Dr. Latif Murji of Toronto—a physician, musician, artist, and social innovator—refuses to accept that our lives must be lived in separate boxes. 

Latif is a man of many hats: He’s the front man of the indie alt-rock band Parachute Thieves, a longtime advocate for health equity, a creator of empathy-building education for clinicians, and the co-founder of a public art project that replaces ads on Toronto’s transit with meaningful poetry. What follows are the big ideas and bright throughlines from our conversation—enough to give you momentum right now in your own endeavors, and a gentle nudge to go soak up the whole episode. 

There’s real possibility and a lot to learn here, for anyone trying to weave their own multiple passions into a life of meaning.

The Art (and Heart) of Mixing Passions

Most people assume medicine and music live in different universes. Not Dr. Latif Murji; he sees them as two ways to practice creativity and care. In emergency rooms—especially in the rural and Indigenous communities where he still serves—resources are often limited, but cleverness and compassion are not, and that same creative muscle is the one that writes lyrics, designs album art, and builds community on stage.

Latif told me:

“Medicine is an art as well as a science; doing both makes me better at each.”

He has designed his life intentionally, so that music isn’t the “leftover slice” he “gets to” after a week of clinical work. He has named aloud the ringing internal question that many of us feel ping-ponging around our brains, but is rarely discussed out loud (especially in medicine):

 “How much is enough?” 

For him, defining what having “enough” meant to him—enough personal time, enough income, and enough commitments—meant to him opened up space in his life for the rest of his gifts to flourish. 

It’s a brave question to ask, especially in a world that is constantly asking us to give “one hundred and ten percent,” —and that’s exactly why it’s a useful one.

No Spinning Plates: Give Your Passions “Seasons”

If you’ve wondered how multifaceted people keep their humanity intact, lean in: Latif Murji doesn’t try to do eight different things in the span of eight hours. Instead, he works in what he calls seasons: he has a writing season, a recording season, and a performing season; he has clinic days and non-clinic days. That rhythm creates a flow, reduces the frequency and intensity of burnout, and lets deep work get…well, deep!

Oh, but there is one “season” that Latif stresses never ends: relationships.

He guards his time with family and friends as the non-negotiable constant that nourishes everything else in his life. That’s a clue for all of us who want to do a lot without becoming a dry husk of ourselves: Remember that your if anything deserves your constant and consistent attention, it’s the relationships that keep you going; knowing that you can always be there to support the people who you, in turn, would go to in an unexpected crisis brings a greater sense of peace, love, and harmony into life than most people realize.

Stand Up for Health: Knowledge → Empathy → Action

Latif grew up in Scarborough, one of Toronto’s most diverse communities—and when he learned about the social determinants of health in university, the lights came on in his head; the patterns he’d witnessed in his peers and their families as a kid mapped directly to statistical health outcomes. But he also saw something troubling— the healthcare training systems seemed to produce classmates who memorized these concepts without actually feeling the impact of them.

So, to combat this sort of institutional numbness, he built Stand Up for Health, a not-for-profit that runs a simulation where trainees walk through community-sourced healthcare scenarios in pairs, guided by trained facilitators, and then co-design solutions to those problems. The motto is a keeper: Knowledge, Empathy, Action. Participants come out with a shared language—and, more importantly a plan they can use going forward.

We also talked about what he calls the “avocado model” of advocacy:

• Micro – the person right in front of you.
• Meso – your clinic, campus, or neighborhood.
• Macro – population health and public policy.

When you think and act across these layers, you stop blaming individuals for systemic outcomes, and start changing the conditions that shape those outcomes—like health issues caused by poverty—in the first place. (If you’re leading a team or a family, this framing is gold for helping bring understanding that creates motivation.)

Poems in Passage: Public Art as Public Health

Then there’s Poems in Passage, which Latif co-founded to bring back the historic standard of having poetry printed in Toronto’s subway, buses, and streetcars—in place of ads. (Yes, please!) Emerging and underrepresented poets are selected through an open call, and their words ride with over a million daily commuters as they get where they’re going.

