Full Transcript 0:00 Hi, Ed here. 0:01 Welcome to another episode of Behind the Mask. 0:04 This is our opportunity to really get to know the leaders of healthcare and digital transformation deeper in terms of who they are, 0:13 what drives them. 0:15 And so I really love this particular opportunity, to meet all these wonderful leaders. 0:21 So Harvey Castro, welcome to Behind The Mask, Well, thank you for having me. 0:26 I know we've been on LinkedIn together for a while and it's finally nice to put your face to face. 0:31 And I now here in the near future, I actually get to meet you in person. 0:34 So I'm excited. 0:35 It's so funny because we actually live about 10, 15 minutes away from each other. 0:42 I'm sure we'll get a chance to be together more often. 0:45 So before we jump in, we have basically three categories that we talk about. 0:50 And that is, who are you? 0:51 How did you get here? 0:52 And where are we going? 0:53 Before we jumped in? 0:54 Tell us a little bit about yourself. 0:55 Although I think pretty much everyone knows about you, Dr. 0:59 Castro, but tell us about your self. 1:02 You know, I am an ER doctor by training. 1:05 I love gadgets too much. 1:07 The skinny is I'm constantly like any other guy that's into technology, buying every gadget that comes out and my wife half the time gets on me about this stuff. 1:17 But at the end, the core of me, my goal honestly is just to use technology to help my patients. 1:23 That at end of the day is really who defines me. 1:25 And when we talk later, you'll see all the things I've done and it's really just that one statement. 1:31 Love it. 1:31 Let's jump right in. 1:33 At what age did you know that you were a leader? 1:37 That's a hard one. 1:38 Um, honestly looking hindsight, 2020 looking back, I think it was more as a teenager. 1:44 I literally had my first business at age 16. And when you're like, ah, he had a lemonade stand or something. 1:50 No, actually had. 1:52 A business that brought in a passive income. 1:55 Am I, uh, had it my own vitamin healthcare, a business and that business basically I was selling vitamins to people. 2:02 I had a subscription plan. 2:04 Um, I, was making pretty good money. 2:05 And on top of that, my regular job and looking back, and I'm like, okay, that that required a little bit of outside the box thinking. 2:11 Yeah. 2:12 Oh yeah. 2:12 That's why I always ask that question. 2:14 Cause I think when we really look at it, yeah, you'll find that you're probably the seeds of leadership were there in your youth for sure. 2:21 They just got, uh, maximized as you got older and became an adult. 2:25 So that's, pretty cool. 2:26 Speaking of youth, what's one thing that your parents made you do when you were growing up that at the time you kind of rolled your eyeballs a little bit, 2:35 but now in hindsight, you're glad they forced you to do it. 2:39 You know, looking back, I didn't realize how much my mother would just push me, uh, in a good way. 2:44 She pushed me to things that I, didn' want to, do, a really cheesy example. 2:50 Um, and you'll laugh at this one. 2:52 Every day, every morning, when I got my license, my permit to drive, I would drive to my high school and I'd never get on the highway. 3:01 I always take the feeder all the way. 3:04 And I was just scared to get onto the highways. 3:06 My mom, she literally was letting me drive and then she saw I'm getting close to the on-ramp and she grabbed the steering wheel and pushed me onto that 3:14 on ramp and said, you're gonna go on the highway. 3:17 And the reason I share that story is that's how she was with me. 3:22 In a loving way, she'd always pushed me towards my limit. 3:26 If she knew I didn't like something, should push me more towards it so that I'd really push myself. 3:31 Now I find myself, every time there's a challenge, there is something that don't know or something I'm weak at, I actually find my self pushing me to see 3:39 if I can overcome it. 3:41 It's become a thing where I am like, it's challenge now, which is actually a good thing for me now. 3:46 Yeah, no, it's a great analogy and great visual and that's great to have that type of mom growing up. 3:53 What's the single biggest reason you chose healthcare and to become a physician? 