Explore every episode of the podcast Evolving in Healthcare
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Leadership for Health Professionals Who Want More Influence with Ruth Andermatt | 10 Jun 2026 | 01:00:32 | |
Plenty of capable people learn to lead by copying whoever's already in charge. It works for a while, right up until it leaves you running on someone else's fuel and still not quite yourself. Ruth Andermatt is a Canadian self-leadership coach who has spent more than two decades working with executives and emerging leaders, most of them introverts. She was often the only woman in the room, and she has thought hard about what it costs to keep conforming to a style that was never going to fit. If you're in a non-titled role wishing you had more influence, or eyeing a step into management because it looks like the only way to have impact, this conversation is for you. Ruth draws a clean line between managing people and leading them, and she begins where most leadership advice skips ahead: how you lead yourself. Expect plenty on holding your ground without conforming, guiding the people above you, and what to do when the version of success you've been chasing quietly stops fitting. We Explore
Timestamps 01:15 Being the only woman in the room and the pull to conform 05:45 Masculine and feminine leadership, and why most workplaces pick one 08:48 The exhaustion of dancing to someone else's tune just to get hired 13:40 Why a title doesn't make you a leader, and what self-leadership actually means 16:44 Hitting a plateau and shifting your perspective instead of walking away 29:05 The blind spot that holds capable people back, women especially 33:08 Leading the people above you, not just the ones who report to you 41:25 Survival worn as a badge of honour, and the price every choice carries 45:09 Untangling your identity from how you got here and redefining success 55:48 Outgrowing your manager and repositioning without burning the bridge About Ruth AndermattRuth Andermatt is a self-leadership coach and consultant and the founder of Andermatt Consulting Experience (A.C.E. Inc) in Canada. A former national-level paddler and UBC graduate, she has coached executives, business owners and emerging leaders for more than twenty years, with a particular focus on women and introverts who lead quietly but effectively. Her view, useful for anyone in a hierarchical field like healthcare, is that leading yourself is the foundation everything else is built on, title or no title.
Career Cliniq Resources If this conversation has you wondering where your influence and interests actually sit, the StreamAhead Assessment maps your experience across the full spectrum of healthcare work, not just the path you trained for: https://careercliniq.com/streamahead | |||
| From Project Officer Dietitian to a Portfolio Career in Strategy with Bree Murray | 28 May 2026 | 01:13:45 | |
Bree Murray has never seen a patient. She'll still put "dietitian" on every form she fills in. She's spent 15 years in professional associations, food industry, health profession regulation, and a job-shared CEO role and has never once questioned whether that makes her a real dietitian. This conversation is for anyone who has. We Explore
Bree Murray is an Australian dietitian with over 15 years of experience spanning professional association work, food industry consulting, health profession regulation, and executive leadership. She currently serves as executive officer for a Council of Deans of Nutrition and Dietetics, supports governance work with self-regulating health professions, and sits on the National Alliance of Self-Regulating Health Professions board. Her career has been built through relationships, referrals, and a consistent willingness to move into unfamiliar territory when the fit is right. Connect with Bree Murrayhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/bree-murray-44193528/ Career Cliniq ResourcesIf this conversation got you thinking about what's actually guiding your career decisions, the StreamAhead Assessment maps your interests and experience across the full spectrum of healthcare work - not just the path you trained for. 👉 Take the StreamAhead Assessment Join the ConversationWhat's the moment you realised the shape of your days didn't match what you actually cared about? I'd love to hear it. LinkedIn | Instagram | |||
| How a Physical Therapist Broke into Product Management - with Raji Reddy | 17 Jul 2025 | 00:53:49 | |
What You'll Learn From This Episode Professional Identity & Purpose
The Real Work of Career Transition
Turning Challenges Into Fuel
Chapters 00:43 Raji Introduction01:34 Starting out & Transitioning into Product Management03:09 Journey from Clinical to Non-Clinical Roles05:49 Navigating Challenges in Healthcare08:43 The Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare11:14 Building Leadership Skills in Outpatient Care14:11 Work-Life Balance and Career Growth16:34 The Importance of Networking and Mentorship19:10 Overcoming Rejection and Learning from Mistakes21:46 Defining Success Beyond Clinical Roles24:33 The Role of Curiosity in Professional Growth27:16 Finding Belonging in a New Professional Identity29:43 Embracing Change and New Opportunities32:14 The Future of Healthcare and Product ManagementKeywords Product management, healthcare career transition, digital health, clinical leadership, strategic networking, health tech, work-life balance, professional growth, career evolution, physical therapy Find Raji on LinkedIn: Ready to Navigate Your Own Career Evolution? If this conversation sparked something for you, you're not alone. Many healthcare professionals feel stuck or wonder what else might be possible beyond their current role. Get Started with Career Cliniq:
Found value in this episode? The best way to support the show is to share it with a colleague who might need to hear Raji's story. Thank you for listening to Evolving in Healthcare. | |||
| Building a Healthcare Career That Fits Your Brain with Dr. Anum Ali | 16 Dec 2025 | 01:01:09 | |
