Eder Garavito is an Assistant Professor at the College of Saint Mary’s Doctor of Physical Therapy Program. His responsibilities encompass instructing and organizing coursework focused on managing patients with cardiovascular and pulmonary conditions, delivering care in acute care settings, health informatics, and telehealth/telemedicine.
With a background as a board-certified cardiovascular and pulmonary clinical specialist, Eder has a decade of experience working in acute care settings. Presently pursuing a Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Learning Sciences at North Carolina State University, his academic emphasis revolves around learning design and technology.
Furthermore, he contributes as a PRN staff Physical Therapist at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
In collaboration with three partners, Eder co-founded Scholarnetics360, healthcare’s first mentorship and knowledge-sharing hub, in the summer of 2023—a pioneering initiative in healthcare education.
Scholarnetics360’s aims to offer 24/7 access to industry leaders and specialists remotely and believes that a mentorship and knowledge-sharing network for healthcare students and professionals is the most direct and accessible method to access essential information for anyone in need, ultimately improving patient outcomes.
Follow Scholarnetics360 on LinkedIn, Facebook, X and Instagram.
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.
Stone Payton: [00:00:14] Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you. You guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast with Scholarnetics360, Mr. Eder Garavito. Good afternoon sir.
Eder Garavito : [00:00:36] Hey Stone, how are you? Thanks for having me.
Stone Payton: [00:00:38] I am doing well and I’ve really been looking forward to this conversation. I got a ton of questions. I’m sure we won’t get to them all, but I think maybe a great place to start would be if you could share with me in our listening audience. Mission. Purpose. What are you and your team really out there trying to do for folks? Man.
Eder Garavito : [00:00:58] Yeah, no. So, um, I myself, I’m an educator in higher education, and I think for our society, it’s kind of become a norm to really sort of, uh, make comments such as the health care system is broken. But I think something that we don’t talk about is how the higher education system is broken as well. And I’m talking about my job in general. Right. But like, really, we have to understand the limitations of any school, uh, specifically in health care, whether it’s the most prestigious school or a developing program. And so with Scholarnetics360, what we’re really trying to establish is the fact that we are offering the power of choice to our users, uh, to be able to choose a mentor based on their individual needs. And we’re doing that through virtual mediums, uh, through live chat, voice calls and video conferences. Uh, we recognize that mentorship is a right. It isn’t a privilege, and we just don’t want to leave a good quality mentorship relationship to chance. And so because there are limitations to that didactic knowledge and programs, we’re just offering the ability for students and health care providers to connect with one another, specifically with leaders and specialists in their field.
Stone Payton: [00:02:17] Well, I’ll tell you, it sounds like noble work. It also sounds like you’ve, uh, answered that question before. That was an incredibly articulate representation of what you’re up to. I got to know, man. What what’s the backstory? How did you find yourself here in this line of work and on this pursuit?
Eder Garavito : [00:02:36] Uh, sure. So I am a clinician, a physical therapist with a little bit over ten years of clinical practice, and I transitioned to full time education four years ago. And, uh, I just I’m very observant, stone. And I just realized that even my own knowledge has limits. And I recognize that there are individuals out there specifically in what I would call the frontlines, meaning our clinicians who are practicing daily with patients. I see patients once every, you know, six weeks that know more than I do. And so what better way than to improve the learning experience of my students in all health care students than to connect them with those individuals and provide them with resources beyond what I can provide them? Why seclude our students in our learners to just what’s in their institution and instead, uh, allow them to really connect with individuals out there? So, uh, myself, I’m cardiovascular and pulmonary, uh, specialist, which really is there are about 400 or 600 in the United States, not many. So I’m a product of good mentorship. Stone and that’s how I got to where I am today. Uh, when I had my mentor, I literally looked at him and I said, you know, I kind of want to be like him when I grow up. And and that’s really the story behind this. And so we just want to ensure that we offer these opportunities to our learners and even practicing clinicians, our new grads or clinicians who transition to new jobs that they just are not sure we want to provide them with a support system 24 seven easily on our app or on our website.
Stone Payton: [00:04:05] Now, have you found that you wanted to, when you built this mentoring platform, I guess is the right way to frame it. Did you find that you wanted to try to do some things that were set it apart from other platforms and make it even better?
