Meet Tiffany Grunwald
We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tiffany Grunwald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Tiffany, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?
I have two jobs:
private practice surgeon: I had some amazing mentors who showed me the joy in taking care of patients. They encouraged me to take multiple risks ( in my mind) to be a surgeon, to go into private practice where I could define the way I wanted to take care of patients and how to restore patients to wellness after surgery
Ed of Women’s Health & Wellness Institute @ Saint Johns: I had no interest in doing administrative work. but I had someone who convinced me that I had the skills to do this. During the first months of Covid, I spoke with almost 100 of my colleagues and learned that we were all experiencing the same difficulties in caring for patients. I had the random opportunity of time to come up with a plan, raise the funds and develop a mission to ease the way of women in healthcare.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a plastic surgeon that specializes in breast surgery–both for cancer and elective. I am referred difficult, complicated cases. I spend a lot of time getting to know my patients to understand what there goals are–whether it’s what the breasts look like, if they are uncomfortable with exercise, etc.
I am most proud of my breast cancer survivor group (The Breast Goddesses) where we stand up paddle, do bike rides, participate in the Malibu triathlon. Building a breast isn’t the end result, it is helping women feel strong in their new, operated body and embracing scars, tightness, etc.
My entire staff/team participates with our patients and encourages them as they are recovering that they will be able to find a new normal. Our physical therapists work with patients to get them ready to paddle, run, bike, swim.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I dropped out of college in the middle of my second year–directionless.
I worked as a secretary and took occasional classes in community colleges until I had a vision of what I wanted to do–6 years later then transferred to a 4 year University knowing that I wanted to go to medical school. But I still changed my mind about specialities several times. I think it is important to stay open to conversations and relationships that will alter and impact your path.
My sister randomly signed us up to be translators for an international surgical team (which I did for 15 years) and that is how I met the people and had the experiences that led me to medicine and eventually to become a surgeon
Any advice for managing a team?
This is a hard one for me. I think the environment has changed dramatically. The thing that has helped me the most is transparency with employees. Before I hire anyone, I have them meet with the whole team and I have the team tell them the hardest parts of working for me. I can be direct or sharp and I know it hurts their feelings, so I let them know up front, that is not what is in my heart, but if I hurt your feelings, please say “ouch” or let me know. I am much better at apologizing now for those things.
Contact Info:
Website: https://www.tbgmd.com
Instagram: drtiffanygrunwald
Facebook: Dr. Tiffany Grunwald
Linkedin: tgrunwald@mac.com
