In this episode of the Practice Profit System podcast, host Matt interviews Dr. Donna Correale, founder of SoMe Docs, about her unconventional journey in medicine. Dr. Correale shares that she grew up in an immigrant family that valued hard work, which, combined with a love for science and human interaction, led her to become a physician. She recounts her early aversion to social media, joining Facebook in 2004 but feeling turned off, until a career break to have her third child prompted her to explore the broader world and recognize the potential of social media for physicians. At the time, she was working at Mount Sinai Hospital in the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program, an occupational‑medicine role that exposed her to 9/11 first responders. While she found the work rewarding, she felt it lacked the variety and excitement she craved, leading her to favor internal medicine for its breadth and continuity of care. Throughout the conversation, Dr. Correale discusses physician burnout, the tension between anonymity and visibility on social platforms, and the desire among some doctors to be creative, non‑conformist practitioners. The interview sets up the theme of the "3 bad guys of medicine," hinting at systemic challenges that drive burnout and limit physician fulfillment.
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Woo-wee!
Man, do we have a great podcast for you today. You're gonna hear from Donna Correale, Dr. Donna Correale of SoMe Docs, Social Media Docs. And what's great about this interview is the wide range. We talk about the 3 bad guys of medicine, and we talk about this whole problem that doctors have about being on social media. Do they really want to give up their Anonymous lifestyle. We talk about her journey and the journey of being a creative doctor. People that are really kind of nonconformist. So look, get ready for a really far-ranging, fun discussion. I know you're going to enjoy it. This is Matt of the Practice Profit System. Hello everybody. This is Matt with the Practice Profit System. And I am excited today to bring you Dr. Donna Corriale, who is located in beautiful sunny New Jersey, the Garden State. And the reason why we have her on is she is the owner of SoMe Docs, Social Media Doctors. And we're going to be talking about her journey from the traditional side of medicine into where she is today. We'll talk about some burnout that doc, you know, frustration, burnout levels, and just kind of really The challenges that we see in the system. So, Donna, thank you so much for coming on today. Appreciate it. Sure.
Thanks for having me on.
Okay, so let's, let's dive right in. When did you know you were going to be a doctor? What age?
So there wasn't a specific age, and I don't even really have a story where there was like a moment I knew that I would be a doctor. My story is just that we were immigrants. I came from an immigrant family who really value hard work and success. Always loved math and science, and then also always loved humans, human interactions, and just helping people made me feel great. And so I think that that mixture, that milieu, was the perfect for baking a physician, and that's what I became.
Okay, and then how did you wind up involved in social media? Because it's not normal for doctors to want to be on social media unless they're like Dr. Oz or like you know. Right.
That's interesting that you asked that. So I always shied away from social media. I mean, I first joined Facebook, I think maybe in 2004, and then was completely turned off by it, actually. But then what happened was that I took time off of practicing medicine to have my third son. And when I did that, that's when I suddenly became aware of so many different aspects of life that I never really understood because I just never had time to. And I think that that's key for doctors to hear is that there's so much out there that we don't know about or may not realize until we actually step away from medicine, which most of us don't actually do. So it was for me to have stepped away from medicine to discover the world of social media outside of what I always knew of it. I'd always shied away From it. So in a light that was so useful for a physician and for propelling my career.
Okay, so you're taking time off from having your third child. And you're internal medicine, correct? That's your specialty?
Yes, I'm an internist. Exactly.
What type of environment were you working in? Hospital, practice? Where were you?
So when I took time off to be with my third child, to give birth to him, I was at Mount Sinai Hospital. I was working in the World Trade Center Monitoring and Treatment Program. So So it was a hospital environment, but it wasn't an internal medicine environment. It was an occupational medicine environment dealing with the folks that had been at 9/11 and had suffered the aftermath.
Okay. And did you feel fulfilled in that kind of work? Was that scratching your medical itch, if you will, or was it more—
I mean, I enjoyed it very much. I wouldn't say it filled an itch. I think that it really was a great position for someone who was A mother of 2 young children and having her third. It definitely was eye-opening and was amazing to meet all of those people that had worked, the first responders from 9/11. So I think that was incredible. I only say that it didn't fill an itch just because I'm all about like adventure and excitement. And when it's sort of like the same thing every day, then it's less, it's sort of less fulfilling. And this is kind of why I went into internal medicine is because you walk into every door as an internist and you just don't know what you're Mm-hmm. And so, rather than specializing in just one field, like my husband chose cardiology, I didn't really want to be pigeonholed into this niche where I would need to sort of see just heart patients every day. Instead, I can kind of just get to not only know patients and be surprised by what they came in, but also develop continuity of care, which I touched on earlier when you asked me, is I really love human relation. Relationships and relations and how that works.
So, okay. And you're not you're not seeing patients today. This is what you're doing full time. Well, being a mother, which is a full time.
