The Hoeflinger Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#52: How to Stop Second-Guessing Yourself as a Parent | Dr. Whitney Casares Oct 18, 2026

Show notes

Pediatrician Dr. Whitney Casares shares the advice from a therapist that changed how she makes decisions as a parent: turn one mirror in. She also explains why social media has made parenting harder, how the algorithm rewards fear, and what she lets slide as a doctor, author, and mom of two.

Dr. Casares is a board-certified pediatrician practicing in Portland, Oregon, and the founder of Modern Mommy Doc. She started out as a journalism major who dreamed of being the next Sanjay Gupta, then turned the Facebook posts she wrote for parents into books with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Her newest book is Raising Body-Confident Kids.

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Follow Dr. Whitney Casares
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/modernmommydoc/
Website: https://modernmommydoc.com
Raising Body-Confident Kids: https://www.raisingbodyconfidentkids.com/books

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:35 From journalism to pediatrics
3:21 Why she wrote about body confidence
7:13 Why doctors belong on social media
9:14 How she handles doing it all
12:19 Why kids always want mom
16:34 How Modern Mommy Doc started
18:40 Writing without a filter
21:31 Authenticity over follower counts
25:53 How social media made parenting harder
26:54 A day in her life
32:19 Logging off at school pickup
40:56 Jealousy and why all ships rise
46:45 Her best advice: turn the mirrors in

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The Dr. Hoeflinger Podcast

** The information in this episode is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this episode is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional. Opinions represented on this podcast are our own. **

#51: The Plastic Surgeon Who Did Residency Twice | Dr. Alex De Souza Sep 27, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Alex De Souza is a plastic surgeon and anatomy professor with over three decades of experience. He was already a fully trained in Brazil, but to practice in the U.S. he had to start over as a first-year surgery resident. So he ended up completing 14 years of residency in total.

In this episode, he explains why he's "not a magician," why he believes 80% of a surgical result depends on the patient, and why beauty is really health you can see. He also shares what flying a helicopter from California to Brazil taught him about preparation, and the five-step rule that took him from the Brazilian countryside to Miami.

Follow Dr. De Souza: https://www.instagram.com/dralexdesouzamd/
Website: https://mendietamd.com/dr-alex-de-souza-photo-upload/

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 https://nuropod.com/hoeflinger

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:52 From Brazil to Miami
2:09 Doing residency twice
5:38 Relearning medicine in a new language
9:06 Flying helicopters
12:45 Why anatomy is a surgeon's GPS
14:11 The biggest misconception about plastic surgery
18:19 What a Brazilian butt lift actually is
20:23 Why 80% of results depend on the patient
21:44 Where plastic surgery is headed
27:20 Prevention, longevity, and Brian Johnson
32:15 Fathers, sons, and family in medicine
36:39 What AI means for all of us
40:01 A typical day and his five-step rule

Check out my free newsletter ▶ https://pages.doctorhoeflinger.com/
Check out My Book:
https://doctorhoeflinger.com/products/the-night-he-died-the-harsh-reality-of-teenage-drinking
Check out all of my links: https://linktr.ee/doctorhoeflinger
The Dr. Hoeflinger Podcast
** The information in this episode is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this episode is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional. Opinions represented on this podcast are our own. **

#50: Training for Your First Triathlon | Swim Panic, Fueling & Race Day Sep 15, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Hoeflinger and his son Kevin are training for the Michigan Half Ironman. In this episode they break down what a 70.3 and shorter triathlon distances actually involve, how to handle the swim if open water makes you nervous, how to fuel so the run doesn't fall apart, and why these challenges are worth doing at any age. Dr. Hoeflinger did his first triathlon at 52 while working full time in neurosurgery.

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 https://nuropod.com/hoeflinger

Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:44 What a 70.3 and a full Ironman actually are
5:00 Why do something this hard
8:40 Swim strategy for open water
11:40 Transitions and race day prep
13:07 Fueling, hydration, and pacing
22:05 Crossing the finish line
24:20 You don't need the expensive gear
26:23 Training as a full-time neurosurgeon
30:42 Start with a sprint

Check out my free newsletter ▶ https://pages.doctorhoeflinger.com/
Check out My Book:
https://doctorhoeflinger.com/products/the-night-he-died-the-harsh-reality-of-teenage-drinking
Check out all of my links: https://linktr.ee/doctorhoeflinger
The Dr. Hoeflinger Podcast
** The information in this episode is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this episode is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional. Opinions represented on this podcast are our own. **

#49: Why Cigarettes and Vaping Are So Addictive Sep 06, 2026

Show notes

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 https://nuropod.com/hoeflinger

Nicotine reaches your brain in 10 to 15 seconds, and that speed is most of the reason it's so hard to quit.

