The Art and Science of Bringing Joy and Humanity back to Medicine with Dr Graham Walker MD
Wed Dec 24 2025
In season 6 Episode 6 I am delighted to welcome Graham Walker, MD to the podcast. Dr Walker is an emergency physician by clinical background who practices in San Francisco, completing his medical school training at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also majored in social policy as an undergraduate and has had a life long interest in software development and digital technology. Today he combines these interests and skills in his clinical and non-clinical roles.
Graham is the co-director of Advanced Development at The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG), which delivers care for Kaiser Permanente’s 4.6 million members in Northern California. At TPMG, Graham works on practical AI development, commercialization, partnerships, and technology transformation under the Chief Innovation Officer. As a clinical informaticist, he also leads emergency and urgent care strategy for KP’s electronic medical record.
With an appetite and aptitude for tech innovation and entrepreneurship Dr Walker created and founded MDCalc as a resident, a free online clinical decision support tool many clinicians including myself have been using for years now, indeed MDCalc turned 20 this month.
More recently Graham co-founded the platform and community Offcall with a mission to bring joy back to medicine and facilitate contract transparency and financial literacy for US medical practitioners.
These two online resources are dedicated to helping physicians globally. In his free time Graham writes about the intersection of AI, technology, and medicine, and created The Physicians’ Charter for Responsible AI, a practical guide to implementing safe, accurate, and fair AI in healthcare settings.
In this conversation I have an opportunity to explore Dr Walkers perspective at the intersection of AI, technology and medicine and revisit some emerging themes from season 6 in relation to leading change and innovation in complex, siloed healthcare systems. We discuss the challenges of communicating change efforts in this context and Graham shares his practical pearls for elevating clinical voices and translating information across disparate stakeholder groups.
With a unique leadership role in his own organisation in this space I was keen to explore his perspectives on creating opportunities for intrapreneurship. Dr Walker is a globally respective clinical voice on AI in healthcare and we discuss the perils and promise of AI , the Physician Charter for responsible use of AI in medicine and his Offcall survey and pending report on physicians views on the technology application and implementation in medicine ( now published and linked below)
Finally it is Graham's mission to bring joy and humanity back to medicine and to use technology responsibly to augment the clinician experience and skillset enabling safer and higher quality care that is the major draw for me. Thank you Dr Walker for you work which has global relevance and reach.
Links / References:
https://drgrahamwalker.com
https://www.offcall.com
The Mind Full Medic Podcast is proudly sponsored by the MBA NSW-ACT Find out more about the charitable organisation supporting doctors and their families and/ or donate today at www.mbansw.org.au
Disclaimer: The content in this podcast is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care professional. Moreover views expressed here are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our employers or other official organisations.
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In season 6 Episode 6 I am delighted to welcome Graham Walker, MD to the podcast. Dr Walker is an emergency physician by clinical background who practices in San Francisco, completing his medical school training at Stanford University School of Medicine. He also majored in social policy as an undergraduate and has had a life long interest in software development and digital technology. Today he combines these interests and skills in his clinical and non-clinical roles. Graham is the co-director of Advanced Development at The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG), which delivers care for Kaiser Permanente’s 4.6 million members in Northern California. At TPMG, Graham works on practical AI development, commercialization, partnerships, and technology transformation under the Chief Innovation Officer. As a clinical informaticist, he also leads emergency and urgent care strategy for KP’s electronic medical record. With an appetite and aptitude for tech innovation and entrepreneurship Dr Walker created and founded MDCalc as a resident, a free online clinical decision support tool many clinicians including myself have been using for years now, indeed MDCalc turned 20 this month. More recently Graham co-founded the platform and community Offcall with a mission to bring joy back to medicine and facilitate contract transparency and financial literacy for US medical practitioners. These two online resources are dedicated to helping physicians globally. In his free time Graham writes about the intersection of AI, technology, and medicine, and created The Physicians’ Charter for Responsible AI, a practical guide to implementing safe, accurate, and fair AI in healthcare settings. In this conversation I have an opportunity to explore Dr Walkers perspective at the intersection of AI, technology and medicine and revisit some emerging themes from season 6 in relation to leading change and innovation in complex, siloed healthcare systems. We discuss the challenges of communicating change efforts in this context and Graham shares his practical pearls for elevating clinical voices and translating information across disparate stakeholder groups. With a unique leadership role in his own organisation in this space I was keen to explore his perspectives on creating opportunities for intrapreneurship. Dr Walker is a globally respective clinical voice on AI in healthcare and we discuss the perils and promise of AI , the Physician Charter for responsible use of AI in medicine and his Offcall survey and pending report on physicians views on the technology application and implementation in medicine ( now published and linked below) Finally it is Graham's mission to bring joy and humanity back to medicine and to use technology responsibly to augment the clinician experience and skillset enabling safer and higher quality care that is the major draw for me. Thank you Dr Walker for you work which has global relevance and reach. Links / References: https://drgrahamwalker.com https://www.offcall.com The Mind Full Medic Podcast is proudly sponsored by the MBA NSW-ACT Find out more about the charitable organisation supporting doctors and their families and/ or donate today at www.mbansw.org.au Disclaimer: The content in this podcast is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care professional. Moreover views expressed here are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our employers or other official organisations.