Meet Dr. Sudip Bose, M.D.

Experience

Dr. Sudip Bose is an emergency medicine physician, decorated combat veteran, professor, and entrepreneur with board certifications in emergency medicine and emergency medical services.

As the EMS Director for West Texas—a region encompassing 38,000 miles—Dr. Bose has managed the coordination of fire, police and ambulance response teams for disaster events including the 2019 mass shootings in Odessa and Midland, Texas and the Covid-19 pandemic—a consistently high-drama position that was recently captured in the Prime Video docuseries Desert Doc.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, he didn’t set out to specialize in mass casualty disaster management. “Life events lead to it,” Dr. Bose shares. “Life gives you a pathway.”

After graduating from medical school at age 25, Dr. Bose joined the US Army to complete his internship and residency. Tossed directly into some of the bloodiest conflicts of the Iraq War, his 12 years of service ended with him receiving the Combat Medical Badge, the US Army Commendation Medal, and the Bronze Star Medal—rewarded for his serving one of the longest tours by an active physician since World War II.

During those years, Dr. Bose was one of the few physicians who rode around with the First Cavalry Division in a massive armored vehicle, routinely jumping out to treat wounded soldiers and civilians with limited equipment. In 2003, he treated ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein after his capture by American troops. And one day, he remembers watching a religious parade, where thousands upon thousands of faithful people marched through the streets, no one knowing that a dozen men were hidden amongst them with bombs strapped to their chests.

“Nobody knew their terrible plan. Nobody knew that they had moved to the center of it all. And then—boom!—in the midst of this crowd, they detonate,” Dr. Bose remembers. With hundreds of casualties to attend to, he had only a handful of medics and a backpack of supplies at hand.

“Everything went into slow motion,” he continues. “I remember the medics inserting airway devices, tying tourniquets, and performing basic life-saving maneuvers. And in that slow-motion, flashbulb moment, I was grateful that I took the time to train those medics. By doing that, I’d essentially multiplied myself. Even though I wasn't everywhere, my training was.”

That moment shaped Dr. Bose’s drive to attach himself to any project that can similarly multiply his skill set. He is now a professor, a course and textbook writer, a speaker, an entrepreneur, and has advised the United Nations. He founded The Battle Continues, a non-profit organization that directly helps cover injured veterans’ medical costs. As an advisor to the Dr. B team, he makes sure that our patient assessments, prescription options, and resource articles are all as accurate, effective and helpful as possible. “I'm passionate about Dr. B and how we're helping people,” Dr. Bose shares.

CURRENT MOTIVATION

“What drives me is that the emergency room sees anyone, anywhere, anytime, for anything. It’s open 24/7, 365 days a year. Whether it's someone who can't make it to their primary care physician—the average wait time in the United States is 21 days—or a newborn’s not breathing, or it’s Covid, a heart attack, a gunshot wound, whatever, just being able to see that breadth and being able to take care of that…

“It's essentially the safety net of the entire US healthcare system. This is why I think Dr. B is incredible—because of the access issue. If people can't get to a doctor to get their meds or treat conditions… it's like a car, right? If you don’t maintain it, it breaks down and you end up in the emergency room. But what excites me is that we take care of them—we’re face-to-face, helping them.”

WORDS OF WISDOM

“Our most valuable asset is our health. Whether you're a billionaire CEO or a single mom of multiple children—whatever your situation is—you can't do that without your health. Our physical body is the vehicle, the one thing we have, to get through this journey called life. And you have to maintain that.

“Often, we just don't prioritize our physical health. But a lot of maintaining physical health is just basic nutrition and exercise. And yes, prioritizing diet and exercise can be uncomfortable. It’s a controversial idea, but most forms of progress require some level of discomfort or pain. Our bodies need pain to heal, whether through rehab, amputation or surgery. In the military, physical training and learning new things are uncomfortable.

“Uncomfortable things can lead to progress. Excuses make today easier and tomorrow harder. Discipline makes today a little harder, but tomorrow a lot easier.”

HEALTH IS A JOURNEY

“I try to do a little bit every day. That's my goal. I think that's a great goal for everybody—a little bit, every day. Some days I get that one or two-hour workout and other days I barely get two minutes. But you can crush yourself with burpees for two minutes straight! So just a little bit every day, and not letting days slip by. It's the consistency of it, exercise-wise.”

GIVING CARE = GIVING SELF-CARE

“My favorite form of self-care… Is sleep an appropriate answer? It's important! People don’t think enough about their sleep. Sleep helps brain health and rejuvenates the body.

“I also love reading non-fiction books: self-help, world knowledge, business and law. Medicine is very focused on biology, organic chemistry and physics—all the stuff you need to know to become a physician. The basic stuff I had to learn through reading or trial and error. I'm interested in history, too. It’s kind of cool that President's Day in India was established after my great-uncle, who helped India gain independence from the British in 1947. He's on the currency and the stamps. So that's kind of, “Wow, I should know about this history.” Then, I was face to face with Saddam Hussein, examining him after he got pulled out of the hole, and later realized I got dumped into that bit of history. So reading about and knowing more about that has been interesting.”