Today we’d like to introduce you to Professor Jonathan Sackier.
Hi Professor Jonathan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I trained as a surgeon, after having my appendix out at age 11 and being so impressed with the chap who looked after me there was never going to be another option. Well, I would have snapped up playing James Bond but apparently a vertically-challenged kid from London wasn’t on the call sheet!
Medicine has given me an extraordinary passport into people’s lives. Over a career as a surgeon, educator and entrepreneur, I’ve learned that almost everyone wants to understand their body a little better—they simply don’t want to be lectured while doing it.
I’ve always loved teaching. As a surgeon, I taught medical students, residents and fellow surgeons, but I discovered I was equally passionate about explaining medicine to people with no medical background. There’s something deeply satisfying about watching someone’s anxiety disappear because you’ve translated complicated science into plain English.
Humour has always been my secret weapon. Whether I’m in an operating theatre, on stage in front of hundreds of people or behind a podcast microphone, a well-timed laugh lowers barriers and helps people remember important messages. Health doesn’t have to be frightening or dry. We can talk about heart disease, cancer, sleep, ageing or digestive health without putting everyone to sleep first.
That philosophy eventually led to Join the Docs, a live show and podcast I co-host with my friend and fellow physician, Dr Nigel Guest. We take the questions everyone wants answered but are often too embarrassed, intimidated or confused to ask, and we discuss them honestly, accurately and with plenty of humour. One week we might explore whether cold plunges are worth the hype, the next, whether smartwatches are making us healthier or simply more anxious. Our goal isn’t to tell people what to think—it’s to help them think critically about their health.
Alongside medicine, I have another lifelong passion: aviation. As a pilot and aviation medical writer, I’ve spent years writing about the fascinating intersection between flying and human physiology. Whether it’s fatigue, spatial disorientation, ageing, fitness or medical certification, I enjoy making complex science accessible for pilots just as much as I do for patients.
Writing has become another extension of teaching. I’ve authored books, hundreds of magazine articles and countless talks because I genuinely believe that knowledge changes lives—but only if people actually enjoy consuming it. And when I am honored to be invited as an after-dinner speaker, or to address a business, community or school group, I love getting to know what floats their boat and tailoring what I say to what they want to hear.
If people leave one of my talks smiling, having learned something practical they can use the very next day, then I feel I’ve done my job.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest challenge hasn’t been becoming a doctor, that was just a lot of hard work and endurance; it has been convincing people that medicine doesn’t have to sound like medicine.
Healthcare has traditionally communicated in a language that works brilliantly for clinicians but often leaves patients overwhelmed. At the same time, social media has created an environment where confidence frequently speaks louder than evidence. It has become remarkably easy for misinformation to travel faster than a speeding bullet.
Join the Docs was created to bridge that gap.
Our challenge has been finding the sweet spot between scientific accuracy and genuine entertainment. We refuse to oversimplify important medical issues, but we also refuse to produce lectures disguised as podcasts. We want people to laugh, question, debate and, most importantly, leave better informed than when they arrived.
Launching a new media brand is also humbling. There are millions of podcasts competing for attention, many with enormous marketing budgets. We have deliberately chosen to grow organically by focusing on quality conversations, authentic storytelling and building trust rather than chasing sensational headlines.
Another challenge has been wearing several hats simultaneously. I continue to work with medical innovation companies developing technologies that may transform patient care while also writing books, speaking internationally and producing Join the Docs. Each role informs the others, but balancing them requires discipline and an excellent diary. Mind you, time zones still baffle me – I lived half my life in California and Virginia and the other half on the other side of the duck pond and yet I still end up scheduling meetings at entirely the wrong time!
Perhaps the greatest lesson has been recognising that expertise alone isn’t enough. Being right isn’t the same as being heard. People connect with stories far more readily than statistics. They remember the patient whose life changed, the funny anecdote that illustrates a point or the simple explanation that suddenly makes sense.
That’s why every Join the Docs episode and every talk begins with curiosity rather than conclusions. I want listeners to feel as though they’re sitting in a relaxed conversation with two doctors who genuinely enjoy answering the questions everyone else is thinking.
If there’s one obstacle we’re determined to overcome, it’s the growing distrust of expertise. The answer isn’t talking louder; it’s listening better, communicating more clearly and treating every question—no matter how simple it may seem—with respect.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Today I no longer operate and split my time between advising innovative medical technology companies, writing, speaking and producing Join the Docs. Every audience teaches me something new, whether it’s a conference of doctors, a room full of business leaders or members of the public who simply want trustworthy answers in an age overflowing with misinformation. As a surgeon, I looked after a wide range of problems but was fortunate to be involved in developing and promulgating laparoscopic “minimally invasive” surgery and also helped develop surgical robotics as a field. I guess if I was known for anything it would be those things and a few other innovations.
What am I most proud of? The friendships and collaborations that have endured, being a small cog in a big machine that made peoples’ lives better. And I think maintaining curiosity – that would be my superpower. As for setting me apart from others, I do not think of myself as something special, I just refuse to lose and live by the mantra that as we spend a long time dead, we should extract the juice from every day, every hour, every minute.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
People often say I’ve been lucky, and they’re right—but probably not in the way they imagine. It is rather like a musician friend of mine who achieved global fame who told me that the more he practised, the harder he worked, the luckier he became.
I’ve certainly been fortunate to have remarkable mentors, inspiring colleagues and opportunities that many people never receive. Medicine has allowed me to meet extraordinary patients whose courage and resilience have taught me far more than any textbook ever could.
But I’ve also learned that luck has a habit of appearing after years of saying “yes.”
Yes to teaching a class.
Yes to writing an article.
Yes to speaking at a conference.
Yes to chatting to the person sitting next to me on a plane or train.
Yes to trying something completely outside my comfort zone.
Each of those small opportunities opened another door that I never knew existed.
Join the Docs itself grew from conversations between two doctors who genuinely enjoy talking about medicine. There wasn’t a grand master plan. We simply recognised that people were hungry for reliable health information delivered with warmth, honesty and humour. Sometimes the best ideas emerge not from boardrooms but from conversations between friends.
I’ve also been fortunate that my interests have never stayed neatly inside one box. Surgery led to education. Education led to writing. Writing led to public speaking. Aviation introduced another entirely different audience. Medical technology brought entrepreneurship. Each chapter enriched the next.
Of course, there have been disappointments, failed projects and unexpected detours along the way. Looking back, many of those setbacks turned out to be opportunities wearing very convincing disguises.
So yes, luck has played a part. But I also believe luck tends to favour curiosity. The more people you meet, the more generously you share what you know and the more willing you are to keep learning, the “luckier” you seem to become.
If Join the Docs encourages even a handful of people to become more informed about their health, ask better questions of their doctors or simply worry a little less because they finally understand what’s happening inside their bodies, then I’ll consider us very fortunate indeed. And if it inspires an event organiser to think, “I’d like that doctor to speak at our conference,” that would simply be another wonderfully lucky conversation waiting to happen.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jointhedocs.com
- Instagram: @jointhedocs
- Facebook: @jointhedocs
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathansackier/
- Twitter: https://x.com/JoinTheDocs
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JoinTheDocs
