Ilona Goldfarb shares how she became one of the top high-risk OBGYN’s in the world. She also helps us answer the question if pregnant women should get the COVID vaccine. Join Laura Gassner Otting as she hosts this episode of LGOtv with special guest, Ilona Goldfarb – Doctor, Teacher, Optimist.
Timestamps:
2:35 – Fan Goggles
3:20 – What was it like to be a doctor on the front-line in February and March of 2020?
4:00 – Are you the type of person who runs towards or away from a disaster?
7:55 – “We made sure that everything we did was also an opportunity to learn.”
8:47 – “People aren’t going to just invite you. You have to offer what you have, to make sure that the work that you do is meaningful outside of your little bubble.”
14:25 – “Historically, reproductive-age women were left out [of clinical studies].”
19:24 – There’s not time and energy to onboard lots of new and complex information.
24:20 – “We need to be very transparent about what we don’t know so that we don’t accidentally coerce patients by promising them that everything is going to be okay.”
30:37 – “Everyone was reinventing the wheel.”
33:14 – “I have always been an optimist.”
42:05 – “I was enamored. I just remember standing there in awe of what they had done…putting the patient back together again.”
43:57 – At what point in the process were you like, “I like OBGYN but I want to do the hardest possible OBGYN?”
55:22 – “I knew that nothing good would come from forcing myself to move when I really didn’t feel the pull.”
Links:
https://twitter.com/GoldfarbIlona
https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/1…
Ilona Goldfarb, MD, MPH, is a board-certified maternal fetal medicine specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). She completed medical school and residency in California and a fellowship at MGH. Her areas of interest and expertise include public health, perinatal infectious diseases, and quality improvement in obstetrical care. She spends the majority of her time providing direct prenatal, delivery, and postpartum care to women with high-risk maternal or fetal conditions. In this capacity, she provides consultation on high-risk pregnancy patients across New England.
Washington Post Best Selling Author and Motivational Keynote Speaker, Laura Gassner Otting, inspires people to push past the doubt and indecision that keep great ideas in limbo because her presentations make listeners think bigger and accept greater challenges that reach beyond their limited scope of belief.
She delivers strategic thinking, well-honed wisdom, and perspective generated by decades of navigating change across the start-up, nonprofit, political, as well as philanthropic landscapes. Laura dares listeners to find their voice, and generate the confidence needed to tackle larger-than-life challenges. She leads them to seek new ways of leading, managing, and mentoring others.