Eder Garavito : [00:04:22] Yeah, so the platforms, when we were doing our research, the platforms that we found usually were programs that mentorship programs provided by individuals across the country here and there, few in health care. But at the end of the day, not only are these programs sometimes expensive, but they are mentorship. They’re mentorship programs with the individual running the program. Right. So there really isn’t a choice. Besides that choice, our our our system U um, allows our users to put an inquiry in our chat bot and through AI and all these algorithms that I don’t even know how to explain to you that our developers are doing for us, programing for us. It’ll connect them with a two, three, four individuals based on the the user’s inquiry so they can choose who they want to connect with. And if they connect with somebody and they don’t enjoy the conversations or they don’t click, they can shift to somebody else. What we’re really trying to focus on here, a stone, is that it credentials and experience in the field and all these initials and everything. There’s no real, uh, correlation between that and good quality mentorship. Right. So we need to stop looking at all these individuals with all these initials and publications and everything. Mind you, they may be amazing mentors, but there are so many other individuals that are amazing mentors that we just don’t look for because they don’t have those qualities. And so we’re putting them on our platform and making them available to our users.
Stone Payton: [00:05:52] I love this element of choice, and I like the idea that I can get on a platform, and I’m operating under the impression even someone with my lack of technical knowledge can navigate that pretty easily. I almost hope, like when you get done with this, you’ll you’ll build one for the media industry. Because it would be. Yeah.
Eder Garavito : [00:06:16] That that would be nice wouldn’t it? But yeah. Stone, it’s as easy as that. Um, log into our app or our website now, you know, we’re we’re building up to it launching here in the spring. And, uh, just putting an inquiry, whether you’re confused about a topic, whether you want to talk to somebody, uh, because you need support in terms of how to communicate with individuals. You want to collaborate in projects, uh, you have clinical questions, anything of the sort, as easy as that. Then our algorithm does the rest, and it just gives you the power of choice. Instead of these forced mentorships that we see often when we get new jobs and things of the like, hey, this is your mentor, you might not get along with them, right? We again, just as you mentioned, we are offering that power of choice. You can choose who you want to chat with.
Stone Payton: [00:06:59] Well, I’m sure it was very exciting in the beginning, and and it probably has every day probably has elements of surprise and excitement. What? Uh. What are some of the challenges you’ve been running into? Have you been surprised as you’ve tried to reach out on this pursuit?
Eder Garavito : [00:07:20] I actually have been surprised, to be honest, and I’m just going to be vulnerable and transparent because that’s who I am. And I believe that that’s a strength that I have. I have access to several hundred students and a decently large network. And my assumption was when this launched and we kind of publicized it, that everybody would hop on board. And one of the biggest, uh, roadblocks that we’ve had is really creating trust with our, our with our, our followers and really getting that buy in and increasing awareness and making sure that individuals know that we’re trying to help them because these pain points exist. So we’re finally getting the traction, we’re getting traction. And you know what really keeps us going? Stone, is that me, somebody who has imposter syndrome and regularly sort of questions what they’re doing, we continue to get amazing feedback from individuals. And this feedback goes right to our developers and they build what they’re, you know, from that feedback because we’re still constructing the system.
Stone Payton: [00:08:20] And so in your line of work particularly, probably much more so than in my field, I’m operating under the impression that you’re going to want some kind of, uh, credential checking vetting process. I mean, so there’s some there’s some there’s some levels of, uh, I complicated is not the right word, but you’ve got to do some due diligence as you’re, uh, bringing mentors onto the platform, don’t you?
Eder Garavito : [00:08:48] Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we we don’t want to really have just anybody hop on our platform because that’s what happens in the real world, right? We are really going to create we’re after creating an elite environment of mentors who know how to mentor. So we’re offering courses on how to mentor as well. So the vetting process of course will include credentials, resumes, CV well, resumes or CVS, uh, years of experience and some preferences that we have sort of like specialties, prior mentorship experiences and things of the like, uh, and you know, based on that, we we’re going to bring on board the people who we truly believe can make help us change this environment and the environment of mentorship in healthcare. So, uh, in terms of the legalities and all that stuff, Stone, we can have a conversation about an hour about that, but I’ll, uh, I’ll just I’ll just leave it at this. We have an amazing group of attorneys that are helping us make sure that we, you know, dot all our I’s and cross all our T’s.
