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This is Chris with the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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I'm thrilled today to be joined by Sushmita

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Poffi, MDMPH.

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He is chief of the division of primary

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care pediatrics

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at Stony Brook Medicine

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and chief medical program adviser for the Allen

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Aldis Center for communicating science and a 10

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year professor of pediatrics for the Renaissance School

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of Medicine. Doctor Pote, thank you for joining

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us today.

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Thanks so much for having me.

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Doctor, could you please introduce yourself and tell

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us a bit about your background?

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Sure.

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Well, you've already cited all my titles, so

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that's terrific.

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But my background really is as a health

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care executive

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with a focus on

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workforce development and population health.

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And that's,

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my fellowship training is in that, in population

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health directly.

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And I've really been working

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throughout my career on how we can make

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the system work better for everybody.

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Thank you for that, doctor. Could you tell

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us let's start with this. What is one

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change you've made in the last year where

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you had great results?

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Yeah. Sure.

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So with support from HRSA,

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we have a cooperative agreement to promote provider

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resiliency, health care workforce resiliency.

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And so we've been implementing

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a number of programs

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to do that.

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And that's completely in line with our

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strategic plan for Stony Brook Medicine where the

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first priority is on

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a positive workforce

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culture.

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So we've been putting together various pieces and

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one piece, that I'd like to spend a

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little time telling you about is our Alda

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Healthcare experience.

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And that is a

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medical improv communication

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workshop for healthcare professionals.

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It draws upon the theater arts and the

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discipline of science communication

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to build healthcare team communication

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skills.

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And we all know that when a team

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feels cohesive, it has positive downstream effects on

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lots of different things, including safety,

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quality,

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and, of course,

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organizational

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culture, retention,

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etcetera.

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Doctor, I'm glad you mentioned the improv portion

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of that. That's not necessarily something that

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our audience would necessarily connect

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to health care and building, workforce development.

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So can you explain a little bit about

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how that has been successful and the feedback

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that you've gotten from those who have participated?

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Yeah. Sure.

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So to be honest, in health care, we

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are doing improv every day. Like, whom you

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work with in a shift, that changes.

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We have new, trainees that join our workforce

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on a regular basis,

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new hires, all of that.

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And we all need to work together in

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the moment to take care of the patient

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that's in front of us,

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even if we don't know each other very

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well.

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And so improv

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is really based on that principle

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of

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taking what's been given to you and saying

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as they say, yes and,

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building upon that piece.

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And that's one of the first rules of

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improv.

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And so this healthcare communication

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workshop, we've been putting together and piloting and

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evaluating

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now for the past 5 or 6 years.

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And all of our evaluation is showing its

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positive impact,

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both on communication skills for individuals,

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but also amongst

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team cohesion,

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feeling that

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connection to the other folks that you are

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working with and thinking about ways that you

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can continue to leverage those opportunities for personal

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connection

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in your day to day work, so that

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you're all rowing in the same direction.

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That all sounds very much worthwhile, doctor. Thank

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you for outlining

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where that trend has been working for you.

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Speaking of trends, so what are the top

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trends you are following in health care at

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the moment?

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Yeah. So I'm looking a lot at what

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is being done in workforce retention, resilience,

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those trends, how

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technology can be used to really develop

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and support our workforce. So everything from virtual

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scribes to,

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the automated kind of billing pieces that can

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be done. All of those things are really

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important, I think to support our workforce,

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who continue to be stressed

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with the high levels of burnout that are

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occurring.

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So those are the kinds of things that

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I've been following.

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Of course, the downstream impact health equity is

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near and dear to my heart. So I'm

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certainly very attuned to what is happening in

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that space as well.

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Opportunities that come from various organizations, the federal

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government,

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philanthropic, etcetera,

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for, implementing or supporting new programs.

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All of those things are things that I

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I tend to follow.

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Doctor, along the lines of communication as far

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as stress is concerned,

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have you found that

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being able to improve communication skills has helped

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reduce stress among teams at Stony Brook and

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elsewhere?

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We have, and I'm happy to share we

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published some about that, and there's more forthcoming.

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It's also a good time for me to

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mention our single session support center that we

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call our S3 center.

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And this is a virtual support

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that's available to health care workers in acute

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need.

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There's 2 pieces available for health care providers.

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One piece is something they can complete on

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their own.

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It's a single session web based intervention to

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promote a growth mindset,

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and it's been proven to help reduce

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mild to moderate depression and anxiety.

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The other part is a virtual meeting with

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a trained person

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who can help guide development of a brief

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action plan

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around whatever the acute need is.

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And that we are in the process of

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evaluating,

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its impact here at Stony Brook Medicine.

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Doctor, once you have everyone on your team,

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anyone's team, growing in the same direction as

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you put it,

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hopefully, growth is one of the next steps.

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How are you thinking about growth in the

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next year or 2?

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Absolutely. Growth is definitely one of the next

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steps,

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and we are thinking about growth in multiple

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ways.

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As I mentioned, our first priority is our

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workforce

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culture, our organizational culture.

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We want to be a place that people

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want to work at and stay working at.

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And we are

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and we're going to continue to try to

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make it as attractive as possible for folks

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to stay here at Stony Brook Medicine.

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So we're doing lots of different things across

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the organization to support that.

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We're also a place where we want to

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implement innovative ways to deliver health care, so

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that people feel that their work is valued,

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and that the community is getting that benefit.

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So all of those things really are focusing

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on workforce as the first step and then

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the downstream impact of that in terms of

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building opportunities for growth and expansion.

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Thank you, doctor. Lastly, I wanted to ask

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you, what is one issue or element of

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health care do you think deserves a brighter

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spotlight?

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I think the workforce

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issues that we've been talking about deserves a

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brighter spotlight. I know there's movements at multiple

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levels to do that,

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and I think there needs to be more.

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Doctor Baldy, thank you for being so generous

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with your time and your insights today. We

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absolutely cannot wait to share them with our

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audience, and we look forward to connecting with

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you soon, including at Becker's event.

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Thank you so much.