What becomes possible when you stop waiting to feel "ready enough"? Dr. Anum Ali's undergraduate transcript didn't predict where she'd end up. After six years as a crisis counsellor, she wasn't sure graduate schools would take a chance on her. Then a mentor said five words that changed everything: "Your GPA doesn't tell your whole story." An adult ADHD diagnosis during her master's in clinical mental health counselling reframed years of academic struggle—not as failure, but as her brain working differently. Today, she's built a career that actually leverages how she thinks: VP of Clinical at a health tech startup, university professor, clinical supervisor, private practice therapist, and founder of DigiWell Foundation focused on youth mental health and digital wellness. Her PhD research on South Asian parents and digital wellness? It grew directly from her childhood experiences with online bullying. The painful parts of her story became the foundation for work that protects the next generation. Anum's advice: "I think it started out with me saying yes to opportunities and going into the rooms where I wasn't sure if I even belonged." This conversation is about building careers that work with you instead of against you, reaching out before imposter syndrome says you're qualified, and discovering that your different path might be exactly what positions you to make real impact. We explore:
About Dr. Anum Ali, PhD Dr. Anum Ali is a licensed professional counsellor and clinical mental health researcher working across multiple healthcare sectors. As VP of Clinical at a digital wellness startup, she builds AI-powered parental guidance tools. She teaches master's-level counselling students, provides clinical supervision at a non-profit, maintains a private practice specialising in culturally responsive therapy for South Asian communities, and founded DigiWell Foundation—a Texas non-profit focused on youth mental health and digital wellbeing. Her PhD research examined how South Asian parents navigate adolescent social media use and mental health stigma. She's the first woman from her village in Pakistan to earn a PhD. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alianumtx/ Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what else might be possible? The StreamAhead Assessment helps healthcare professionals discover which work streams align with how you actually work best. 👉 Take the StreamAhead Assessment What room are you not walking into because you're waiting to feel like you belong there? Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn or Instagram to continue the conversation. | |||
| Breaking Into Healthcare Policy with Dana Strauss | 11 Oct 2025 | 01:14:29 | |
How does a physical therapist end up shaping Medicare policy for a Fortune 6 company? Dana Strauss will tell you—it wasn't planned. She stumbled into it by following what made sense and solving problems that frustrated her. Today, Dana works in a role typically reserved for lawyers and public policy experts, influencing value-based care and Medicare strategy for one of the largest healthcare organizations in America. But her journey there was anything but linear. Starting in acute care physiotherapy, Dana quickly realised she had a pattern: she'd get bored once she mastered something, and she couldn't ignore things that didn't make sense. Total joint patients in expensive acute rehab when they could go home. Discharge processes serving the system instead of patients. Instead of accepting it, she started solving it—teaching herself what she needed to know, pitching ideas to leadership, and connecting with people who could help. Each conversation and each problem solved opened unexpected doors. In this episode, Dana shares her story with remarkable honesty. The serendipitous LinkedIn messages. The mentors who took a chance on her. The startup that nearly broke her. The moment she realised policy work was what she'd been doing on the side of her desk for years. Dana's journey reveals what becomes possible when you trust yourself enough to follow what genuinely engages you, even without traditional credentials or a prescriptive plan. We Explore
About Dana Strauss Dana is a senior policy expert at a Fortune 6 company, leading value-based care and Medicare policy strategy for their healthcare delivery division. Starting as an acute care physical therapist, she built her career by solving problems others accepted as unchangeable. Dana specialises in alternative payment models, skilled nursing facility management, and population health—bringing a clinician's perspective to the policy work that shapes how healthcare is delivered across America. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danastraussdpt/ Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@FutureProofPT Career Cliniq Resources Wondering how your clinical expertise could translate into different roles? The StreamAhead Assessment helps health professionals identify their unique value and explore what might make sense for their next move. Take the StreamAhead Assessment What's something in your workplace that just doesn't make sense to you? Join the Conversation | |||
| Specialty Switching Success - ICU to Women's Health with Nikki Campbell | 11 Aug 2025 | 01:18:37 | |
Episode Summary What happens when you follow evolving interests rather than the expected career ladder? Nikki Campbell's journey from ICU nursing to palliative care to endometriosis coordination challenges everything we think about "proper" career progression. Starting in ICU with traditional trajectory plans, Nikki questioned pediatric treatment-at-all-costs approaches, leading her to palliative care. Her own endometriosis experience sparked another pivot - moving states to become an endometriosis nurse coordinator, now pursuing nurse practitioner studies. Her story reveals how transferable skills matter more than linear progression. Building new models from scratch - "building the plane while flying it" - offers insights for professionals wondering if it's safe to follow evolving interests. Discover why asking better questions matters more than knowing answers, how personal experiences can guide career decisions, and why the "right" path might not exist yet. Questions We Explore When Healthcare Values and Practice Collide
