In this episode, Tanvi sits down with Dr. Shivani Ruben, an internal medicine physician specializing in geriatric primary care in Sacramento, California. Dr. Ruben shares her journey from UC Berkeley pre-med to choosing primary care for its focus on long-term patient relationships. She reflects on a powerful case from residency, a patient with diabetes who lost his vision and independence due to lack of access to screening, that shaped how she thinks about holistic, accessible care. Dr. Ruben discusses the realities of modern primary care, including the burden of patient messages through apps, the frustration of insurance denials, and the challenge of balancing 20-minute appointments with meaningful connections. She addresses how she navigates patients who come with Google diagnoses and AI-generated health questions, emphasizing the irreplaceable ...