3:58 You know, honestly, I'm going to share it. 4:01 It comes to the scar on my left hand. 4:03 Long story short, i had a horrible experience and ironically it was in an emergency room. 4:09 And basically, I was a teenager I thought it was Michael Jordan when I as a teenage and I went up and hit a sign in New York City and when it came down 4:15 there was piece of metal that slash my hand open as I'm coming down. 4:19 And I waited over 10 hours to see a doctor and, when he saw me he gave me the give me any anesthetic he just sold it raw. 4:27 And ever since then I said you know what, I'm going to be that empathetic doctor I want to do that doctor that gives back to people, 4:34 and then working in the health food store in a mini way. 4:37 I was learning from the elders they would say hey use this herb to lose weight or use deserve to sleep and. 4:44 I just started learning all this information to the point where I was like, Oh man, this would be great. 4:48 What if I gave back to society? 4:50 What? 4:50 If I totally was able to just use this and just give my talents to others. 4:55 And then at that point I'm like when I grew up, I want to be a doctor. 4:59 That's cool. 5:01 One thing most of your coworkers or your peer group don't know about you that you can share. 5:08 Ooh, that's a good one. 5:11 Um, most people, uh, let's see, try and think, I don't know that I have traveled a lot. 5:21 Um. 5:21 And, oh, actually here's a good one. 5:23 Most people don' know. 5:24 That I lived in Columbia when I was 12 years old for one whole year. 5:29 My mom, we couldn't afford a babysitter. 5:32 Uh, so every summer she would send me to Columbia. 5:34 It was cheaper for me. 5:35 To go to Colombia than to live in New York. 5:39 And then one year, again, I probably wasn't the ideal student. 5:43 She's like, hey, Harvey, you're going down a bad path here. 5:45 We need to straighten you up. 5:46 So she sent me to a developing country and it really opened my eyes. 5:51 It really made me appreciate. 5:53 I thought I was in poverty growing up in New York, but when I went to third world country, realized, no, this is really poverty. 6:00 And so it gave me perspective and a lot of people don't know that about me. 6:03 Yeah, very cool. 6:05 What about a defining moment? 6:07 Was there a particular catalyst that happened in your life that reinforced your trajectory or changed your destiny? 6:15 You know, if I had to pick a catalyst moment, it's kind of like two combined. 6:21 The first was I was working in an emergency room straight out of residency and I, I wasn't happy. 6:29 I gave all my life, education years, energy to become that doctor. 6:35 And when I was working at that hospital, I felt they were taking the doctor out of me. 6:40 They were like, hey, you need to hurry up. 6:42 Hey, don't order so many x-rays, CAT scan. 6:45 You need be quicker. 6:46 And I would look at the stats and I'm like actually I am above average. 6:49 I not even on the low side. 6:52 It was just really eye opening and so upsetting. 6:56 that I decided to create my own emergency room. 6:59 I literally got investors and over the next few years I created about 20 of these and then just trained doctors on how I thought the best way to practice medicine. 7:09 And I actually flipped it. 7:10 Instead of me getting on doctors for spending less time, I was actually the opposite. 7:16 If they were going too fast, no, you need to go as long as possible. 7:20 You need you to spend time. 7:21 Get a good history. 7:25 And so my focus really flipped. 7:29 Wow. 7:29 I like that a lot. 7:30 And I, and I imagine the outcomes, clinical outcomes and quality was probably improved as well. 7:35 Yeah. 7:36 Tell us about the last time you cried. 7:38 You know, physician, you're exposed, especially in the ED to a. 7:41 Difficult situations plus everyday life. 7:43 Uh, tell us by the time he cried, You. 7:46 Know, I don't know if it'll be the. 7:47 Last time, but I think the one that I cannot get over, uh, the, one time that. 7:52 Really broke and. 7:54 to this day and it's been over a decade and I still hurt for that one time in the emergency room. 8:00 This is hard, even talking about it. 8:03 Basically I had a patient, he had overdosed and unfortunately by the time he came to the Emergency Room, they brought him dead. 8:11 And so I have to pronounce them. 8:13 Then it was about two in morning, we had to call family and, I'll never forget, big picture was this older gentleman came in. 8:21 He said, oh my God, this is my 20 year old son. 8:23 Um, he had overdose and, and he was like, where is he? 8:27 And it's hard to tell him. 8:28 It's like. 8:28 Hey, let's go sit down. 8:29 I don't want to show him the body. 8:31 Let's talk about what's going on. 8:32 And he's. 8:32 Like, I know something bad happened. 