Lizness School Special: Transitions Reimagined with Phil Pizzo
Satellite Sisters
Mudbath Productions
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 February 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today Liz Dolan interviews Phil Pizzo, the founder of Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute, a deep thinker on transitions and lifelong learning. His career has taken him from pioneering pediatric oncologist to Dean of Stanford Medical School to rabbinical studies and chaplaincy training. He is a man who thinks a LOT about doing things differently.
Welcome to our sponsors:
Stanford Federal Credit Union. To use their $620 New Member offer, go to sfcu.org/lizness
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HOMEWORK:
More on Phil Pizzo, his work and his contributions:
The Doctor’s Art podcast: An episode called Courage and Curiosity Discussion of what drew him to medicine in the first place with more about his work caring for seriously ill children and his pioneering work at the National Cancer Institute.
Stanford Daily: Phil Pizzo moves from Stanford Medical School to rabbinical studies https://stanforddaily.com/2022/04/10/from-stanford-to-the-rabbinate-phil-pizzo-moving-on/
The Atlantic The New Old Age by David Brooks. What a new life stage can teach us about how to find meaning and purpose.
Corrected book title from last episode:
Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering The Lost City One Step At A Time from 2021.
A fascinating and funny account of a journalist's travels through some of the world’s most majestic, historic, and remote landscapes.
If you are new to Lizness School, we suggest you listen to Season 1 to hear all about Liz's year as a Stanford Fellow. Everything from Neuroscience and Chinese History to Pickleball! Plus a great community experience with her fellow DCI Fellows.
Season 2 is about how she puts her lessons to work in the wild with the help of her millennial mentor Leah Sutherland.
To listen to Liz +. Leah's recap of Lizness School Season 1, go to our FINALE here.
For more on Liz Dolan, go to LinkedIn
For more on Liz's work in podcasting, go to Satellite Sisters
Follow Lizness School on all podcasting platforms including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
On Instagram, follow the show at https://www.instagram.com/liznessschool/ and follow Liz at https://www.instagram.com/satellitesisterliz/.
Follow Producer and Millennial Mentor Leah Sutherland @leahhsutherlandd on Instagram and Leah Sutherland on LinkedIn.
To email Lizness School with your own voice memos/questions/thoughts/suggestions for Liz or Leah, use liznessschool@gmail.com
The Distinguished Careers Institute is a unique program for late career people. Fellows are graduate students at Stanford University, able to take classes in any area. Complete information here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Lismiss School, everyone. I'm Liz Dolan, the Liz and Lizness, and I am joined here by my millennial mentor, Leah Sutherland. |
| 0:09.5 | Now, Leah, you and I talk a lot about lifelong learning and intergenerational exchange. |
| 0:15.3 | Our guest today is one of the truly innovative thinkers in this area in both academia and in broader society. |
| 0:23.6 | His name is Phil Pizzo. |
| 0:25.9 | He really is like the MVP of lifelong learning in intergenerational exchanges because I knew that |
| 0:32.7 | he was the creator of Stanford's Distinguished Careers Institute, the program you did for |
| 0:36.9 | all of season one, |
| 0:37.9 | but I had no idea, really kind of about him as a person, but he's had an amazing career, |
| 0:43.1 | and he's just getting started. Yeah, knocking it out. So, yeah, he's my new role model. |
| 0:49.1 | We met in a studio on the campus of the Stanford Medical School, where he had been dean for 11 years from |
| 0:55.1 | 2001 to 2012. And so here's our conversation about transitions, reimagining education, |
| 1:02.8 | and the pillars of what he calls positive longevity. |
| 1:09.5 | It is such a pleasure to finally meet you, Phil Puzzo, because I understand I have you to thank |
| 1:14.7 | for the existence of the Stanford Distinguished Careers Institute program. I enjoyed so much last year. |
| 1:20.6 | That's great. Well, I have you to thank for coming to the DCI program and for having a great |
| 1:26.6 | experience. That's wonderful. Yeah, yeah. |
| 1:28.5 | I did have a great experience. I'm still processing it. And maybe that's why I'm still doing |
| 1:32.9 | business school because I'm still trying to figure out, what did I learn? Who did I learn it from? |
| 1:37.6 | Who else can teach me more about that? And so you're the poster child for commitment to lifelong learning. |
| 1:47.2 | I just want to say, correct me if these facts are wrong. |
| 1:50.9 | In 2022, at the age of 77, you stepped down from Stanford where you'd been dean of the medical school, |
| 1:57.9 | as well as founder of DCI, to enter the Academy for Jewish Religion |
... |
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