Heba El Nazer, founder and CEO, Revive Medical Group: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Dr. Heba El Nazer (LinkedIn), founder and CEO, Revive Medical Group.

My name is Heba El Nazer, I’m the founder and CEO of Revive Medical Group. I’m a medical doctor, specializing in internal meds, and an entrepreneur, managing a business that has focused on chronic disease services since 2016. We believe we’re changing the kind of care provided for patients. Patients are better off when they feel like there is a system in place that offers them clear goals. We have observed that patients feel in control when there is a collaborative, long-term relationship in place to enable them to become decision-makers. We track monthly milestones to enable patients to reach their annual goals.

My routine is extremely important for me. I usually wake up at 7 AM, without the help of alarms. I’m a believer in the importance of eliminating that type of stress, and anyway, my biological clock never disappoints [laughs]. After I have my breakfast and take my supplements, I start the day with 10 minutes of calm reflection on how I can be kind to myself and others, and how I can achieve my goals. I also love to go jogging, so whenever I have the time, I go for a walk outside — I’m not a big fan of exercising in gyms and believe that being in tune with nature is very important. I’m also a big fan of Enterprise, so I try to catch up on the news as much as I can before I get to work.

My day at work differs depending whether I'm focused on clinical work or managerial work. A clinical day usually involves reviewing patients' medical charts and their milestones to be able to plan their annual goals. The managerial days primarily entail discussions with the operational team about our patients’ journeys. We always have medical meetings to come up with the best medical plans to ensure our clients’ wellness, and assess our patients’ progress. Of course, I’m involved in the business aspect of the business; monitoring revenues, legal issues, etc.

To be honest, for me, work is never 100% completely done [laughs]. I’m never able to totally switch off. However, the fact that I give myself time to do things at a slower pace decreases my stress levels considerably. This helps me stay in the moment. I also spend time with my family, friends, and my dogs to alleviate stress and anxiety.

I stay focused by separating work from personal life. I follow a ‘separate but equal approach’, which involves silencing all distractions and focusing entirely on business when it’s time for work, and when business is done, I follow the same format so I can enjoy my personal life. I don’t think multitasking is ideal or healthy. I believe in giving your full devotion and potential to the task at hand, without distractions.

We will soon be launching a new service called “Detect” that will see us providing curated health packages to get to the bottom of why patients are feeling a certain way. We will be looking at various factors in different systems, and we crafted kits based on that to provide personalized care for each patient. We also plan on enhancing our 7 step system, which currently involves a focus on lifestyle assessments, medical checkups, advanced testing including patients’ nutritional status, a personalized treatment plan, follow-ups and milestones, as well as an annual review of the patients’ progress and how we’ve helped them achieve their medical goals.

Fortunately, we had the right infrastructure in place long before the pandemic halted in-person visitations, so we were prepared for the global crisis. Because a lot of our patients are busy, hard-working business people, we started using digital platforms to deliver almost half of our services online through virtual visits, two years before the pandemic. It was easy for us to switch entirely to 100% virtual visitations.

The last great thing I read is a book called Full Catastrophe Living. It really changed my perspective on how I view and handle stress, and I think everyone should read this revolutionary book.

The best pieces of advice I received were from two different mentors. One of them was given to me by a professor of mine: Dr. Martin Erlich. I told him that the biggest problem for doctors in Egypt when it comes to treating patients is getting a proper diagnosis, especially for complex patients. He explained that this should actually be the easiest part of any doctor’s job; he told me that if you listen closely to the patient’s history, the patient will explain all their problems to you. Tests only serve as a confirmation of what the patients tell you about what ails them. This is what inspired me to place more emphasis on interviewing patients which I think is of paramount importance.

On a business level, the best piece of advice I received was from my friend Tarek Asaad, managing partner at Algebra Ventures, who, as opposed to to everyone I had asked for guidance regarding how I can grow my business, told me to disregard all the rules and structures in place, and focus instead on the business model that would work for my personal vision and aspirations.