Stone Payton: [00:09:43] Well, uh, I got to tell you, I went to school and got a marketing degree, and it was, you know, it was less than challenging to make it through the classes. But my roommate at the University of South Alabama studied and became a very successful physical therapist. But I know there was a great there was a great deal more academic pressure and rigor and discipline, uh, for him than there was for me. So paint for me if you could, as as a lay person. His name is Shannon. Like, what would his student life have been like? Or how might it have been enhanced if he’d have had this platform? Uh, should I even say it 30 years ago?
Speaker4: [00:10:24] I mean.
Eder Garavito : [00:10:25] Yeah, Shannon is now going to come at you for giving away their age, right? Yeah. Uh, so really, when we did an extensive market research stone, it was kind of scary to get the results back that most of our students are utilizing and leveraging social media to improve their didactic knowledge. Right. So your future health care professionals are learning from YouTube and before YouTube, you know, 30 years ago, we’re talking about textbooks and and faculty members. And so what if Shannon didn’t get along with the faculty members, or Shannon couldn’t understand concepts well, just from reading articles or textbooks, they could have hopped on to our app and asked the question or questions about specific concepts, and that would have connected them with somebody else who knows is an experienced leader or in their field on specific concepts that Shannon was confused about, and they could connect on the phone or on video conferencing and just talk things out. And hopefully that individual that Shannon connects with, with their clinical experience can help bridge that. You know, the that the excuse me, bridge their theoretical concepts into applying them into clinical scenarios. Right. So making that connection. So it could have been a lot easier for him to learn uh, or not.
Stone Payton: [00:11:41] So even right now, fast forward that 30 plus years, we do have practitioners and people who are wanting to are studying to become practitioners in these fields, and they’re already sourcing to some degree this, uh, shall we say, uh, less vetted, uh, some of these less vetted platforms to get some insight on the work that they’re doing, like they’re going we actually have practitioners and students going to YouTube and Google and that kind of thing right now.
Eder Garavito : [00:12:14] We do. Uh, and that’s what our market analysis came back as. And so, you know, when you have individuals who have a question about a concept and they go to YouTube and they learn it on YouTube, I don’t want to devalue those resources. They have value. But it could be a situation of the blind leading the blind. They don’t have the ability to really vet that content unless they really have that knowledge base. Right now, let’s say that these online resources that you mentioned, and even YouTube or Instagram are vetted individuals and are providing excellent, excellent, uh, knowledge that is asynchronous, right? It’s a video. They can’t speak to the individual. They can’t ask questions. Our platform offers those capacities. And heck, maybe some of those people that have those big accounts on YouTube or Instagram or what have you will join our platform as mentors and be able to connect, live with the individuals who really are just eager to speak to them.
Stone Payton: [00:13:08] Well, I love the idea that these folks are are life learners, and I like that they go out and they’re open minded and they try to find, you know, other ideas to to influence their work. But even as a layperson, I got to tell you, it’s, you know, it’s it’s concerns me a little bit that they they might be sourcing some material sometimes that, uh, you know, not might not be nearly as, uh, as well vetted, but I guess even more so I, I kind of I’m enamored with the idea of getting them connected with an actual person, maybe more than one person through this, uh, through this platform. Because from that relationship, you’ve got a seems like to me, uh, you know, an ongoing, sustainable foundation for continued education and sharpening each other’s soul and all of those kinds of things that life learners benefit from.
Eder Garavito : [00:14:08] Oh, absolutely. I mean, one of the biggest things we talked about vetting our mentors, right earlier, one of the biggest qualities that mentors need to have is vulnerability. And they need to understand that in a good quality mentor mentee relationship, the mentor is sometimes learning from the mentee, and the mentee sometimes outgrows that mentor. And if that happens, they can move on to somebody who knows better or knows different. Now, they could stick with somebody who has helped them through the years. And at that point, when they develop these amazing relationships and networking, the mentors can write them letters of recommendation. They can help them find jobs. You know, they can really help leverage their careers. It isn’t just a one and done. It can be if that’s what the mentee wants. But the mentee themselves are our users. Those are the they are in the driver’s seat. They can meet as many times as they request, as few times as they request. There’s no set requirement for either party.
