# E189 - The Heart of the Matter: Paul Fedak on the Pursuit of Balance and Excellence

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138/e189-the-heart-of-the-matter-paul-fedak-on-the-pursuit-of-balance-and-excellence
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138/e189-the-heart-of-the-matter-paul-fedak-on-the-pursuit-of-balance-and-excellence.md
Podcast: [Cold Steel: Canadian Journal of Surgery Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138)
Published: 2026-03-17T10:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e4c7d136
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/e4c7d136/25879f46.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138/episodes/e189-the-heart-of-the-matter-paul-fedak-on-the-pursuit-of-balance-and-excellence
Duration seconds: 3181

## Resource

Paul Fedak is a cardiac surgeon and translational scientist at the University of Calgary. He has written and spoken about what it means to pursue excellence and what it might cost us. Dr. Fedak unexpectedly had to cut short his clinical career as a surgeon due to spinal cord issues. The result has been a powerful exploration about identity, meaning, burnout and the pursuit of excellence. This is a conversation about that pursuit. Bio: https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/paul-fedak Links: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-as-a-heart-surgeon-i-chased-excellence-it-cost-me-my-body-and-my-mind/ http://paulfedak.com/ https://www.ted.com/talks/paul_fedak_beyond_mastery_how_a_heart_surgeon_found_his_own_heart https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-the-mountain-decides-who-goes-and-who-stays

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138/episodes/e189-the-heart-of-the-matter-paul-fedak-on-the-pursuit-of-balance-and-excellence/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-steel-canadian-journal-of-surgery-podcast-544138/e189-the-heart-of-the-matter-paul-fedak-on-the-pursuit-of-balance-and-excellence.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.