Breaking Healthcare's Linear Career Myth
Speaking Truth to Healthcare Hierarchy
Timestamps
About Nikki Campbell Nikki Campbell is an Australian endometriosis nurse coordinator who navigated from ICU nursing to palliative care to women's health. Currently pursuing nurse practitioner studies while working in telehealth delivery, she specialises in supporting endometriosis patients navigate healthcare systems. Her experience includes building new care models, quality improvement initiatives, and advocating for neurodivergent-friendly practices. Connect with Nikki Campbell
Career Cliniq Resources Discover which healthcare work streams align with your current interests - and what transferable skills you want to invest in developing to grow your career with the StreamAhead Assessment.Join the Conversation What's one question you wish you'd asked earlier in your healthcare career? Share on LinkedIn @DrRuthVo or Instagram @drruthvo. Workstreams: Practice, Research, Quality and Safety | |||
| The Academic Path Unfiltered - with Caroline Mills | 10 Jul 2025 | 00:57:42 | |
Feeling stuck in clinical practice but not sure if academia is for you? Think you missed your chance because you didn't do honours? Caroline Mills shows why your clinical frustrations might actually be pointing you toward your next career evolution. Dr Caroline Mills is a senior lecturer in occupational therapy at Western Sydney University, Australia whose research is dedicated to improving the lives of autistic people and those who support them. After 11 years as an OT - including time as a school-based therapist working with autistic children across Australia, the UK, and China - burning questions about sensory interventions led her back to university for a PhD in this often controversial research area.Now, 20 years into her health career, current research spans supporting sensory processing in autistic children, aging autistic adults, technology applications for people with disabilities, and dementia interventions, always with a focus on applied research that makes real-world difference. In this episode, Caroline answers:
Caroline's honest insights cover:
Perfect for: Clinicians considering research, health professionals curious about academia, or anyone wondering about the reality behind university life. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Academia and Current Role 09:04 Challenges and Rewards in Academia 15:52 The Journey into Research and PhD 20:35 Research Focus and Controversies 27:46 Navigating Opportunities and Saying No 36:19 The Slow Pace of Research 41:26 Career Path and Identity in Academia 47:32 External Influences and Support Systems Show Links:
Ready to explore if research or education could be your next evolution? Take the StreamAhead Assessment to discover which career pathway truly aligns with your strengths and interests. Learn more HERE. Explore more of what Career Cliniq has to offer to support you in navigating your career in healthcare HERE. Keywords academia, occupational therapy, research, teaching, career development, challenges, impact, community, mentorship, health sciences, healthcare | |||
| From Dietitian to PA and Building Skills That Matter with Colleen Sloan | 25 Sep 2025 | 01:12:34 | |
Picture this: you're 20, in your junior year studying nutrition, and life throws you a massive curveball. Most people might put their career dreams on hold. Not today's guest. She finished her degree while pumping breast milk in campus chemistry bathrooms, became a successful dietitian, then watched medical colleagues unknowingly plant seeds of shame in seven-year-olds during routine appointments. It's an honour to welcome Colleen Sloan to Evolving in Healthcare. Colleen is both a registered dietitian and physician assistant who's spent a decade in paediatric practice. From single motherhood through PA school to building a podcast that's changing how clinicians talk about nutrition, she's never taken the conventional path. What I find most compelling about Colleen is how she consistently identifies problems that harm patients, then builds the skills to address them. Sometimes the most important career moves come disguised as problems you simply can't ignore. If you're a healthcare professional feeling stuck in roles that no longer fit, considering additional training, or wondering how to transition from employee to entrepreneur while maintaining clinical practice, this conversation offers a framework for making strategic rather than reactive career decisions. We Explore:
About Colleen Sloan Colleen Sloan is both a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) and certified physician assistant (PA-C) specialising in general outpatient paediatrics. With nearly nine years in clinical practice, she's uniquely positioned to understand the intersection of nutrition and primary care. Colleen hosts the Exam Room Nutrition Podcast and has recently launched a comprehensive obesity medicine course for healthcare professionals, focusing on both clinical knowledge and compassionate communication strategies. Connect with Colleen Sloan LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/examroomnutrition/ Exam Room Nutrition Podcast: https://www.examroomnutritionpodcast.com/ Obesity Medicine Nutrition Course: https://www.examroomnutrition.com/course Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what else might be possible in your healthcare career? The StreamAhead Assessment helps you discover which work streams align with your interests and values right now. Sometimes clarity starts with understanding what's actually out there. Take the StreamAhead Assessment Connect with Ruth:
| |||
