
Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight - wallflower
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/second-act-former-ceo-of-radioshack-now-an-er-doctor-on-frontlines-of-covid-19-fight
======
HorizonXP
Holy crap, I used to volunteer in this exact ER for years! I'm pretty sure
I've seen him around, I had no idea he was the former CEO of RadioShack!

~~~
HorizonXP
Since this comment seems to be fairly top-rated, I'm going to expand on this
story a bit.

I graduated from ECE at Waterloo in 2008. I wanted to go to med school, so I
studied for the MCATs (did well), volunteered at this ER, and eventually went
on to do a Masters in medical imaging. I never did go to med school though, I
didn't have the marks nor the drive.

That said, volunteering at this ER was a significant turning point in my
career/life. Besides the life experience of being in a busy ER, it actually
served as the foundation point for my current career as a software
engineer/startup founder.

During my volunteer stint, my volunteer coordinator passed my name along to
the company running the bedside television terminals in the hospital. I
started working for them, selling services to patients. Through that work, my
innate curiosity and need to solve problems got the best of me. I saw they had
a fairly new/technical system, yet we were doing things by paper. I started
hacking on the system, figured out how to extract data from the DB using a PHP
script. This caught the attention of the company owner. Eventually, I left
that job to continue doing contract software/technical work for that owner. We
had a very interesting relationship over the years.

Eventually, I leveraged that opportunity to find future opportunities in
commercial real estate, which I used to create my current startup.

Oh, and I met my wonderful wife through that volunteer position too. We now
have a beautiful 1.5 year old.

All because I volunteered in the ER.

------
robmiller
When I was a kid, my dad sat next to a different RadioShack CEO on a plane. He
mentioned that I was always in the store and Mr. Roberts gave him this,
[https://imgur.com/a/BolEA](https://imgur.com/a/BolEA)

~~~
luckydata
that's cute :)

I know my kid would have really liked something like that.

------
whoisjuan
Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to
become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

~~~
seccess
A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer
and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular
biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland)

~~~
PetitPrince
Note that he was already a PhD candidate went he met success with the
Offspring. The same could be said of Brian May with astrophysics and Queen.

------
mc32
One of my all-time favorite satirical articles from the onion:
[https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-
radios...](https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-
still-in-busine-1819569077)

I wish either one of its ex-ceos was like that in real life. But an ER doctor
is pretty cool as well.

~~~
sharkweek
Ha, that's also one of my favorite Onion articles (besides the one that says
Toyota issuing a recall on all 1993 Camrys because it's really time for the
owner to get a new car).

Another great piece of RadioShack literature is Jon Bois' recap of working
there for years. It's long but worth a read if you have 20 minutes.

[https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-
eulog...](https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-
stories)

I think if someone asked me to sort of define the 2000s, outside of some
obvious life events, this article does a pretty damn good job of painting a
picture of where we were.

~~~
swyx
just sharing one of my favorite Onion articles here since we're on this topic:
[https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-
throu...](https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-through-
microfilm-1819571094) if i tell you more i'll ruin it

------
DeathArrow
Some people can learn to do more than one thing reasonably well and more
easier than others. I won't be surprised if we see another headline in 5 years
telling us that Mr Levy is a rocket scientist working for NASA, or he started
a successful business or he is an acclaimed novelist.

I find people like him inspiring, I would much prefer if media would
concentrate on presenting us more people doing useful things instead of
celebrity gossips.

------
kendallpark
> 'I am just one of those people who was very fortunate, where things worked
> out, and where I could do not just do one thing I really enjoyed in life,
> but two'

I relate to all of the gratitude in the above quote. It seems almost
gratuitous to be able to pursue more than one major career pathway. I feel
lucky to have the opportunity and lucky to have realized that I didn't have to
choose.

------
galacticaactual
I've always dreamed of leaving behind Silicon Valley and pursuing emergency
medicine. I need to stay the course for a while to ensure my college
approaching kids are taken care of but stories like this are inspiring
reminders that age doesn't have to be a factor when I finally decide to make
the move.

~~~
toomuchtodo
We should start a support group. Seems like there are lots of us who want to
leave tech for something that matters.

~~~
aggie
There are tech companies that only _think_ they're doing good. But there are
plenty that are doing good, and they would love your help.

