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This is The Nocturnous Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman.

Medicine is often seen as a world of science, logic, and efficiency.

But what happens when we bring in something unexpected? Like musical theater.

Dr. Alan Detsky is a well-known physician in Canadian internal medicine and health economics.

He's a physician, professor, and researcher with over 95 publications in JAMA and the New England Journal of Medicine.

But as we learn in today's episode, he's also a lifelong lover of Broadway, and even a producer of hit shows, like Come From Away. During the COVID-19 pandemic, as masked faces and

Zoom meetings stripped away the humanity for medical training, Alan turned to musical theater

as a tool to reconnect with his team.

Every day, he gathered his students and residents for a short ritual,

sitting down together and watching a music video.

At first, it was a light-hearted distraction, but over time it became something more,

a lesson in observation, emotion, and connection.

In my conversation with Alan, we talk about how health economics shapes his perspective on

health care, the differences between the Canadian and U.S. healthcare systems, his unexpected

journey into Broadway producing, and why he believes that every physician

should bring their outside passion into their teaching. Alan is a natural

storyteller with a wealth of experience in both medicine and the arts and I hope

you enjoy my conversation with him as much as I did. But first, take a listen to Alan

...