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Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

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Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#151
post #93

Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

Greg Graffin of Bad Religion has a PhD in zoology, certainly after he began the band in high school. Something about SoCal punks. His dissertation is of course "Evolution and Religion: Questioning the Beliefs of the World's Eminent Evolutionists"

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#152

When I was a kid, my dad sat next to a different RadioShack CEO on a plane. He mentioned that I was always in the store and Mr. Roberts gave him this, https://imgur.com/a/BolEA

That's something!

The closest I have is a rejection letter from Radio Shack HQ, I received as a kid, maybe around age 12. I'd spent many hours ogling parts and gear in their stores, and practically memorized their catalogs. So I was a big fan, and I'd written to their headquarters, proposing that I would write a hobby computers&electronics book, in the vein of some of the Forrest Mims projects articles I'd read. (With the difference being that I had almost no knowledge worth sharing.) I got back a polite letter, on Radio Shack stationery, not mentioning that I was obviously just a kid, and saying that they didn't wish to develop a hobby book, but if I developed it otherwise, they'd be happy to review a copy off the press. I had my first rejection letter framed for a while, but lost the original during a very lean move right after grad school, and now I only have a scan of it.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#153
post #121
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are limited residency spots for med school graduates and if you don't get one you can't become an actual licensed doctor. The MD schools try to keep their admissions in line with the number of spots because that would be a raw deal to just pump out people with degrees in $500k in debt who will never get licensed. The residency spots are not controlled by the medical associations or the schools.

The AMA lobbies very hard against expension every year.

Do you have a source for this? I hear about it all the time but have never seen any evidence.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#154
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The AMA lobbies very hard against expension every year.

Do you have a source for this? I hear about it all the time but have never seen any evidence.

I was incorrect. Recently they have been lobbying for an expansion.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#155
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, but I don't know a single doctor in the US who actually paid it upfront instead of taking out all those loans and then easily paying them back with their newfound doctor salary later.

It's interesting because you know we are weeding out talent that comes from low socio economic backgrounds and who need cash flow to support their families. At end of the day, we shouldn't be weeding out our doctors to only be folks who don't need to support their families for the next 10 years.

There is a limit put in place on supply (seats at medical schools) already. Weeding out is part of that system already. The question is should cost be part of that.. we decided somewhat yes which is fair if you decide to limit supply in the first place.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#156
post #93

Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

James Williamson (one of the guitarists of Iggy Pop & The Stooges) retrained as an Electrical Engineer, and ended up as Vice President of Technical Standards at Sony working on Blu-ray.

If you've read anything about what they were like as a band that's quite a career path!

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#157
post #93

Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

Action movie star Dolph Lundgren is also super educated, with a degree in chemical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology and a master's in chemical engineering from the University of Sydney [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Lundgren

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#158
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than having to spend mid-five figures. It costs a lot more than that to become a doctor in the US. Typical student loan debt for doctors is well into 6 digits. https://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/is-medical-school-worth-i...

Ouch. Worse than I thought. I suppose it's correlated to eventual revenue— doctors aren't nearly as rich in Europe, although they are clearly among the top earners. (what filoleg suggests in the other reply) There's an underlying premise, I think, that countries like France or Germany seek to minimize the cost of healthcare in general , because the bill is collectively paid— the bottom line is a direct cost on GDP, t…

Doctors in the UK are vastly underpaid compared to most other occupations with similar levels of intellectual rigor required

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#159
Some people can learn to do more than one thing reasonably well and more easier than others. I won't be surprised if we see another headline in 5 years telling us that Mr Levy is a rocket scientist working for NASA, or he started a successful business or he is an acclaimed novelist.

I find people like him inspiring, I would much prefer if media would concentrate on presenting us more people doing useful things instead of celebrity gossips.

Re: Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the 300-500k/ yr income is nice. Plus you are the only profession that can legally write prescriptions and do some services. The power of the medical cartels has intangible benefits too.

My wife is a resident. The salaries look nice when they're windowed to a single year. Career earnings, it's good but not that great compared to tech - especially when you consider the hours and stress. * 4 years of med school - $0 income - $40k+ of tuition * 3+ years of residency, minimum (4+ for most fields, even more for surgery) - $60k/year ------ If my wife had gone straight into tech, we'd have been better off f…

In the UK you have no debt but salaries for the first ten years generally don't go over 50k per year which makes living in a major city and having children unsustainable
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