Over the 16 years since Mehrdad Soleimani, MD ’07, FACEP, enrolled at Ross University School of Medicine (Ross Med), he has witnessed firsthand the impact of burnout on his fellow colleagues, inspiring him to dedicate himself to caring for them just as much as he does his patients as an emergency department physician.
To keep physician wellness at the forefront of conversations happening to improve healthcare, Dr. Soleimani is co-founding and co-chairing the inaugural Wellness in the Vines Symposium, a three-day forum dedicated to physician and allied health professional wellness across emotional, physical, professional, and financial topics.
Commitment to Physician Wellness
As one of the Symposium’s co-founders, Dr. Soleimani is featured as one of several speakers presenting inspiring lectures while guests have an opportunity to participate in various workshops and relax in the heart of California’s Temecula Valley Wine Country where the event will be hosted September 17-19, 2023.
For Dr. Soleimani, Wellness in the Vines is about creating an experience to foster rejuvenation, growth, and prosperity for personal wellness and success.
“Physicians give so much to others but forget about our own wellness and become ‘the forgotten patients’ in healthcare. It has been my mission and passion to address physicians’ and providers’ wellness and heal the healers. We want to give the attendees all the tools they need to hopefully improve their lives and be healthier physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, in every way,” said Dr. Soleimani.
Dr. Soleimani hopes the Symposium will demonstrate that wellness is vital for physicians’ own sake, the sake of their patients, and the healthcare system. A healthy, balanced, and fulfilled medical workforce is better equipped to deliver a better-quality standard of care and promote positive change within the medical community. Managing the stressors of a demanding field and maintaining emotional health helps physicians to be more empathetic, attentive, and understanding, fostering stronger relationships and improved care outcomes.
“The COVID-19 pandemic brought a huge focus to physician wellness as hospital systems and providers became overwhelmed,” Dr. Soleimani recalled. “The amount of stress we were under affected us physically and psychologically. The pandemic brought exposure to something more needing to be done to address how healthcare providers are coping with things.”
“Ross Med Allowed Me to Achieve My Dreams.”
Dr. Soleimani is trained as an emergency medicine physician practicing with multiple hospitals in the Temecula, California area, including Temecula Valley Hospital and Southwest Healthcare System-Murrieta. Originally from Iran, he moved to Austin, Texas, at a young age and remained there to study nursing at the University of Texas through 1999. He continued working as a nurse for four years until he resumed his academic journey toward becoming a physician in 2003, when he enrolled at Ross Med.
“Ross Med has always supported nontraditional students like me, who had a career before going back to school,” he said. “Ross Med allowed me to achieve my dreams and be the person I am today. I am very proud to be an alumnus and of many fellow alumni who continue to achieve so much accomplishment in our careers.”
After graduating in 2007, he initially started with residency in general surgery but switched to emergency medicine at the University of Toledo and began practicing with Emergent Medical Associates shortly after.
Today, Dr. Soleimani is assistant medical director of the emergency department at Temecula Valley Hospital. He also spends time as an associated clinical professor teaching medical students from the University of California-Riverside and emergency department residents at Southwest MEC.