By all means pursue things elsewhere, but not because you think there are no
opportunities in tech.

~~~
toomuchtodo
The opportunities in tech do not provide enough leverage for meaningful
progress IMHO.

Personally, I believe I can do far more good writing and pushing public policy
than any amount of code. That is "operating at scale".

~~~
ska
Working on public policy is a worthwhile (and uphill) fight for sure. But it
lacks imagination to suggest that impact at scale isn't possible in tech
(examples: robust low cost medtech for non G7 economies, same for finance in
those markets, support systems for large scale NGO efforts, access to justice
efforts, etc. etc.). Clearly these opportunities exist, but they may be under
resourced relative to lucrative tech options.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I don't want to take this thread off topic.

With that said, here is my example: Medicare For All would save us $450
billion, and avoid 68k preventable deaths, every single year. I find it a
stretch to suggest that ambitious goals such as that "lack imagination". Such
impact is simply not obtainable with tech or NGOs alone. Even Bill Gates has
needed roughly $50 billion to drive forward his foundation's humanitarian
efforts (but admittedly, is very efficient, with estimates of having saved
~122 million lives through their work).

~~~
ska
I don't think this is a counterexample, and the imagination lacked wasn't in
the scope of what can be done in policy work, but in the scope of what can be
done in tech.

To stay with your examples, some of the Gate's foundation efforts have largely
been tech efforts, some haven't. Some of the things I mentioned off-the-top
have potential to reach 10s to 100s of millions of people. MFA is a big $
number partially because the US healthcare system is expensive and
inefficient, so that draws focus on $ saved ... other efforts may focus on
lives impacted at much lower $ impacts.

Most public policy work isn't as big as MFA either.

I'm not saying policy work isn't important or impactful. I'm rejecting the
idea that you (generic 'you') can't have similar effect in technology to what
you might be able to achieve in policy; especially the idea that this is so
clearly true that the "right" thing to do is quit technology to go into
policy. Even assuming you can be as effective in policy work as you are in
tech work, which isn't a given.

~~~
toomuchtodo
This has given me something to think about. I appreciate you taking the time.

~~~
ska
You're welcome. I think it's a really interesting question in general: where
do I want to spend my working time, and to what end? I've spent quite a bit of
time thinking on it for my own case, and trying to find technical areas where
I hope to be able to find an impact. It was the majority reason I left
academic work (not that I am saying that can't be impactful).

------
mackman
Is few years back I legit wanted to buy an AM/FM radio. I had A tiny one I
loved to listen to while running that broke. I went into radio shack and asked
if they, you know, sold radios. They did not. I was crestfallen.

------
mmmBacon
His personal website is here. Sounds like we was about 48y.o when he started
down the path of becoming a doctor.

[https://drbrianlevy.com/](https://drbrianlevy.com/)

~~~
EvanAnderson
Wow. I had no idea that one could get into medicine at that age. I feel like
I'd been told that medical schools could discriminate based on age, with the
idea being that an older person would be physically unable to serve for as
long as a younger person.

I have an interest in medicine but simply wrote it off as being impossible
because of my age.

~~~
audiometry
Beyond having the money or not. By the time you're in your mid-forties, I just
don't have the stamina for late-nights that I did when I was 20, even 30. I'm
sure the money, maturity, experience I've accumulated between 20-45 would
help, but no doubt the raw endurance is lower. I would not enjoy these
legendary 24hr+ rotations that residents apparently have to do.

But hats off to this guy -- i think it's very cool. Makes my daydreams of what
I'd like to do post this-job seem quaint and underachieving.

~~~
billfruit
But these 24hr shifts seems to be an US thing. In my country doctors would
have a more relaxed schedule, in fact you will get a more pressing schedule if
you are in tech.. but generally engineers start out with better salaries than
doctors here, though slowly the doctors then catch up and retire with better
salaries than engineers..

------
staticautomatic
OT but does anyone have insight into why there are so few med schools in the
US? There are way more prospective students than admissions slots. Are there
high capital costs or something I haven't considered that make starting a med
school unprofitable even with average tuition fees being so high?

~~~
sct202
There are limited residency spots for med school graduates and if you don't
get one you can't become an actual licensed doctor. The MD schools try to keep
their admissions in line with the number of spots because that would be a raw
deal to just pump out people with degrees in $500k in debt who will never get
licensed. The residency spots are not controlled by the medical associations
or the schools.

~~~
wbl
The AMA lobbies very hard against expension every year.

~~~
biohax2015
Do you have a source for this? I hear about it all the time but have never
seen any evidence.

