The surgeon in the kitchen: lessons from a social media star

At a Glance

• A viral turducken video launched an unexpected social media career.
• Cooking and surgery share planning, preparation, and execution skills.
• Outside interests can support physician well-being and longevity.

Estimated read time: 4 minutes

Carefully consider the case, select the best technique, confirm that all equipment is ready, wash your hands, and get ready — not for surgery but for cooking! Wayne Weil, MD, FAAOS, a hand surgeon in Seattle who has developed a large social media following as a chef, joined AAOS Now for an interview about his unexpected side gig.

Dr. Weil’s journey as the “surgeon chef” started with a turducken on Thanksgiving 2024. After 20 years of preparing traditional Thanksgiving dinners, his wife, Nancy Weil, decided to pivot to a turducken, naturally assigning her surgeon husband responsibility for the closure of the chicken, in a duck, in a turkey pièce de résistance. Recognizing the vital importance of a secure closure, Dr. Weil brought home some actual suture material to do the job correctly, and the procedure was captured on video. Under pressure from their impressed friends, the video was posted to a TikTok account created originally to reflect Dr. Weil’s position as a hand surgeon. By the following day, the video had already received a few hundred thousand views!

The evolution of the Instagram team known as “Wayne & Nancy” (@seattlehanddoc) was not planned. Dr. Weil noted that the culinary expertise in his family was best attributed to Nancy: “I’ve had the privilege to be married to … an amazing chef, so we have a pretty food-centric culture in our house. We have five kids who are adventurous eaters as well.”

In addition to cooking expertise, Nancy works in social media, so she recognized the rarity of this viral turducken video. A simple video of Dr. Weil making cookies with leftover batter followed, and the cooking content snowballed. While the novelty of surgical skills applied to a Thanksgiving feast may have contributed to the explosive popularity, the original “Seattle Hand Doc” name did not reflect the actual contribution of both members of the team, so it was revised to Wayne & Nancy. Despite both working full-time, they have found this a rewarding “side hustle” and have been posting videos for almost two years.

The surgeon’s experience informs cooking
Dr. Weil reflected on similarities between his day job as a hand surgeon at Proliance Surgeons in Seattle and his chef avocation. “Before any operation, we have our plan. We know what we’re going to do before we even start, and it’s the same with any meal,” Dr. Weil reflected. “[It’s] having all the instrumentation and all the implants available and ready to go. In the kitchen, you have all your ingredients, you have instruments (pots, pans, appliances, knives) … And then, you execute on the plan.”

For Dr. Weil, cooking a satisfying meal for his family mirrors the joy of a surgery done well. “When you have a good outcome, and patients are grateful, [it] makes the whole thing worthwhile. And it’s the same in the kitchen, with even more immediate … feedback.” Unlike the two weeks for a postoperative check or six months for a patient to totally heal, preparing a meal that his kids love gives him payback 10 minutes after he is finished cooking.

A better understanding of practice marketing was an unexpected lesson from his social media explosion. The couple has one million followers on Instagram and 730,000 on TikTok. Dr. Weil learned that engagement is even more important than the raw numbers. The social media sites track the key metrics of interaction, such as forwarding videos, that increase exposure. Using an example of a billboard that may be seen by thousands of drivers but never drives patients to your practice, Dr. Weil now understands the importance of data to inform the return on investment in practice marketing. “It’s not just eyeballs but following that data downstream … into having new patients show up at the office.”

Balancing surgeon and chef personas 
For the first year or longer, despite millions of viewers, Dr. Weil felt he was flying under the radar as a surgeon chef with the employees and colleagues at his office and surgery center. Patients, however, seem to have greater recognition of his social media role in a positive way. Connecting over the cooking videos provides a way for him to connect with patients, and he feels it humanizes his patient-doctor relationships.

One surprise for Dr. Weil was the number of viewers who ask specific medical questions. “I find it interesting that people want to get advice from some guy who’s cooking on social media, as opposed to visiting their local orthopaedic surgeon and having a true patient-doctor interaction. I’m sure we all see that now in our practices, where patients come in saying, ‘I’ve Googled my elbow pain, and this is my diagnosis.’ [All surgeons] are trying to navigate the world of self-diagnosis, self-treatment.”

Ultimately, this experience has enriched Dr. Weil’s life. After more than 25 years of hand surgery, he reflected on the importance of finding things beyond one’s profession that bring passion. “Finding outside interests is important for our mental health. … Doing things outside of the world of orthopaedic surgery … makes things more fun at the office and in the operating room.”

Alexandra E. Page, MD, FAAOS, is a foot and ankle specialist in private practice in San Diego, California, and the editor-in-chief of AAOS Now.