Latest / PRS Beyond the Pages: The Plastic Surgery Editors' Podcast / Putting Plastic Surgery into "Warp Drive": Part Two with Rod J. Rohrich, MD

Transcript

Putting Plastic Surgery into "Warp Drive": Part Two with Rod J. Rohrich, MD · PRS Beyond the Pages: The Plastic Surgery Editors' Podcast

• 0:00
  Sam (00:07) You've earned everything you've had and worn so many hats in your career as surgeon, researcher, educator, clinician, president. Maybe I have an inkling about this. Which role has been the most fulfilling to you?
• 0:01
  Dr Rod Rohrich (00:19) Well, I mean, to be honest with you, it's been becoming a parent. I mean, I think that has been my best role, you know, obviously, you know, if you make smart choices in your life and you marry the right person and then you have great kids. And but you know, all that takes a lot of work. I mean, Sam, as you know, all these things, all these accolades and these things on the wall, we don't even have any on walls in my house because they're all in the garage.
• 0:02
  But you know, they don't mean anything unless you have a stable foundation of your family and your life. And so I'm most proud of my kids and my family. My daughter is a medical student, my son is a computer science guy, and of course my wife's a plastic surgeon. But you know, I think those are the the stable things that you know hold you in place when all these other things happen. And I think those are the probably the most proud of I've been of things
• 0:03
  I've accomplished. But the other thing I really like is, helping to give back and help to teach the next generation. And not only as an educator, but also when I was editor, just like you're seeing now, you could be very influential in helping to shape the next generation, which is very powerful, especially you know, if you make it very positive. And I think
• 0:04
  you know, you will do that and positive means that you're gonna make people think and make people do things better and different because you know Stagnation is never good. People love to live in the comfort zone, but that's the worst zone. That's where people die. So You've got to be out of your comfort zone every day. Like today I did a a a completely different new operation
• 0:05
  that I'd never done before and it was exhilarating and for me to say that that's pretty unbelievable. So, you've always got to learn new things every day because if you don't do that, you're done.
• 0:06
  Sam (02:15) Mm.
• 0:07
  That's right. And as you touched on too, the landscape of medical publishing is just so rapidly changing with AI, open access, social media, on and on. Where do you see journals and maybe plastic surgery journals heading in the next decade?
• 0:08
  Dr Rod Rohrich (02:33) I think that AI is gonna transform everything. I mean, you're gonna have a blending of open access PRS and Global Open, into unison and AI is transforming that. The review process is being transformed by AI. The writing of articles. you'll start with an AI draft.
• 0:09
  And you know, people say that's terrible, but it's okay, as long as you are the one that's driving it and and transforming it. But you can tell many times when something's AI driven, as you and I both know. But I mean, that's just become the normal and AI will also make the journal better.
• 0:10
  And make the review process better. Because you know, the way I look at AI is that it used to take me, hours and hours to do a task. And now it can take minutes. But the biggest thing is it's still gotta have the personal touch because if you let AI drive you,
• 0:11
  you'll be out in left field, and it's probably gonna be right 70% of time. And you don't wanna be 70%. That's why you've still gotta be an active participant. I mean I look at AI and I always tell my fellows this. I look at ChatGPT like a resident in training, because the first time you ask it to do something, it's usually in the ballpark, but it's usually never that accurate.
• 0:12
  Sam (03:54) Mm-hmm.
• 0:13
  Dr Rod Rohrich (03:54) You ever take the first version of anything that AI does, that's not a good thing. Now I know Claude's getting better and all this, but you have to teach it and you have to learn from it. So I think it's a two-way street. And I think, if I had had AI as editor-in-chief, it would have saved me hundreds of hours.
• 0:14
  Sam (04:13) You wouldn't have been sleeping more, I know, but you would have gotten gotten other things done with that time.
• 0:15
  Dr Rod Rohrich (04:19) Right. I could have
• 0:16
  actually done other things. Rather than getting up at four in the morning and looking at forty articles, I could have done that at six in the morning.
• 0:17
  Sam (04:27) Yeah. Yeah, that's
• 0:18
  right. This next one I'm actually interested in too. Now, how you've with obviously all of our broad training, how did you become drawn
• 0:19
  to rhinoplasty specifically? Way back when?
• 0:20
  Dr Rod Rohrich (04:42) Well, you know, it's a very interesting story. Did you know that Jack Gunter was my chief resident at the University of Michigan? So he came back to plastic surgery at age forty-two, and I was an intern at Michigan coming from Baylor, and so I spent two months with him and the plastic surgery service.
• 0:21
  And I said, wow, who's this guy? You know, and of course you didn't say, "Who's this old dude coming back to be a plastic surgeon?" And of course, I didn't know Jack Gunter he was of course, you know, a big rhinoplastic guy in the official plastic surgery literature.
• 0:22
  And he came back and he said, "I want to do plastic surgery," and he transformed, I think, rhinoplasty in plastic surgery, and also for people like me. So he was a great role model. And that's the reason, but of course I did hand, micro, you know, and craniofacial, and I did all of those things. And I don't regret any of my fellowships I love every one of them.
• 0:23
  But one of the reasons I came to Dallas was because I knew Jack Gunter and because Parkland was a small place. And so I came and then I started expanding the program and I didn't do much rhinoplasty the first eight, ten years because I was doing hand, micro, craniofacial, and just like you know, just like you and everybody else. I mean, I was
• 0:24
  operating day and night doing replants,
• 0:25
  but I think Jack Gunter spurred my interest and his focus on excellence and actually persevering. I remember sometimes I'd go on scrub with him on a Friday and he would do a rhinoposty Sam and then the case would be almost done and then he'd take it apart completely. And another three hours later I'd say, "Hmm, maybe it looks a little better but maybe not," But
• 0:26
  Sam (06:30) Yeah.
• 0:27
  Dr Rod Rohrich (06:33) think rhinoplasty is that way. It's a surgery of millimeters and
• 0:28
  Sam (06:35) Yeah. Yeah.
• 0:29
  Dr Rod Rohrich (06:38) I think that was you know, everybody has those moments, right? See I'm sure you've had many of those moments, Sam.
• 0:30
  Sam (06:44) No, no for sure. Thank you so much for that.