“There Could Be No Compromises. This truly would be medicine in the ideal. And so began the genesis of MD².”

When did you realize there was a need for MD²?

Even from my earliest days as a physician, I knew the traditional model of medicine was inherently flawed and misaligned with the most instinctive need and expectation humans have: to live longer, healthier lives.

The system is particularly untenable for those with complex, demanding, and highly mobile lifestyles.

So, when I started MD² in 1996, it was a visceral response to what I was witnessing — the crumbling of human connection in the field of medicine. The most sacred of relationships, that between a patient and her beloved physician, was being grossly manipulated into a transaction. Minutes on a clock and billing codes determined outcomes, rather than the master diagnostician standing before the patient. I could no longer surrender to a system that rewarded time over expertise, procedures over cognition, trendiness over tradition. It was dehumanizing and diminished the profession I cherish. I knew something had to change.

My singular focus was to create the ideal form of medicine in which every decision would revolve around the relationship I shared with the person whose gaze I was holding.

There could be no compromises. This truly would be medicine in the ideal. And so began the genesis of MD².

What do you want someone to understand about MD² the second they hear about it?

The magic and power of familiarity. Familiarity is absent in traditional medicine. Consider your greatest time of need; you’ve fallen ill, are faced with a medical diagnosis or experienced a medical event. You are left in the hands of strangers. You have a 1-800 number on the back of an insurance card. You don’t know who is on the other end of the call; they don’t know you or your history. You are vulnerable, exposed and scared.

As a physician, the ability to look into the eyes of another person’s eyes and say, “you will never be alone because the closest ally in your life will be there; I will be there for you always and forever” is a life-changing statement. When you are in a patient’s inner circle and they are in yours, that is when exceptional medical care occurs. Familiarity is a cornerstone of MD².

Furthermore, the irony is that the people for whom this model is built experience familiarity in all the other affairs in their life, be it wealth matters, legal matters, their calendar and the like. Yet there was this complacency, casualness and frank avoidance regarding their family’s health affairs.

The recognition of this reality is what excited me the most about MD². This is also why MD² gets better with each passing year. The bond shared between a patient and their physician grows stronger through shared challenges and victories.

So I ask — imagine having a brilliant physician intimately woven into your inner circle. That’s the person who should be caring for you.

Why “50 families”?

The promise to care for someone at this level necessitates we limit our practice to very few. It takes an unprecedented amount of time to know someone like your own family; to become an expert in the pathologies you see; to relentlessly champion their wellbeing in a way that honors and protects their life and privacy; to seek out solutions and new ideas on their behalf.

Why 50 families? When you give a brilliant physician the gift of time, that is where the magic of medicine begins. It is an oath all MD² physicians make and it is a vow that we are privileged to uphold always and in all ways.