Stone Payton: [00:15:02] It sounds like you’re at the practitioners. You’re connecting with the students. You’re you’re connecting with. It sounds like you’re getting plenty of individuals, at least open minded to the idea and intrigued with the platform and all those possibilities. How is, um. And I don’t even know if this is the right word. The establishment, the the the old guard, the health care arena? Or are are you running into some resistance at some points from the some of the established institution kind of thing?
Eder Garavito : [00:15:36] Oh, sure. And we’ve you know, for example, the big thing of that we hear is just that virtual mentor mentorship itself or, or teaching through virtual means. It lacks depth and connection that is found in face to face interactions. And we’re not going to challenge that because that is true. But still, in those face to face interactions that are argued, they are either by chance or they’re far and few in between are. So we are now offering the ability for people to connect nationwide, right? So seek those elite individuals in your field instead of just going to conferences and spending thousands of dollars or potentially cold emailing somebody or getting to know somebody because somebody knows somebody here. You know what? Let’s leverage our technology. Because let’s be real. Just like healthcare is dynamic, so is technology. So let’s adapt to it and let’s leverage it so that we can improve our knowledge. But the the true here, um, outcome stone is to improve patient outcomes. Right. That is the biggest thing. We want to make sure that we deliver good quality care to our patients.
Speaker4: [00:16:40] All right.
Stone Payton: [00:16:40] Let’s back it up a little bit. I’m trying to put myself in your shoes a little bit. Uh, successful practitioner and and educator. And then you decide to take on this very entrepreneurial pursuit. You got to find developers, you’re opening a business, you got to get out there and market it. It’s I mean, pieces of that had to be a little bit intimidating. Speak to that transition. And especially in the early days, what what has that been like? Just, you know, now you got a whole new, uh, a whole new job.
Speaker4: [00:17:15] And kind of sort.
Eder Garavito : [00:17:16] Of. Right. Uh, now I’m still working on my, my hours and my real job, I promise. But, uh, yeah, that was a very interesting transition, to be honest. Um, I bit a lot more than I could chew. Stone. Uh, and, uh, I’ve gathered amazing individuals that have really helped us grow through the process. And I think one of the biggest assets and and I have no shame in admitting this. Somebody who has been with us since the start, um, is we have this incredible business coach, and, uh, she’s just really helped us really strategize and make connections and make sure that we’re doing things right. We’re doing things appropriately because it has, you know, this concept grew so large that I had to get a team behind it. So I’m not alone in this. I have three other partners, you know, our teams of attorneys, our developers, and of course our business coach. And we have copywriters. Everybody’s working together in this project, and everybody’s so excited that it just makes working on it that much better on a daily basis.
Stone Payton: [00:18:12] Well, it does sound to me like it’s an awful lot to bite off. But you, it sounds like you are getting those kind of early wins and you’re getting some adoption and interest from people who can really contribute to the, uh, to the effort. And it may be a little early to ask this question, but but it does come up for me. Have you landed or do you feel pretty comfortable that you can land in a place that is going to provide, you know, affordability and accessibility to the people who need it and still be a viable business? Or are you still working out that part of the equation?
Eder Garavito : [00:18:50] We’re still working out that part of the equation. And, uh, you know, just for your listeners tone when they hear that we’re still working on that part of the equation, just know that we’ve been working on that part of the equation for about four months. And that’s a good thing, because we are taking all the input that we’re receiving, all the feedback, all the input we received on the on our surveys and our market research. And we want to make sure that what we develop is something that is accessible and is affordable. Now, I recognize that affordability can be subjective. What I can share is that we are diligently working to ensure that the vast majority of individuals who look at this, uh, look at our product and our service, it would almost be like too stupid for them not to refuse to use it because of the amount of value that it will have. And so that is our main goal. And so instead of sharing with figures with you, just trust us, we are. Affordability is at the forefront of what we’re doing.
Stone Payton: [00:19:46] Yeah. So now that you’ve been at it a while and I know and I’m going to ask you in a moment about, you know, what’s next and maybe a little bit about projected timelines on some key milestones. But now that you’ve been at it a while and it sounds to me like you’re neck deep in it, you’re like at a point of no return, which could be great for us entrepreneurs. Right? But but what are you finding the most rewarding about the day to day of this? What are you, uh, what are you enjoying the most?