| The Myth of Difficult Clients - with Chris Bradshaw | 24 Jul 2025 | 00:55:57 | |
Episode Summary What if the clients everyone warns you about turn out to be the most transformative? In this episode, psychotherapist Chris Bradshaw with a PhD in Clinical Psychology shares his unexpected journey from aspiring civil rights attorney to discovering profound truths about helping people. Chris reveals why "difficult" populations aren't actually difficult, how we as practitioners often get in our own way, and what it really takes to create sustainable practice without burning out. Questions We Explore When the pressure to have answers gets in the way
The myth of "difficult" people
What presence actually looks like (and why we avoid it)
Building sustainable practice without burning out
Timestamps 01:06 Unexpected Pathway into Counselling 03:10 Finding Meaning in Counselling 08:22 Challenging Assumptions in Therapy 14:41 The Journey to Certification 19:57 Research and Therapeutic Presence 24:56 Navigating Therapeutic Presence 27:19 The Role of Presence in Healthcare 29:12 Balancing Client Needs and Professional Expertise 32:04 Burnout in Healthcare Professionals 35:39 Strategies for Preventing Burnout 40:23 Setting Goals and Managing Time 48:19 Future Directions in Therapy Practice About Chris Bradshaw Chris Bradshaw is a psychotherapist with a PhD in clinical psychology who specialises in depth-oriented therapy and somatic approaches. His research focuses on therapeutic presence and the client experience of attunement. Chris has worked across diverse settings from addiction treatment to private practice, consistently discovering that the populations others label as "difficult" are often the most ready for meaningful change. Connect with Chris:LinkedIn Profile - HERE Chris' Podcasts - HERE Career Cliniq Resources Struggling to work out your long term goals and whether they should involve continuing with client facing work or not? Check out the Your Next Step Mini-Course which walks you through my 5-Step Aligning Purpose framework or explore getting some 1:1 support and get clear now with The Clarity Compass. Visit Career Cliniq for more tools and insights on navigating your health career evolution. Join the Conversation What resonated most with you from Chris's journey? Share your thoughts and tag us - I'd love to hear how these insights apply to your own healthcare career. Follow this podcast, LinkedIn or Instagram | |||
| How a Physical Therapist Built a Remote Academic Career While Raising 5 Kids - with Cody Thompson | 26 Jun 2025 | 00:57:49 | |
Episode Summary What happens when a physical therapist tells their spouse, "I just have this itch—I need to share what I know with somebody else"? For Cody Thompson, that dining table moment sparked a 15-year journey from home health practice to remote PhD faculty. Cody's evolution challenges every assumption about linear healthcare careers. From driving two hours each way to teach as a lab assistant, to strategically leveraging market needs for program director roles, his story reveals how curiosity and opportunity can reshape your entire trajectory. This conversation explores practical realities of transitioning into healthcare education, financial calculations most clinicians get wrong, and why we're missing countless career branches by staying in our comfortable scope of practice lanes. We Explore
About Cody Thompson Cody Thompson is a physical therapist and Associate Professor with over 20 years of experience who transitioned into healthcare education. He currently runs a health science PhD program at a university in Alabama and helps healthcare professionals navigate career transitions into academic roles. Cody is also a father of five and advocates for building career flexibility that aligns with personal values and life circumstances. Guest Links Career Cliniq Resources Inspired by Cody's journey? The StreamAhead Assessment helps health professionals discover which of eight healthcare workstreams align with your current interests and life circumstances. Find out more HERE. Join the Conversation LinkedIn: @DrRuthVo @CareerCliniq | Instagram: @drruthvo | |||
| When Healthcare Breaks You Then Builds You with Tesiah Coleman | 02 Sep 2025 | 01:03:22 | |
How do you keep fighting for health justice when the system keeps breaking you down? Tesiah Coleman's journey from "psychologist version of Oprah" dreams to Women's Health Nurse Practitioner reveals the harsh realities behind healthcare's noble calling. An unexpected pregnancy during undergrad thrust Tesiah into the healthcare world as a patient, sparking her nursing path. But the radical, change-making vision she'd been drawn to clashed dramatically with reality - from racist comments during clinical rotations to managing 25 triple-booked patients in under-resourced community health. When her young son was diagnosed with cancer, impossible choices between career calling and family needs led her from community health into health tech, where her problem-solving nature was finally welcomed. Now as CEO and founder of Togather, she's building the community platform for health justice advocates that she desperately needed throughout her journey. Listen as Tesiah shares how finding community became her survival strategy and why the "why" behind your work can remain constant even when the "how" transforms completely. We Explore
Timestamps
About Tesiah Coleman Tesiah Coleman is a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and founder of Togather – a community platform for healthcare professionals working toward health equity. At Kyndred, she serves as Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer, where she apply the Togather ALI™ framework to design race-concordant, digital-first care built for Black women, by Black women. For this work, Tesiah was named a 2025 Ebony Changemaker in The Power of She issue. Her career spans community healthcare, health tech leadership, and maternal health advocacy. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesiahcoleman/ Togather Platform: https://www.togathernow.com/ Kyndred: https://www.withkyndred.com/ Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what else might be possible in your healthcare career? The StreamAhead Assessment can help you discover which career paths align with your interests right now. Take the StreamAhead Assessment Join the Conversation What resonated most with you about Tesiah's journey from community health burnout to health tech leadership? Connect with Dr Ruth Vo: | |||