~~~
wbl
I was incorrect. Recently they have been lobbying for an expansion.

------
mrandish
I still have a Radio Shack Battery Club card with only one more punch needed.
Maybe if I run into him... nah, he'll insist I have to give him my name and
address.

~~~
okareaman
or try to sell you a disco ball strobe light combo

------
refurb
Recently, I was thinking about what I'd do if I retire early. I pretty much
settled on going and getting a PhD in chemistry.

Why?

I always enjoyed chemistry and research. I would be doing it because I find it
interesting, not for the multitude of reasons for my career choices so far -
money, geography, future potential growth.

~~~
jjeaff
I have heard that getting a PhD can be so political and soul destroying that
only those that really need or want it or have no other better options make it
through. Not sure how universal that is though.

~~~
lrem
I did my PhD in the French Riviera. Some people were maxing out the extensions
on their funding not because they couldn't defend on schedule, but they simply
enjoyed their current work. But that might speak more to the misery of
postdoc, than to the joy of PhD?

I remember doctoral studies very fondly. But finished on time and moved to the
industry, because once you graduate, the academic job market is outright
depressing.

~~~
malajubee
Eurecom?

~~~
lrem
INRIA

------
zw123456
A Tandy Corporation. They almost went under and then they were bought out by a
leather crafts business. We used to joke around about Radio Shaft but my Trash
80 was the most hacked up PoS ever ! Great memories. And good on him for
living his dream.

~~~
93po
That's bizarre to read. I was a frequent customer of Tandy when I was doing
leather as a hobby. No idea they ever related. How odd.

------
husarcik
This is very inspirational. I'm applying to emergency medicine residency this
year and love to see stories about how much people enjoy it. I'm curious what
skills cross over from CEO to EM physician. Leadership and teamwork for sure.

~~~
tuberelay
Anaesthesiologist here.

I did EM for 6 months and hated it. This is because it just doesn't suit my
personality.

To be good at EM you need to be: \- Comfortable with being a kinda bad at
everything and great at nothing \- Comfortable with large amounts of
uncertainty and risk and having to make decisions anyway \- Being abused by
drunk/mentally ill patients constantly \- Being patronized by medical
colleagues in other specialties

~~~
louwrentius
> Being patronised by medical colleagues in other specialties

Of which your post here is a prime example!

~~~
husarcik
:thumbsup:

------
rconti
This link got hijacked for me and sent to a Norton AV scam page.

------
Waterluvian
I think the most fascinating thing, to me, is that transitioning from CEO of
RadioShack to med student in your 40s means you _must_ have a humble, down to
Earth ego.

~~~
93po
I met tons of rich kids doing residency in their mid 20s with massive egos and
zero humility. I doubt a millionaire former CEO doing it as a hobby requires
any humility.

~~~
swyx
you doubt that opting into a situation where your wealth is completely
irrelevant when it comes to saving lives (and, before that, passing medical
exams) requires any humility?

------
why-el
Reminds me of another great, Brazilian footballer Socrates, who was also a
doctor:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life).

------
symplee
You've got infections, he's got answers.

------
godzillabrennus
It’s like the reverse story of Jonathon Nelson from Hackers/Founders who was a
paramedic before becoming a CEO.

------
okareaman
I'm glad something good came out of the collapse of The Shack. Such a sad
story with a bit of a silver lining.

------
musicale
I wish he could have cured RadioShack. It was nice to have a local store for
electronic components.

------
redis_mlc
"Before we can close you up, what is your name, address and phone number for
the form?"

------
billfruit
Not exactly similar the top scientists of the EU, Mr Ferrari recently
resigned, because he tried to push for a Manhattan Project like scientific
project to find cure/vaccine for the virus, whereas EU wanted a bottom up
approach of funding specific projects that come up organically..

Anyways Mr.Ferrari is a medical doctor, but it appears he was a Mechanical
Engineer. Then at age 43 after his wife died of disease, he went back to
university joined medical school and became a respected medical scholar and
tried to find treatments for what affected his wife..

And later was selected to be the top EU scientist on the basis of his medical
credentials.

------
pcvarmint
I was hoping to spot a Roach.

------
nullc
And yet he still keeps asking everyone for their damn phone number!

------
Holmes
Can this guy be president?

~~~
CaveTech
Hopefully not, we'd like to keep him here in Canada.

------
celloductor
living the dream