8:33 Just take me straight to him and I'm like oh my gosh. 8:36 So I had to take them and then seeing that man cry over his son and. 8:40 Then the heart, the heartbreaking part was he. 8:42 Was like hey, told him not to hang out with this individual. 8:46 told them that I was worried that he would do drugs with. 8:48 This guy he did, any overdose. 8:50 Died and and just hugging on him, then. 8:53 the girlfriend coming in and then saying that she hadn't told him that, she was pregnant with this man that had just deceased child. 9:01 And then just being part of that it just broke me. 9:04 I literally had to go to the back and just cry. 9:07 It was just so devastating to see that emotion. 9:11 So that's one that I know I'll never get over. 9:13 Yeah, that tough. 9:17 What was something you've really wanted in life and could be again, going back to youth or could, uh, as an adult and you didn't get. 9:25 Oh, that's a good one too. 9:28 Um, you know, I, the child, um, we grew up really poor and so I always wanted stuff. 9:33 I was wanted like a video game or I wanted a pet. 9:36 Uh, always. 9:38 Wanted to have more, but I just didn' have the hard task. 9:40 My mom, cause she had multiple jobs and I knew we didn t need it, And so I think as an adult now I'm probably over overdoing it. 9:50 I E Y probably have all these gadgets that I am buying and doing. 9:53 Um, it's probably cause I living that child in me still. 9:56 Yeah. 9:57 Tell me about times someone tried to hold you back and how did you respond? 10:03 Yeah, I want to repeat that one just cause it is a, give a little deeper story. 10:06 So, you know, being held back, and told to not practice medicine the way I wanted to, it really upset me. 10:16 And it got me to the point where I said, let me create my own healthcare system. 10:20 Let me make my brand, my staffing company, and my billing. 10:25 I want patient care to do it. 10:28 So I really fought back the system and it was really exciting to see that other physicians were like, man, I like what you created. 10:37 The best part is walking into a patient room and saying, man, I drove an hour to get to this location. 10:43 And I bypassed like eight other ERs because I knew this place would give me the care that I need. 10:48 I just gave me chills and I was like, Man, this was great. 10:52 What in the past looked like man this, was bad for me or something horrible? 10:55 I'm going to encourage people out there to flip it on its head and say, you know what, that's bad, but let's take that experience and make it into something positive. 11:03 Yeah, like that. 11:04 Tell me the last time you received a physical thank you card or the one you wrote. 11:14 Last week, I spoke at the Texas Medical Association's annual conference. 11:21 And it was so amazing the response that I got. 11:24 I had got so many different emails saying, look, no AI could do this. 11:29 The part that was really exciting for me is I Two different physicians reach out and saying hey you gave this thing about chat GPT being able to find diagnosis 11:40 that other doctors had not can you walk me through the process, because I have some tough cases that I want to use this type of technology and I was explaining 11:46 how to do it. 11:46 Because of the HIPAA compliance and you know all the rules blah blah but it just gave me this amazing feeling saying wow you don't they appreciate. 11:54 my work in this field. 11:56 Like what an amazing feeling. 11:58 Um, it was just awesome. 11:59 Yeah. 11:59 I like that. 12:00 Did you ever quit something that you later regret it? 12:04 You know, dang, I wish I wouldn't have quit. 12:09 Actually, yes and no. 12:12 When I got divorced, started writing a book, ironically on how to be successful in life. 12:19 And obviously I was divorced so you could look at it in different ways, but I started writing it. 12:24 And then at one point I said, you know what, it's pretty much done, but I'm not ready to release this. 12:29 I don't know. 12:31 So I literally just kind of quit on the book. 12:34 Then later I say, this is dumb. 12:37 Let me just finish writing this book, let me put it out there. 