Doc-Related: A Physician's Guide to Fixing Our Ailing Health Care System

"Comedians have become the truth-tellers. Satire allows you to say almost anything. That's where truth is spoken to power in our society. When you sugarcoat a bitter truth with humor, it makes the medicine go down.”
—Malcolm Gladwell

Much in the way the comic strip, Dilbert, taught us about corporate office culture, Doc-Related now takes us behind the clinic doors of today’s ailing US healthcare system. A medley of anecdotes, comics, and data-backed musings, Doc-Related’s “truth-tellers” turn out to be a half-dozen characters you will surely recognize. Why? Because author, Dr. Peter Valenzuela, has literally created them from his 20-year experience as a practicing family physician and health system executive. Whether you’re one of the 16 million Americans who work in the US healthcare industry, or simply someone who has tried to navigate its bureaucratic maze of insurance plans or electronic record systems—Doc-Related will help you see these challenges in a new light.

Dr. Peter Valenzuela is a nationally recognized physician leader, cartoonist, and educator. His creative leadership style has led to him twice being recognized by the Medical Group Management Association and American College of Medical Practice Executives (MGMA-ACMPE) with the Harwick Innovation Award and Physician Executive of the Year Award for exhibiting leadership deemed outstanding to achieve exceptional medical group performance.
 
When not focused on his duties as the Chief Medical Officer of a large multi-specialty medical group in California, Dr. Valenzuela channels his energy into Doc-Related, his online comic that offers a satirical look at the challenges of practicing clinical medicine through the eyes of health care professionals. His comics have been fondly referred to as "Dilbert for Health Care." 
 
Along with his medical degree from UT Southwestern, Peter earned a master's in business administration from Auburn University. In addition, Dr. Valenzuela holds a greenbelt certificate for six sigma in healthcare from Villanova University and a healthcare innovation and entrepreneurship certificate from Duke University. Peter is also a certified trainer through The Innovator's DNA. He and his wife Vivian live in Sacramento with their cat, Zoe.