system in

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the Gulf South,

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largest

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private poor and health care deliver in State

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Louisiana,

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our ability to partner with Natural institution like

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Xavier.

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To start the fifth H,

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I mean, what can get you more excited

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about that

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and to train more doctors that will serve

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our country.

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In our region.

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So

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very, very excited about that. Also very excited

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that

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we will we will add

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a different viewpoint to science and to medical

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education, a diverse viewpoint that will help address

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and put a focus on

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certain diseases,

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let's take for instance sickle cell that maybe

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didn't get the focus of either because we

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didn't have representative scientists and physicians

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that we're asking the right questions about what's

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the right care for our community. So

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I'm very, very excited about that.

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Yeah. Yeah. That completely makes sense. And doctor

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before I let you go, The last thing

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I really wanted to ask you is

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in your opinion, what was the most effective

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health leaders need in order to be successful

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in the next 2 to 3 years.

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I think

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the ability

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for healthcare leaders 1 to be agile

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it's an ever changing landscape,

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and it's very dynamic. And I've then and

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it's a 25 year Career practicing medicine

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in a 20 year career and leadership

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is ever changing.

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But I think the other key part of

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being

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an effective and good leader is the ability

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to unleash the power diversity.

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And that's diversity in every sense.

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Diversity among the generations as we see more

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generation wise entering the workforce.

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That's diversity and thought

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diversity people from different cultures and different backgrounds

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who have a unique perspective and a different

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perspective.

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And leaders need to be able to take

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that diverse viewpoints and really use that

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to come up with new ideas

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to tackle the challenges we face.

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I think the leaders who can do that

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will be the effective 1.

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Yeah. Yeah. I completely agree. Thank you so

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much for those final thoughts. This has definitely

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been in a an a informative discussion.

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Again, I wanna thank you so much for

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coming on back Health care karen, and Look

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forward to connecting with you again soon.

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Thank you for having me. No. It's it's

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my pleasure.

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Request.