12:41 and I did that twice because in med school I wrote a book on neurology for the non-neurologist. 12:46 I published it, self-published, but then I put the price so high because I just wasn't sure about myself. 12:52 I was like, man, maybe people will hate this. 13:07 Chatting to the next generation, what's one thing they should relish in the journey? 13:10 You know how we kind of rush our adulthood and go through school and all that kind stuff. 13:14 But looking back, and so if you were talking to, it could be a high school graduation or college graduation. 13:20 It's like, well, that's. 13:21 One moment of life that people should take more time to really relished. 13:26 You. 13:27 Life is all about stages. 13:29 As you said, we go. 13:29 Through that young age, That stupid phase, but we don't know. 13:32 And then we got through our years later. 13:34 They were like. 13:34 Man, I wish I had known. 13:36 But i'm going to tell the youth coming up the ranks and really enjoy that time don't rush to grow up enjoy the time that you have today. 13:45 and live it out to the most because you only have that health at that age, you'll only that energy at one age it all goes downhill as you know, 13:52 as we get older. 13:54 But when we're young and feel fearless, we could do anything. 13:57 We just want to grow up and we want get older and want have all this. 14:00 But I'm going to say just pause, enjoy your time, and enjoy what you have in front of you. 14:05 Make the best of your day. 14:08 Yeah, that's really important message. 14:11 So Harvey, We're going put all of the contact information in the show notes and all the different things that you do. 14:19 On the personal side again, Where are you headed? 14:23 So what are some other goals that you have? 14:25 You talked about, you know, these books. 14:28 There's probably some things going on in your life. 14:30 What are your personal things that would you like to do in the next three to five years? 14:35 One to Five? 14:36 Yeah, in a few years, on the professional side, I'm working with a company called Help AI. 14:42 I am an investor. 14:45 per se, and the skinny is this is a device that will sit over the patient's bed, or in patients at their home, in the skin as it will detect if the person 14:54 is going to fall and if they fall, it'll. 14:56 If they think they're going follow the nurse will be called a doctor and then at the home edition. 15:01 Family members will Be texted and communicate that hey mom fell, she's not calling just gotten help, things like that and I'm really proud of that, 15:08 because I think that's going On the other side of this, in the next few months, I'm really excited. 15:14 I am an advisor for Singapore. 15:17 And so they're flying me out to Singapore to help with digital health care there. 15:21 So I've really stoked about putting all my talents and seeing how things can change and be part of the legislation and part the change for that country. 15:29 Then on the personal side, just really enjoying life. 15:33 Trying to take care of myself, work out more, go on walks, take of who I really teach my children. 15:41 My youngest is 15 and I got remarried and we have now a student to be, actually he's now nine years old, or soon to nine, 15:50 sorry. 15:51 And so it's just exciting to enjoy it. 15:53 Like I said earlier, just take that stage because he is only going to 9 this year and then just to take advantage of that. 16:01 Well, Harvey, this has been super interesting getting to know, like I mentioned at the top, I think many people know who you are on the professional side 16:09 and all the great things that you're doing to help transform health care, especially along the lines of a Chad GBT, AI, those sort of things. 16:16 But on a personal side, it's good to note that your human and just like the rest of us. 16:22 So thanks for being my guest on Behind the Mask. 16:25 Thank you so much. 16:26 That wraps up another edition of Behind the Masks. 16:29 Thanks for watching. 16:30 I know you have a lot of choices and little time.
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