| How a Four-Year-Old Changed My Career Forever - with Sophie Archibald | 04 Jul 2025 | 01:02:08 | |
Content note: This episode includes brief discussion of childhood trauma in a therapeutic context. You can listen from time 13:45 to avoid this part. Episode Summary What happens when a social work student breaks all the rules and trusts her instincts with a traumatised four-year-old? Dr Sophie Archibald's career-defining moment came not from textbooks, but from an imaginary crown and the courage to lean into the unknown. From getting rejected from grad school (twice) to juggling motherhood with a PhD, Sophie's journey from clinical social worker to mind-body medicine researcher challenges everything we're taught about professional boundaries. Her story reveals how our most authentic moments as practitioners often happen when we stop following protocols and start trusting what emerges naturally. This conversation is raw, real, and refreshingly honest about the messy realities of career evolution in healthcare - including why compartmentalisation is a myth and mac and cheese dinners are perfectly acceptable fuel for ambitious dreams. What we explore:
About Dr Sophie Archibald Dr Sophie Archibald is a licensed clinical social worker, mind-body medicine researcher, and academic who specialises in therapeutic relationships and clinical intuition. With a PhD in Mind-Body Medicine, she challenges traditional paradigms around professional boundaries and explores how healthcare providers can authentically integrate their humanity into practice. Guest Links: Career Cliniq Resources StreamAhead Assessment - Discover which healthcare workstreams align with your evolving interests. Perfect for social workers, mental health professionals, and clinicians exploring pathways to grow their career with or beyond practice. Visit: www.careercliniq.com Career Workstreams: Practice, Education, Research | |||
| From North Dakota to Biotech: How an OT Found Regulatory Writing with Keagen Hadley | 12 May 2026 | 01:00:22 | |
You're halfway through a degree or deep into a career you're not sure you'll stay in and the loudest fear isn't about what's next. It's that everything you've already invested might be wasted. Keagen Hadley finished an entire OT doctorate he wasn't sure he'd use and it was the very thing that gave him room to build a completely different career. Keagen Hadley is a regulatory medical writer for a large biotech company. He holds a doctorate in occupational therapy and has spent over a decade in the biotech and pharmaceutical space. We Explore
Chapters 00:00 Meet Keagen Hadley - regulatory medical writer and OT 03:22 How a small-town CRO in North Dakota opened the door to biotech 08:50 $96K in student loans and the decision to finish anyway 14:14 The lecture that reframed scale and patient impact 19:25 Remote work, flexibility, and family life in biotech 24:48 Starting before you feel ready and selling yourself as a novice 35:56 Why recruiters matter more than applications in this field 45:10 Wrangling physicians who disagree 47:28 AI and regulatory writing 57:25 Why clinicians won't say the money part out loud Connect with Keagen
Career Cliniq Resources If you're trying to get clearer on what actually drives your next step, the StreamAhead Assessment will map your interests within healthcare. | |||
| From Finance to Therapy Leadership with Olumide Ajulo | 19 Aug 2025 | 00:46:09 | |
Episode Summary How do you know when it's time to make a career move in healthcare? Olumide Ajulo has navigated this question multiple times. A qualified psychotherapist and clinical psychology master's graduate, Olumide transitioned from finance management to become a team manager in university counselling services. His story demonstrates how to thoughtfully evaluate career decisions while building skills that create new opportunities. In our conversation, Olumide shares his approach to career transitions, why he believes healthcare needs more self-aware professionals, and the therapeutic concept that's transformed how he approaches both client relationships and management decisions. Whether you're considering a move from clinical practice to management, exploring combined roles, or wondering how to leverage skills from other sectors, this episode offers practical insights from someone who's successfully navigated career evolution in healthcare. Questions We Explore
Chapters 04:04 The strategic transition from finance sector to therapeutic practice 06:31 Why working with acute mental health appeals despite the challenges 09:02 Relational therapy approaches that build meaningful therapeutic connections 11:31 Navigating career pathways in psychology, therapy, and specialisation decisions 13:58 Overcoming client disengagement with specific therapeutic strategies 16:20 Professional self-reflection as essential for healthcare career growth 18:48 Why emotional intelligence and self-awareness drive professional success 21:11 Reframing therapeutic responsibility and client engagement in treatment outcomes 23:40 Addressing therapeutic relationship breakdowns with practical tools 25:53 Olumide's transition from clinical practice to healthcare team leadership 27:39 Building effective multidisciplinary healthcare teams for better patient outcomes 29:58 Balancing clinical work with people management responsibilities 33:35 Identifying what energises you for sustainable healthcare career development 39:57 A practical framework for career decisions using non-negotiables and strategic planning About Olumide Ajulo Olumide Ajulo is a counselling psychologist and team manager at a UK university counselling service. After over a decade in finance management, he made the strategic transition to psychology, bringing valuable systems thinking and people management skills to therapeutic practice. He now combines direct client work with team leadership, supervision, and service development in a multidisciplinary mental health setting. Resources mentioned:
Connect with Olumide Ajulo
Career Cliniq Resources Feeling that pull to explore what else might be possible? The StreamAhead Assessment helps you discover which work streams align with your interests right now. Sometimes clarity starts with simply knowing what's out there. Join the Conversation Reflection: What recurring patterns in your current role might be pointing toward your next professional chapter? Connect: LinkedIn @Dr Ruth Vo, PhD | Instagram @drruthvo | careerecliniq.com | |||
| From Physical Therapy to Quality Manager with Katie Blackburn | 16 Sep 2025 | 01:02:43 | |
What happens when you love your clinical work but find yourself constantly thinking "there has to be a better way"? Katie Blackburn, a physical therapist specialising in spinal cord injury rehabilitation, never imagined she'd step away from direct patient care. Yet that's exactly what she did when she transitioned to quality management—a career evolution she once swore she'd never make. Katie's story reveals the practical realities of healthcare career transition within complex medical systems. She talks candidly about feeling stuck with a caseload of just four patients when she yearned for broader impact, and the relentless pace that left little time for basic human needs. More importantly, she shares how she prepared for a completely different role whilst managing full-time clinical demands and motherhood—including the emotional work of mourning the loss of her clinical identity. This conversation offers concrete strategies for health professionals considering similar transitions: how to find mentors outside formal structures, translate clinical experience into management language, and navigate the discomfort of not knowing exactly where your career is headed. If you've ever wondered whether there's more you could be doing beyond your current clinical role, Katie's journey provides both permission to explore and practical steps to take along the way. We Explore
Timestamps 01:50 Why Katie never imagined leaving clinical practice 03:13 The frustration of impacting only four patients at a time 06:17 The relentless pace of clinical practice and emotional toll 09:51 How extra projects revealed a passion for systemic change 13:00 The importance of supportive managers in career evolution 16:49 Finding mentors outside formal structures 21:51 Moving beyond structured clinical mentorship models 25:39 The courage to ask for guidance and cold-email mentors 28:11 Why the clinical "playbook" ends early in our careers 31:49 Redefining career goals as exploration rather than promotion 39:01 The Master Adaptive Learner framework and curiosity as a skill 43:29 Practical steps to transition from clinical practice to quality management 50:56 The harsh reality of juggling preparation with clinical demands 56:18 Mourning the loss of clinical identity and ongoing imposter syndrome About Katie Blackburn Katie Blackburn is a quality manager and physical therapist with specialised expertise in spinal cord injury rehabilitation within inpatient settings. Her transition from full-time clinical practice to healthcare quality management provides a unique perspective on systemic change within healthcare facilities. Katie's background includes residency training and experience in mentoring programmes, giving her particular insight into structured and informal approaches to professional development for health professionals. Connect with Katie Blackburn on LinkedIn Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what else might be possible in your healthcare career? The StreamAhead Assessment helps you discover which work streams align with your interests and values right now. Sometimes clarity starts with simply knowing what's out there. Take the StreamAhead Assessment Join the Conversation What's holding you back from exploring career possibilities beyond your current clinical role? Share your thoughts and connect with fellow health professionals navigating similar journeys. Connect with Ruth:
| |||
| From Tenured Professor to the Pork Industry with Kristen Hicks-Roof | 29 Apr 2026 | 01:01:30 | |
Most health professionals spend years building toward a role they're told is the destination. What happens when you get there and realise you're still evolving? Kristen Hicks-Roof is a registered dietitian and PhD researcher who built a full academic career - tenure, grants, research agendas, and chose to leave it to lead human nutrition at the US National Pork Board, a role that didn't exist before she took it. This conversation gets into what it's like to be a high performer navigating competitive dynamics, the identity reckoning that happens when your career and your motherhood collide on the same timeline, and what it actually looks like to take clinical skills into an industry most dietitians are taught to distrust. If you've ever felt like you outgrew a role you genuinely valued, or wondered whether the skills you built in practice could belong somewhere completely different, this one will sit with you. We Explore
Chapters
Kristen Hicks-Roof PhD, RD is the Director of Human Nutrition at the US National Pork Board, where she oversees research investment and science communication across stakeholder groups from farmers to federal policymakers. A former associate professor with promotion and tenure, her academic research focused on integrating nutrition across healthcare teams and the lived experience of mother scholars in academia. She also hosts the Nutrition Connection podcast.
