What actually makes a great chief resident?

After finishing plastic surgery residency, Dr. Liz Malphrus reflects on one of the most important leadership roles in medical training, and the lessons no one formally teaches. From setting expectations and managing team dynamics to giving meaningful feedback and building trust, this episode is a practical guide for anyone preparing to lead in residency.

Dr. Malphrus shares the communication strategies that transformed her approach as chief resident, why vague feedback hurts more than it helps, and how supporting curiosity can create stronger teams and better physicians. Whether you're an intern, senior resident, future chief, or attending looking to mentor trainees, these leadership principles extend far beyond medicine.

In this episode:

• How to develop your own leadership style
• Why communication is the foundation of great teams
• Setting expectations from day one
• Giving feedback that's immediate, specific, and actionable
• Avoiding the biggest mistakes chief residents make
• Building team morale while maintaining accountability
• Why curiosity is one of the most important leadership skills

If you're navigating residency, preparing for chief year, or interested in leadership in healthcare, this episode offers practical advice you can apply immediately.

Subscribe for more honest conversations about residency, surgical training, physician life, and the realities of modern medicine.

Host: Liz Malphrus, MD

Connect with Liz: https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/liz-malphrus-md

IG: @dr.malphrus

Produced By: The Hippocratic Collective

Subscribe to @hippocraticcollective on Youtube for all of the other shows and content the Hippocratic Collective has to offer.

Starting residency can feel overwhelming. New city, new hospital, new responsibilities, and suddenly everyone expects you to know what you're doing.

In this episode of Cut & Tell, graduating plastic surgery resident Dr. Liz Malphrus shares her most requested advice for incoming interns. Drawing on six years of residency experience, she breaks down the physical, cognitive, and psychological strategies that helped her survive, and ultimately thrive, during training.

From building sustainable study habits and protecting your sleep to finding community, seeking therapy, and learning how to navigate the constant feeling of not knowing enough, this episode is a practical guide for anyone beginning residency.

Topics discussed:

• Intern year survival tips
• Physical readiness: sleep, food, movement, and gear
• Building effective study habits during residency
• Learning from your patients
• How to study when you have no free time
• Finding community in a new city
• Managing stress, anxiety, and burnout
• Why therapy can be an important part of residency
• Personal mantras that helped through training
• What every new intern should know

Whether you're starting residency this summer or simply remember what it felt like to be an intern, this episode is a reminder that you don't have to figure everything out on day one.

Host: Liz Malphrus, MD

Connect with Liz: https://www.hippocratic-collective.com/members/liz-malphrus-md

IG: @dr.malphrus

Produced By: The Hippocratic Collective

Subscribe to @hippocraticcollective on Youtube for all of the other shows and content the Hippocratic Collective has to offer.

Residents today earn roughly the same inflation-adjusted salary as residents did decades ago. So why does training feel so much more financially difficult?

In this episode of Cut & Tell, plastic surgery resident Dr. Liz Malphrus explores the economic realities facing modern trainees—from exploding medical school debt and rising housing costs to childcare expenses, delayed financial independence, and the growing gap between resident compensation and the true cost of becoming a physician.

This is the second installment in the "Back in My Day" series, examining how residency has changed over time. Rather than debating which generation had it harder, Dr. Malphrus argues that the conditions surrounding medical training have fundamentally changed—and that understanding those changes is essential if we want to improve graduate medical education.

Topics discussed:

• Resident salaries then vs. now
• Medical school debt and rising education costs
• GME funding and resident compensation
• Housing, childcare, and cost-of-living pressures
• Why many residents struggle financially despite being physicians
• The changing demographics of residency training
• Single-parent households and residency
• Why "back in my day" misses the bigger picture
• Moving beyond the suffering Olympics in medicine

Cut & Tell explores the realities of surgical training, medicine, and the systems shaping physician life today.

Subscribe for new episodes and visit the Hippocratic Collective for more conversations about the future of medicine.