HypochondriActor Co-Host Priyanka Wali On Being A Doctor During The Pandemic – Exclusive

Dr. Priyanka Wali comes from a "long line of healers," in her own words. Nearly every member of her immediate and extended family has chosen to devote their life to medicine. Wali, who is also a professional comedian and the co-host of the "HypochondriActor" podcast with actor Sean Hayes, loves to joke that she "came out of the womb holding a stethoscope."

Wali's entire academic career was devoted to the goal of becoming a doctor. After graduating from the University of Southern California, she went on to complete her residency at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, where she specialized in internal medicine. Her work has always focused on holistic health. She's passionate about using lifestyle changes like diet and exercise to optimize health and prevent serious, chronic illnesses. Much of Wali's research has concentrated on ways dietary changes can impact prevention and management of diseases like diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and fatty liver disease.

Like doctors all over the world, Wali's life and career have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In an exclusive interview with Health Digest, Wali detailed the difficulty of being a doctor in a family of doctors during a pandemic.

Priyanka Wali revealed that being a practicing physician during the COVID-19 pandemic has been "very challenging." She went on to add, "It is imperative that I take care of myself so that I can have the capacity to hold space for my patients."

Wali's style of medical care is very personal. She believes that doctors need to really spend time with their patients to personalize their healthcare, and that means holding a lot of space for each patient. During a crisis, like a pandemic, that work is especially draining. Wali was also frank about the fact that the healthcare system as a whole doesn't do a good job of taking care of its doctors.

"I wish we treated physicians and our medical students better," Wali explained. "In the sense [that] I wish the system wasn't so oppressive towards physicians." Wali highlighted the statistic that, on average, one physician dies by suicide every day in the United States (via WebMD). "If the system can't even take care of our own healers," she added, "how can we healers be expected to take care of other patients?"

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Since she is from a family of doctors, Priyanka Wali wasn't the only one in her family to be on the frontlines of the pandemic. She has several relatives who work in emergency departments and intensive care units, all of whom were and are taking care of COVID-19 patients around the clock. She revealed that these circumstances have made dealing with the pandemic even harder because the danger is ever-present and heartbreakingly personal.

"It was brutal to face the reality that given the profession my family and myself were in — there was a real possibility that I could potentially lose literally every single member of my family to COVID," Wali revealed. "My entire lineage. That was a hard realization." She further explained that the pandemic has reinforced just how "fragile and short" life can be, especially during difficult times like these. She stressed how important it is to be grateful for the time we have with our friends and family because in a moment, they could be gone.

New episodes of HypochondriActor are available every Wednesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.