Wondering where your clinical skills could actually take you? The StreamAhead Assessment helps you map what you've built and where it could go next. 👉 Take the StreamAhead Assessment Join the ConversationHave you ever been in a role where your drive worked against you? Tell us about it. Find us on LinkedIn and Instagram. | |||
| How a Pain Science Crisis Took One PT from her Dream Clinic Role to Health Tech with Emily Kelly | 15 Apr 2026 | 01:09:58 | |
Emily Kelly chose physical therapy because a torn ACL at 14 showed her what one-on-one care could do. She found her dream clinic, treated patients for an hour each, and loved the work. Then a new grad started questioning what she believed about pain, and the clinical identity she had spent years building started to come apart. Emily is now a product manager at Prompt, a health tech company building software for rehabilitation providers in the US. This conversation covers what it actually took to get from one to the other. A pay structure that punished the qualification it demanded. The emotional cost of being the clinician who takes everything home. A healthcare innovation conference that lit something up. And a series of deliberate, unglamorous decisions that most career transition stories skip over entirely. If you are a health professional who knows something needs to shift but cannot see the steps from where you are, this episode lays them out honestly. We explore:
About Emily Kelly Emily Kelly is a physical therapist and product manager at Prompt, a health tech company building practice management software for rehabilitation providers. Based in Denver, Colorado, she spent eight years in outpatient physical therapy before moving through customer success and leadership into product.
Career Cliniq Resources If this episode has you wondering where else your clinical expertise could take you, the StreamAhead Assessment maps your interests across eight healthcare work streams and shows you options you might not have considered yet. Connect with Ruth
| |||
| New Grad Exercise Practitioner to Scaling E-Commerce Entrepreneur with Melissa Gunstone | 27 Mar 2026 | 01:02:37 | |
The boxes we're handed in healthcare are well-meaning. Your title, your scope, your place in the hierarchy - they exist for good reasons. But they can also become the edges of what you think is possible. Melissa Gunstone is a Canadian Registered Kinesiologist who graduated, hit the wall most new grads hit, and built her way out of it - not by leaving healthcare, but by refusing to stay inside the box it handed her. What followed is a ground-level account of private practice niching, a team to lead, and a product invented because it didn't exist. If you're a health professional navigating the gap between your training and what's actually possible - this conversation covers territory your degree never did. We Explore
About Melissa Gunstone Melissa Gunstone is a registered kinesiologist based in Ontario, Canada. She is the founder of Home Stretch (in-home kinesiology for seniors) and creator of Sturdey Fall Prevention Tools. She also employs and mentors kinesiologists through her business - making career development as much a part of her mission as client care. Connect with Melissa Home Stretch - In-Home Kinesiology for Seniors: https://www.homestretch4seniors.ca Sturdey Fall Prevention Tools: https://sturdey.com/collections/tools-to-stay-sturdy YouTube - The Fall Prevention Coach: https://youtube.com/@melissathefallpreventioncoach Melissa's marketing guy, Miles at Wondering Concierge: https://wonderingconcierge.com/ Career Cliniq Resources Wondering which direction your healthcare career could take? The StreamAhead Assessment helps you identify which work streams align with your strengths right now. 👉 https://careercliniq.com/streamahead | |||
| Breaking Free from Hospital Hierarchy - How One Dietitian Built a Thriving Home Care Business with Lina Briek | 04 Aug 2025 | 00:49:22 | |
Episode Summary How do you know when it's time to leave a career you've invested years building? In this episode, dietitian and entrepreneur Lina Briek shares her unexpected journey from missing out on multiple hospital promotions to building a thriving home tube feeding business during COVID. Lina reveals why her "American confidence" in Australian healthcare settings became her superpower, how a random intensive care project opened doors she never knew existed, and what it really takes to transition from employee security to entrepreneurial freedom. This conversation unpacks the hidden costs of staying comfortable, the surprising advantages of rural healthcare positions, and why sometimes the system's limitations become your biggest opportunity for impact. Questions We Explore
Timestamps 01:40 - From Dentist's Daughter to Dietitian: The Unexpected Career Origin Story About Lina Briek Lina Briek is a dietitian, PhD researcher, and founder of Tube Dietitian, a Melbourne-based business providing specialised nutrition support for adults living with feeding tubes at home. With 14 years of hospital experience ranging from rural general practice to metropolitan ICU work, Lina bridges the critical gap between hospital discharge and long-term home care. Her research focuses on the state of home tube feeding in Australia, with particular emphasis on real food approaches. Lina's journey from missing hospital promotions to building a national telehealth service demonstrates how healthcare professionals can create meaningful impact outside traditional employment structures.