Dr. Brian Hoeflinger, a board-certified neurosurgeon, and his son Kevin get into what nicotine actually does in the brain, why the body builds more receptors the more you use, and why that makes tolerance and withdrawal close to inevitable. They also talk through what's in vape aerosol beyond the flavoring, why the routine around smoking can be as hard to break as the chemical dependency, and why willpower alone has such a poor track record compared to quitting with support. Dr. Hoeflinger shares what smoking did in his own family, including the difference between his father, who never quit, and his father's brother, who did.

Resources if you're trying to quit:

1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669), free national quitline that routes to your state program

smokefree.gov, quit plans and tools from the National Cancer Institute

Text DITCHVAPE to 88709, free text support built specifically for quitting vaping

lung.org/quit-smoking, American Lung Association Freedom From Smoking

#48: The 4 Stages of Sleep & What Happens in Each One Aug 30, 2026

Show notes

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 nuropod.com/hoeflinger

Most of us spend a third of our lives asleep with no idea what's actually happening. This episode walks through all four stages of sleep, what the brain is doing in each one, and why the order matters. How light hitting the back of your eye starts the whole process, why stage two works like a librarian shelving the day's memories, what gets repaired during deep sleep, and why your body paralyzes itself while you dream.

Then the practical side. Why so many people wake up around 2 AM, what alcohol and late caffeine actually do to sleep quality, whether you can train yourself to need less sleep, and why being consistent beats trying to optimize everything.

#47: NBA Team Doctor for the Chicago Bulls | Dr. Jeremy Alland Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Jeremy Alland is the head primary care team physician for the Chicago Bulls and also works with the White Sox and Chicago Fire, but he never planned on being a doctor at all. He was doing lab research in college and assumed he'd end up in pharmaceuticals, until he realized he got his energy from people instead of petri dishes. He talks about finding non-operative sports medicine almost by accident, and the six years he spent with the G League's Windy City Bulls before getting called up to the NBA.
In this episode, we discuss what caring for professional athletes actually looks like day to day, where regenerative medicine and PRP really stand right now, why strength training is the most effective thing in all of orthopedics, and what's happened to youth sports over the past twenty years.

Check out Dr. Alland on social media 👉 https://www.instagram.com/jeremyallandmd

#46: Are Doctors Being Asked to Do More With Less? | Dr. Furhan Qureshi Jun 21, 2026

Show notes

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 nuropod.com/hoeflinger
Check out Dr. Qureshi on social media 👉 https://www.instagram.com/furhanqureshimd/

Dr. Furhan Qureshi is a board-certified internist, U.S. Air Force reservist, and one of the early pioneers of telehealth medicine. In this episode, he and Dr. Hoeflinger get into what's really pushing doctors out of medicine, how the business side of healthcare is changing what it means to be a doctor, and what it was actually like treating COVID patients on the front lines while the rest of the world stayed home.

#45: Engineering Student to Brain Surgeon | Dr. Jay Jagannathan Jun 14, 2026

Show notes

Try Nuropod for 5% off with a 30 day money back guarantee 👉 nuropod.com/hoeflinger
Check out Dr. Jagannathan on social media 👉 https://mi-neurosurgery.com
Dr. Jay Jagannathan was an electrical engineering student with no doctors in his family when he decided he was going to become a neurosurgeon. Today he runs a multi-location private practice in Michigan and has built one of the larger neurosurgery presences on social media.
In this episode, two neurosurgeons get candid about the path into the field, what private practice actually looks like, AI’s role in the OR, and whether surgery is a young person’s game.

#44: What It Really Takes to Become a Heart Surgeon | Dr. Bobby Yanagawa: Apr 08, 2026

Show notes

Check out Dr. Yanagawa on social media 👉 https://linktr.ee/dryanagawa
Dr. Bobby Yanagawa was rejected from medical school twice. He almost didn't take his own father to the hospital during a heart attack when he was younger. Today he's a cardiac surgeon, Division Head at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, and he thinks about his surgical failures and how he can improve every single day.
In this episode, Dr. Hoeflinger and Kevin Hoeflinger talk with Dr. Bobby Yanagawa about what it really takes to become a heart surgeon: the training, the pressure, the losses, and the warning signs of heart disease most people completely ignore.
Check out my free newsletter ▶ https://pages.doctorhoeflinger.com/

#43: A Pediatric Doctor's Rule for Medicine & Life | Dr. Paul Tran Feb 15, 2026

Show notes

Check out Dr. Tran on social media 👉 @Alimentaryschool

Link to our free webinar event on Navigating Difficult Conversations in Medicine: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DQmaM49f4/

Dr. Paul Tran is a pediatric gastroenterologist, father of three, and a thoughtful voice in medical education. In this conversation, Paul opens up about a defining moment during his first year of fellowship that changed how he views medical training, mentorship, and what it really means to treat someone as a colleague.
We talk about how he explains scary procedures to kids, why medical training can be dehumanizing in a field built on human health, his decision to go part-time clinical to tour medical schools across the country with his family, and the mindset shift he thinks can make a major difference for anyone.
Subscribe to my free newsletter for practical insights on health, medicine, and living well ▶ https://pages.doctorhoeflinger.com/

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