Meet Dr. Roger Wu, MD, MBA, FACEP

CARBON HEALTH: First off, thank you so much for everything you’ve done during coronavirus. Since joining the team, you’ve helped spearhead a variety of COVID-19 initiatives including going into assisted care facilities to test senior citizens and helping man our mobile clinic.

DR. ROGER WU: For a disease with limited treatment, the most effective intervention is probably broad and timely diagnostic testing followed by appropriate isolation and patient education. Our goal has always been to extend access to testing to meet patients where they are. Our projects with the assisted living and skilled nursing facilities and our mobile clinic are just two such examples.

As these opportunities came up for us, I was moved by how our team mobilized, executing on large-scale, complex operations in as little as 72 hours in some instances. Their positive energy invigorates me.

CH: Was there anything from the assisted care facilities visits that really struck a chord with you as a healthcare provider?

RW: While performing bedside lung ultrasounds for the higher-risk patients at one of the facilities, I met a 93-year-old musician who had been playing music since 1935. His room was like a studio for a one-man-band, complete with a saxophone, guitar, keyboard, and drums. It was amazing. On his wall, he had framed a certificate from the Guinness World Records, which I found out was a gift from his grandson, who was also a musician. Many of the residents had photographs on their walls of their children and grandchildren — family members who had not been able to visit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to changes in the visitor policy.

They had entrusted these care facilities and our team to take care of their loved ones. This humanized the operation and underscored the importance of our work.

CH: What intrigued you most about a career in medicine?

RW: One of my earliest exposures to medicine was through a physician I worked with while studying abroad in a public health program in South Africa. His experience with patients informed his decisions as a public health expert and vice versa.

Since then my career has been an attempt to perfect the balance of bedside care and meeting room logistics — a combined MD/MBA program during medical school, chief residency during emergency medicine residency, medical directorship of a community emergency department and, now, regional medical directorship at Carbon Health. I fell in love with emergency medicine because it is fast-paced and each case is a new problem to solve. I find many parallels in the start-up world.

CH: What is your favorite part about being a Carbon Health employee?

RW: Everyone is the best at what they do. I learn something new and am challenged every day. Great ideas are operationalized from inside our heads to the patient’s bedside. That is rare and so incredibly fun. Our frontline clinic teams are engaged and always patient-centric.

CH: What lessons or values from your family do you try to apply in your daily practice?

RW: I’m thankful for the values they instilled in me, the importance of family, a love for hard work, and the value of knowledge and skills over material things. As a new father, I think about how I can pass these values on to my son.

CH: What advice do you have for the next generation of healthcare professionals?

RW: Dedicate your time to crafts that will grow with you. I love that medicine is a blend of science and art. Science is knowledge and technique that yield consistent results. For example, antibiotics as a treatment for sepsis. Art is the expression of self, so the vibe when you’re on shift, your relationships with the staff, your bedside manner, your flow in the department, your ability to lead a team. Early on, it’s all about the science and as time passes, it’s the art that keeps things interesting.

CH: What do you think the future of healthcare will be once this is all over?

RW: One of the silver linings of the pandemic is it has forced all of us outside of our comfort zones, and that’s where growth typically happens. For healthcare, this has meant an acceleration of the adoption of telemedicine. Telemedicine will replace a subset of in-person evaluations, but the wisdom will be in knowing where to draw that line.

The future of healthcare will be more efficient triage of patients to the exact level of resources they need. That’s what we’re building at Carbon Health, a network of care that is evidence-based, scalable, and always patient-centric.

CH: What can we find you getting into when you’re not out being a healthcare hero?

RW: Prior to the pandemic, you would find me on the mats at Empire Jiu-jitsu in San Francisco. On sunny days you’ll find me outside surfing, cycling, or hiking with my wife and son.

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