Excellence without self-abandonment.
EMPOWERED SURGEONS
When you suffer less, you serve better.
Surgery trained you to react from trauma response. Your brain has normalized this adrenalized, fight-or-flight, paranoid way of being and learning, and over time, that strategy stops working. Not because you’re weak, but because you’re human. I’m here to offer you a new way of being and learning rooted in internal dopamine and oxytocin, not adrenaline—in creativity and connection, not reactivity and fear.
In this work, your inner world becomes the priority. And when your insides match your outsides, something powerful happens: you stop pretending, you start taking aligned action, and life gets easier.
I know this because I’ve lived it—and I built this process so you can, too.
Questions? Check out the FAQ page here.
“My career doesn’t feel like I thought it would”
You used to dream of life as a surgeon. You imagined caring for patients, operating, climbing the academic ladder, finally making money—and mattering. You knew it would take hard work and sacrifice, but you believed it would be worth it.
So why doesn’t it feel that way?
That’s the arrival fallacy.
The problem isn’t that you chose the wrong career. It’s that no one taught you how to live once you arrived.
And you’re working within a system that makes your life miserable, not because you chose the wrong career, but because the system was built on endurance, not sustainability.
An inbox full of patient messages. Pushback from insurance companies. The constant fear of being one mistake away from losing everything.
You don’t even register good outcomes because you’re too busy worrying about harming someone, or being blindsided by a lawsuit.
I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there too.
And while the system may not change, how you experience it can.
A Coaching Program Built for Surgeons, by a Surgeon Who Understands the Journey.
I guide you through everything you need to navigate life after training.
Residency and fellowship gave you a roadmap. After that, you’re the mapmaker—but it doesn’t have to feel like driving blind in a storm. I’ll teach you what you need to know—and what you don’t—so you can navigate with confidence.
The result? You’ll feel safe at work. You’ll say “no” without guilt. You’ll manage complications, overbooked clinics, and tough OR cases with pride and clarity. You’ll have space for creative projects that light you up. You’ll practice in a way that honors your most important asset: you.
This isn’t about walking away from surgery or giving up your dreams.
It’s about building a sustainable, fulfilling version of the surgeon you want to be while reconnecting with why you fell in love with this work in the first place.
A note from Mel–
From Dissection to Integration: Becoming Whole Again
The Empowered Surgeon Program + Plan
What You Get By Practicing The Empowered Surgeon Method:
1– Clarity About Your Environment– AKA It’s Not Just YOU
Surgical culture has long rewarded martyrdom, perfectionism, and pretending. This program helps you see how those mindsets warp your sense of self and your perspective on the world.
2– Clarity About Yourself– AKA What You Control and What You Don’t
The Anatomy of a Surgeon Module is the first step. You’ll learn to manage your most powerful tool—your brain—and read your body compass, so you can make decisions guided by truth and intuition, not fear.
The Surgeon Self-Concept Modules help you grow from trainee to expert, embrace essentialism, and find value in every OR case—successes and setbacks alike.
Mastering Emotions teaches you which emotions hold you back, and how to generate those that propel you forward: curiosity, courage, creativity, and service. The Capacity Classroom shows you how to safeguard your energy for sustainable performance.
Mastering Drama teaches the Drama Triangle and the Empowerment Dynamic, giving you the tools to navigate and transform conflict effectively.
You’ll put these skills into practice in the real world. You’ll make mistakes and slip back into old patterns. That’s normal, and exactly why we coach every week. There’s no failure: you either get the result you want or you learn.
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Implementation is the hardest part. The concepts may not feel new, but hearing them in surgeon-focused ways helps you internalize and use them every day. Like learning a language, these skills require practice. Rewatch the modules for fresh insights. You have lifetime access, so go at your own pace.
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Mistakes, missed expectations, and friction are inevitable. Patients will have complications. You’ll say “yes” when you want to say “no.” You’ll feel unsafe. That’s exactly why we coach weekly. Together, we’ll navigate these moments, extract meaning, and create a clear path forward. Each mini-transformation opens the door to a fresh perspective.
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Discover how viewing life as cyclical—not linear—can reignite your purpose. Learn to recognize and reframe limiting mindsets, including the arrival fallacy, sunk cost fallacy, and golden handcuffs. Guided exercises help you redefine your self-perception, strengthen your connection to the world, and cultivate a confident, grounded sense of self.
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An empowering community for surgeons who care about growth. Share your fails, celebrate each other, and thrive in a judgment-free space made for surgeons.
Here’s What You Get
Stop wishing for a different specialty—thrive in the one you chose.
Surgeons,
This self-directed program fills the gaps left after training. Residency gave you physical and intellectual resilience. This program builds emotional resilience, an essential skill for sustainable success.
In addition to self-directed learning, you’ll receive coaching support from me, a certified master coach and surgeon. Our weekly 1-hour Zoom coaching calls happen every Wednesday at 4 PM EST. Can’t make it live? Replays are available in the member portal.
Why me?
Twelve years as an ENT surgeon, hundreds of hours coaching surgeons like you, and firsthand proof that these frameworks transform lives. I’ve applied them in my own practice and my clients have applied them to their’s—this process works.
What’s Included:
✔ Lifetime access to the Empowered Surgeon Modules: self-directed videos covering essential concepts
✔ The Empowered Surgeon Playbook (digital) for hands-on, introspective application
✔ Lifetime access to the Empowered Surgeons Facebook Group, a curated community for peer support.
✔ Coaching replays for easy integration if you miss a live session.
Introverts, take note: you’ll gain transformation simply by observing. You can engage at your own pace, whether you attend live or watch replays.
This program gives you the emotional strength and clarity to thrive in your surgical career.
Are you ready?
Still undecided? Check out our FAQ page here.
What Clients are Saying
When you join us…
Here’s what you’ll get today:
Immediate Access to the Empowered Surgeon Modules
Immediate Access to the Empowered Surgeon Playbook in PDF form
Immediate Access to Empowered Surgeon Facebook Group
Immediate Access to the Zoom Room for Wednesday Weekly Calls
Immediate Access to Call Replays
Hey there, I’m Mel
I’m a certified master coach and ENT surgeon with twelve years of post-training experience. On paper, my life looked perfect. I was the highest-earning partner in my private practice. I had the house, the job, the family—the version of success I’d been told to want.
And yet, something was missing.
When I found coaching, everything changed. Suddenly, I understood why so many of my colleagues were quietly miserable, stagnating until retirement, chasing titles, and competing in a game that never felt fulfilling.
Coaching gave me language for what I’d always sensed: that success without alignment isn’t success at all. It’s survival.
From that moment, I made a decision to live and practice differently.
And I couldn’t stop asking myself, Why don’t we learn this sooner?
I became a Professional Certified Coach through Martha Beck’s Wayfinder Coach Training Program in 2024 and then a Master Certified Coach in 2025.
Spending hundreds of hours coaching surgeons from every specialty has taught me exactly what they struggle with, why those struggles exist, and how to make them better. I’ve applied the same tools to my own life and seen their impact in the clinic, the OR, and at home.
You don’t have to live in a constant state of angst, frustration, or overwhelm.
You don’t have to count down the days until your next vacation just to feel human again.
I know how to help you create something deeper—purpose, desire, and freedom—in the life you’ve already worked so hard to build.
I’m also a wife, mother of two, TEDx speaker (find my talk here), marathon runner, and podcaster.
I’m so excited you’re here!