Is that art? Absolutely. Is it public health? Possibly also yes!

Think about it: It interrupts the constant tug on our attention with a breath of something new; a beautiful line, a humane thought. People now write to say it changed their morning—and when your morning is what shapes the rest of your day, that counts for a lot. (Think about how high your blood pressure gets on an average public transit trip, and perhaps you’ll better understand the relative enormity of the impact.)

Latif dropped two little gems that might change your next conversation, and are more than worth taping to the fridge:

1. “It’s more important to be interested than interesting.”
   We tend to think that connection is about dazzling; it’s usually actually about curiosity. Pick up the phone; ask about someone’s real world and mean it. (Latif actually calls people—imagine that!—and also leaves space on the calendar specifically for serendipity.)
   
2. “Share your mental model.”
   Whether you’re treating patients, rehearsing with a band, or (hello, siblings) co-managing a family farm—anything that involves working with other people—start with one central question:

 “How are you thinking about this?” 

Understanding someone’s frame of mind prevents roughly 80% of needless friction (in my own estimation.) It’s simple, It’s generous, but most importantly, it works.

Give People a Chance

My favorite moment of this conversation, though, came near the end, when I asked what Dr. Murji wishes people knew when the chips are down. 

He said:

“Give people a chance.

“Go into each interaction without the old story running in your head. People can feel your expectations—and then they behave in ways that confirm them. But every moment is new. Put down your assumptions, and the future can be different.”

That’s not naïve; it’s strategic hope, and I’ve seen it transform rooms.

We’re all being nudged toward extremes now—do more, scroll more, buy more, bunker down for disaster. Doctor’s orders: Latif says you can ignore all that: instead, define “enough” for yourself, do your work in seasons, stay close to your people, build empathy into your systems, and create beauty in public however you can. 

That combination leaves a mark—on patients, audiences, and even whole cities.

If you’re a clinician who wants your heart back, a creative who longs to serve, or simply a human trying to stitch together a life that feels whole, this episode is a both a permission slip and a playbook.

What You’ll Take Away From This Episode:

• A practical way to think about time and energy that reduces overwhelm.
  
• A human framework (micro/meso/macro) for turning empathy into action.
  
• Fresh language for better conversations: “How are you thinking about this?”
  
• A reminder that upstream solutions (belonging, policy, design) prevent downstream suffering.
  
• Inspiration to bring art into ordinary spaces—because wonder changes our posture toward the day.
  

If you are craving proof that your passions belong together? Start here! Have a listen, and hopefully you can start to build yourself a roadmap that leads you to the exact thing that you are uniquely built to contribute.

• Stand Up for Health — Latif’s not-for-profit and training simulation.
  
• VaxFacts+ Clinic — the judgment-free vaccine confidence/health coaching clinic Latif leads.
  
• Poems in Passage — public-poetry initiative co-founded by Latif.

Bonus: A Musical Lens on Healing

On the artistic side, Latif writes his music with a healer’s ear. If you want to connect to the musical side of what he does, you can listen to Parachute Thieves — Latif’s indie alt-rock band.

These are some great examples of how he and Parachute Thieves “do both” when writing his songs:

• “I Am Both” explores the clean truth that we’re all masterpieces and works-in-progress at the same time.
  
• “Whose Land” advocates for Indigenous rights and dignity, born from years working up North.
  
• “Placebo” wrestles with the limits of a purely downstream, treatment-only mindset. It’s a gentle provocation to ask: What if the real “medicine” is upstream—community, housing, food, belonging, and the policies that make them possible?

• 00:00 – Intro & Welcome
• 03:16 – Music and Medicine Together
• 11:34 – Stand Up for Health
• 26:25 – Art as Healing
• 27:20 – Break
• 29:35 – Parachute Thieves & Music with Purpose
• 39:45 – Poems in Passage Project
• 58:06 – Life Lessons to Carry Forward