Career Cliniq Resources Inspired by Lina's entrepreneurial journey but unsure about your own next steps? The StreamAhead Assessment helps health professionals discover which of eight healthcare workstreams align with your current interests and life circumstances. Whether you're considering a side business, career pivot, or exploring options, this personalised assessment provides clarity on possibilities you might not have considered. Ready to take action? Find out more HERE. Visit Career Cliniq for more career evolution insights. | |||
| From UN Dreams to Paediatric Nutrition with Venus Kalami | 25 Aug 2025 | 01:03:00 | |
Ever felt torn between staying loyal to communities that desperately need you and taking opportunities that serve your own growth? Venus Kalami, a board-certified paediatric dietitian, knows this struggle intimately. Venus shares her journey from community clinic work to academic medical centres, wrestling with the guilt of leaving under-resourced patients behind. She reveals what cultural humility actually looks like in practice—challenging the "Mediterranean diet is best" narrative and preserving patients' food cultures rather than forcing them into nutrition boxes. Through honest reflection on the barriers limiting diversity in dietetics and the village of mentors who made her advanced education possible, Venus demonstrates how healthcare careers evolve through unexpected turns and the courage to ask for support. We Explore
Timestamps
About Venus KalamiVenus Kalami is a board-certified USA paediatric dietitian with expertise in digestive health, cultural humility, and nutrition communications. As a first-generation immigrant, she brings a unique perspective to healthcare that challenges traditional approaches and advocates for cultural inclusivity in nutrition care. Venus has experience in academic medical centres, community clinics, and nutrition consulting, with a master's degree in Nutrition Science and Policy from Tufts University. Connect with Venus Kalami
Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what's next? Take the StreamAhead Assessment to discover whether you need to Optimise, Adapt, or Reinvent your healthcare career. Venus's story shows how career evolution requires both courage and clarity—get yours HERE Venus describes her career as dominoes falling into place. What unexpected turn opened doors you never imagined? Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn | Instagram @drruthvo Evolving in Healthcare is your space for honest conversations about the messy, beautiful reality of healthcare careers. Because your career should evolve with your life, not hold you back from it. | |||
| From Hospital PT to Maternal Health Advocate with Dr. Katherine Sylvester | 09 Dec 2025 | 01:17:01 | |
What does it take to look at a broken system and decide you're going to fix it—one patient, one program, one bold ask at a time? Dr. Katherine Sylvester is a physical therapist whose career has been shaped by a single question: what if we refused to accept that nothing more can be done? From watching her grandmother receive inadequate stroke care as a child, to building a minority mentorship program that's supported over 170 PT students, to founding Operation Mist—a maternal health monitoring program that puts data directly in women's hands—Kat's journey is about challenging the defaults that healthcare hands us. In this conversation, we explore how she transformed hospital neuro care by simply asking for what patients needed, how scar massage became a gateway to postpartum recovery, and why she walked away from a job she loved to build something that aligned with both her clinical values and her life as a mum. This isn't a story about work-life balance. It's about building a career that serves the change you want to see, even when that means doing things no one else is doing yet. If you've ever wondered what it looks like to turn professional frustration into meaningful change, this one's for you. We Explore
About Dr. Katherine Sylvester is a physical therapist specialising in neurological rehabilitation and women's health. She founded Operation Mist, a maternal health monitoring program that uses wearable technology to catch postpartum complications before they become life-threatening. Kat also created a minority mentorship program that has supported over 170 physical therapy students through graduation, and teaches scar physiology and women's health to PT students and professionals across the United States. She maintains a private practice in Macon, Georgia, where she treats patients with neurological injuries and supports women through pregnancy and postpartum recovery. Connect with Dr. Kat
Career Cliniq Resources Ready to explore what's possible beyond your current clinical role? The StreamAhead Assessment helps health professionals identify which career pathways align with their interests and expertise right now. Sometimes the first step toward change is simply understanding what options exist. Take the StreamAhead Assessment: https://careercliniq.com/streamahead Connect with Ruth: | |||
| Authentic Career Networking in Healthcare with Kaylee Johnson | 05 Feb 2026 | 01:14:11 | |
When someone says "you need to network," what's your gut reaction? If it's dread mixed with a side of ick, Kaylee Johnson gets it. She's an occupational therapist who's worked across clinical care, health tech, and leadership roles in the US, and we sat down to unpack what networking actually looks like when you're an introvert who'd rather do anything else. We also had some fun comparing Australian and US takes on networking. This conversation cuts through the schmoozing stereotype to explore networking as something more human: leading with curiosity, asking questions because you genuinely want to know, and figuring out how you can help someone solve a problem. Kaylee shares how she flopped hard in early attempts but eventually landed roles through authentic connections and why LinkedIn doesn't have to feel like performing. If you've been avoiding networking because it feels transactional, or you're job hunting but worried about word getting back to your current workplace, this episode offers practical reframes and the courage you'll need to step outside your healthcare bubble. We Explore
About Kaylee Johnson Kaylee Johnson is an Occupational Therapist with 15 years of experience across clinical practice, health tech, and leadership roles in the northeast United States. As a self-described introvert, Kaylee has navigated multiple career transitions and now brings insights about authentic networking, cross-functional collaboration, and career evolution for healthcare professionals who want to explore beyond traditional clinical pathways. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylee-m-johnson/ Career Cliniq Resources If this conversation has you thinking about what else might be possible in your healthcare career, the StreamAhead Assessment can help you identify which work streams align with your current interests and strengths. Sometimes clarity starts with simply knowing what's out there. Access the StreamAhead Assessment: https://careercliniq.com/streamahead What's your biggest networking challenge right now? Drop me a message and let me know. Connect with me:
| |||