Growing a Backbone: Adam Wollowick on figuring out for yourself what you should do

Guest Adam Wollowick figured he would go to medical school but also brought a love of art history with him from high school. He took on an art history major along with his pre-med classes and bounced from fraternity basement to library, living the “work hard, play hard” ethos. With a father in orthopedics, he followed in that practice when he realized he liked working with his hands and selected spine surgery because it was the hardest thing he could try. At every turn, though, he wondered if medicine was really for him. Colleagues kept telling him just had to get through med school or residency or internship and it would be fine. But it never did feel fine. Despite being good at his job, he was miserable.

When he noticed that his hospital system was acquiring other orthopedic practices and no one was running it as a business, he thought he could do it. He asked his hospital to pay for an MBA. And a few weeks in he realized this is what he really wanted to do. The hospital started getting cold feet and didn’t want him to leave surgery. So he took a risk and quit without a new job. Ultimately, he landed with a company doing mergers and acquisitions in the spine space and felt he’d found more meaning and fulfillment.

In this episode, find out from Adam how listening to your own “should” can have healthier outcomes than someone else’s…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.

About This Episode's Guest

Adam Wollowick is Senior Director of Business Development at Stryker Spine, working in mergers and acquisitions in the spine and orthopedic space. He is also a mentor at NYU's Endless Frontier Labs, an accelerator for early-stage science and technology-based startups. Previously, he worked as a spine surgeon at the Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY and held the title of Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine also in the Bronx. 

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Email the show at [email protected]

Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com

Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley

Music: Brian Burrows

Email the show at [email protected]