Dear Members,
What follows is an intro and list of show notes for an interview with Dr. Tusek, conducted by Will Sacks, for a podcast series called Evolving Earth: Exploring the Future of Technology & Humanity, in which he features interviews with leaders in the field of business, technology, personal development, psychedelics, and more to answer the questions: where is humanity headed? and how can we ensure we end up with a world that works for everyone?
You may access the entire recorded interview here.
“Continuing with our series on Psychedelic Healing, this week on the podcast I talk with Dr. David Tusek – visionary doctor, entrepreneur, and health pioneer. In this conversation, we discuss a new vision of American healthcare, and how psychedelic medicine fits into this vision.
Dr. Tusek is a recognized leader in healthcare transformation and he’s working on the front lines of the healthcare system to create exciting new models of care that result in better outcomes and that are more people-focused.
Dr. Tusek is the founder of Cloud Medical in Colorado, which offers advanced Direct Primary Care (DPC) with a Functional Medicine approach provided by Board-Certified family physicians and practitioners. Cloud practices a new model of healthcare based around the doctor-patient relationship. In 2009, Dr. Tusek co-founded one of the nation’s first DPC programs, which he sold in 2016. He then went on to launch Cloud Medical, and currently oversees several other healthcare ventures including Cloud Collective.
He’s also a founding member of Ravel, which is a new kind of healthcare marketplace that operates in a very different way than the traditional healthcare insurance marketplaces, providing lower costs and better care.
As a previous member of the steering committee of the Direct Primary Care Coalition based in Washington, DC, Dr. Tusek is a recognized leader in healthcare transformation and was invited to the White House to discuss the future of American medicine. He was named among the “Top Doctors in Concierge Medicine” and is a former qualifier for the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. He enjoys skiing, cycling, and spending time with his wife and two daughters in the playground that is Colorado.
Show Notes
5:45 David talks about his conception of healthcare and how psychedelics fit in
6:20 Our healthcare system is not based on any kind of a deep grasp of health and healing. It’s based on the treatment of illness and disease
7:30 Four realities of life: relationship to our body, relationship to our deeper self, relationship with one another, relationship with nature
11:45 David tells a story about his teacher who was in a ceremony in Peru and who was very much eager to reconnect to Mother Earth and his experience after taking medicine
15:26 Two ways to reconnect with the four realities
17:30 He talks about his experience of taking an ice bath at 32.0 degrees and how he stopped trying to resist the cold, how he surrendered to it
21:10 We can use stressors to become stronger and resilient
22:56 Martin Prechtel’s speech – Grief and Praise are the same things, they are equally important, equally critical aspects of love
24:31 Denial is the first stage of grief
29:57 David speaks about Brene Brown
32:19 Powerful new tools that David uses where there is a direct dialogue with our deepest darkest vulnerabilities: “You are a part of me, and as such, you want something for me. What is it that you want for me? And what is it that you want from me?”
33:57 The health of the collective, the health of the culture
34:28 We have multiple simultaneous pandemics that have been happening for a long time (opioids, racism, sexism, violence…)
34:53 Before COVID, every 7 seconds somebody died of an opiate overdose in America. That doesn’t even include alcohol
37:11 What does it mean to be in a relationship with one another
37:35 In the future the hospital, the school, and the monastery will be one place so that we can learn about health, about the educational system, and about spirituality, and how to use those skills to relate to one another in a much more mature and healthful way where we are a part of one another’s journey
40:30 Can I tune in to what the world needs? And what is my miniature teeny-tiny role in that so that I can be of service to it?
43:04 When I think about our healthcare system, I praise that we have all these therapeutic tools to save lives, and I grieve for the ways in which our system is unethical and insane
43:53 The US healthcare system is the third leading cause of death in America and the first leading cause of bankruptcy
45:14 David speaks about how Cloud Medical is trying to transform the healthcare system
51:30 Eudemonic exchange
57:05 I don’t know the answer, but we know as a collective
60:19 David on BLM – We have four centuries of trauma that have gone, until very recently, completely unacknowledged
61:22 David tells a story about one of his patients whose ancestors were involved in a massacre of a Native American tribe, and who took pride in the event and wanted to atone for their actions
68:20 Movie “Just Mercy” – a life story of Bryan Stevenson who is a defense attorney for people on death row
73:09 Love is the foundation of all healing
Episode Links:
Cloud Medical Center
Ravel Health
Movie “Just Mercy”
Brene Brown
Stephen Porges – Polyvagal Theory
Martin Prechtel’s speech – Grief and Praise
Thomas Hübl
Evolving Earth Facebook group
