Nobody Asks About Ibuprofen (ft. Joel Selanikio)

Ed Marx (0:00)

Healthcare is getting better and smaller simultaneously. What do you mean by that?

Joel Selanikio (0:04)

We have so much technology that enables us to skip the doctor visit. How do we provide health to people in a world where doctors are not the center of providing health to people? 20 years ago, you had to go to the doctor to get Ibuprofen. I've never once had anybody ask me, do you think over-the-counter drugs are going to replace doctors? Even though the whole purpose of over-the-counter drugs is to do what? Get rid of the doctor. Even though that's what they're for, and that's what they do, right? So we really, I think, have a blind spot about this stuff.

SPEAKER_3 (0:34)

Welcome to DGTL Voices, where healthcare and life science leaders explore the real work behind transformation. This podcast is about people, leadership, and the conversations that move healthcare forward. Now your host, Ed Marx.

Ed Marx (0:50)

Thanks for listening to DGTL Voices. I have another great guest, and it's all about the guests that make DGTL Voices top 10 in the world. So thanks for listening, and you will not be disappointed. You'll thoroughly enjoy this podcast just like the others. I have with me Dr. Joel Selanikio. Joel, welcome to DGTL Voices.

Joel Selanikio (1:10)

Great to be here.

Ed Marx (1:12)

Joel, you're like a physician, Ted keynote speaker. You speak to boards. You speak to a lot of different health systems.

Your content is fabulous. I've been a long time follower. That's kind of how we first met. I've been a stalker, Joel, of yours. I love the stuff that you put out. I use some of the material that you put out because it's very well thought and researched. And so I was like, I have to have Joel on the podcast and talk about all these different things. So that's sort of how we first met. But Joel, the most important question in our 30 minutes together, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

Joel Selanikio (1:48)

I like to listen to a very wide variety of things, but I have a five and a half year old in the house who is a bit of a musician and plays the piano and the guitar. And he kind of gets on these little jags. So he's currently, he discovered Elton John. And so I'd say for about the last two weeks, almost the only music I have listened to is Elton John. Normally I have a much broader kind of a much broader reach, but it's Elton John for the foreseeable future.

Ed Marx (2:18)

He and Bernie Topin, they wrote some incredible music together.

Joel Selanikio (2:23)

It's good stuff. I mean, I'm being reminded now, I haven't listened to some of this stuff in a long time.

Ed Marx (2:28)

Yeah, and some of those notes are hard to reach. And, but I love his music for sure. What about life message or mantra? Are there words that sort of guide how you live?

Joel Selanikio (2:38)

Well, you know, it's funny because my wife and I talk about this all the time in terms of, again, in terms of our son. And, you know, the thing that I keep trying to hit with him, I'm not sure if it's taken root yet, but I sort of feel like it's been my thing, which is be useful. You know, the goal in life is to be, you know, useful. How do you, how are you happy? Or you're happy when you feel like you're being useful, whether it's, you know, hopefully both to yourself and also to others, right? I mean, that I've always been the happiest when it's been a great balance of that.

Just, you know, is what I'm doing right now, is it useful to folks?

Ed Marx (3:13)

Yeah, I love that. That's a good frame of mind in everything that we do.

So, before we jump in, and I'm dying to jump in, trust me, I want to learn a little bit more about you and about your career. But then we're going to jump in to some of the very provocative things that you have talked about in terms of where we're headed with healthcare and technology in the future. So, but before we get there, yeah, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? Tell us about your upbringing.

Joel Selanikio (3:43)

Sure. I think I had a pretty unremarkable upbringing. I grew up in suburban Long Island, one of four kids.

My dad had a furniture store. My mom was a housekeeper, or sorry, not a housekeeper, homemaker, and then later became a nurse and a social worker. So a little bit of medical something there.