Eder Garavito : [00:20:13] I’m enjoying the small wins. Whether it’s. We finished a task in our task list that’s, you know, giant or, um, when I am having my little moments of, uh, sort of negative thoughts, if you will, because, as I mentioned, I sort of self-sabotage somebody. And then I get an email or a comment or somebody reaches out saying they’re super excited about this, or, heck, people like you bring me on a show to talk about this because you’re excited. Those small wins just keep us going. And you are right, we’re at a point of no return, and we’re not going to back out because we’ve received so much positive feedback and excitement about this that, uh, we’re just we’re just excited to finish up and have something to to give back to the people.
Stone Payton: [00:20:54] Well, I won’t and we won’t hold you too tight to to some of these responses. But in general, uh, talk to us a little bit about projected timelines, some of the next, you know, milestones. What’s the what’s the near and mid-tum horizon look like?
Eder Garavito : [00:21:12] Sure. So, uh, you know, three of us partners are physical therapists. Uh, and one of them is a physician. So because of our knowledge base, we’re starting with physical therapy. First, we want to make sure we master the art first. And we have a really good recipe before we start moving on to other health care professionals, professions, which is the plan nursing physicians, occupational speech therapy, you name it. Right. Uh, in terms of our timeline, uh, we’re planning for a beta launch right around March or April of this year, we hope. And, uh, run it for a few months for free for our users, of course, where we can receive feedback from them and continue building what they want. Not what we want, but what they want. And we’re hoping for a full launch here in early summer.
Stone Payton: [00:21:56] What an exciting time. I’m so glad we got a chance to visit with you now, and we got to swing back around and pick up the conversation. Uh, you know, a little bit post, uh, past that, that beta launch. So what is the best way for people to tap in, get on the list, connect with you, start, you know, start learning more about this. Is there some way for them to start following what you’re doing?
Eder Garavito : [00:22:19] Absolutely. Uh, scholar analytics 360 on socials, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook. Uh w-w-w dot scholar CNET.com is our website, our current landing page. Uh, and and then uh, they can email us at info at scarletknights.com. And we will make sure that we get back to them in time. But to sign up for our beta beta user list, you can go to www.com or follow any of our socials.
Stone Payton: [00:22:47] And I got to ask you, I don’t know when or how you could possibly find the time with everything you’ve got going on. Uh, but I am interested to know, uh, if you have time for them now, any other passions outside the scope of this work that we’re talking about that you try to pursue? For instance, my listeners know that I like to hunt, fish and travel. Uh, is there anything you do to try to unplug or any other pursuit, like you playing the drums or riding horses or anything?
Speaker4: [00:23:17] No, no.
Eder Garavito : [00:23:17] Yeah. Of course. Um, you know, kudos to my wife when she listens to this, because without her support, of course, uh, you know, wouldn’t be I wouldn’t be able to do this because I’m working early hours and late evenings. But to unplug. We love me. We have three dogs that we love hanging out with and going on walks with. Uh, we love traveling to Colorado and going skiing and have a boat. And we like going out on the lake and just kind of hanging out. And so we make sure that when we do those things, uh, we have enough time to do them so that we can unplug, meaning we go skiing or we go out on the lake and we’re not going to be doing work. We’re shutting things off.
Speaker4: [00:23:49] Oh, I.
Stone Payton: [00:23:50] Got to tell you, I personally think that, um, uh, colleague of mine calls it white space, but I think, you know, people that are on entrepreneurial pursuits, like you and I both, I think it’s important that we create that space and, uh. Oh, yeah, live a full life, for one thing. But also, I think it really does serve the business. Right. You kind of recharge, rejuvenate, and then you get back and and and get get at it again.
Eder Garavito : [00:24:17] Absolutely. Otherwise all you’re doing is just staring through the a screen or memorizing things, shutting off and just making sure that we commit to it. Whether it’s one day, half a day or a few hours, we commit, we’re shutting off. We’re not thinking about any business. We’re not answering phone calls. We’re going to spend time in whichever way we want. It is so valuable. And and you know what? So it sometimes it hurts and I can’t I just it hurts to turn off things off. But I know when I come back, man I’m like a gorilla. I’m ready to go because I have so much energy and, you know, just rejuvenated.
Stone Payton: [00:24:48] Well, that’s a great piece of wisdom. And you’ve already shared a lot of tips by virtue of your experience being in the arena. But I wonder if from an entrepreneurial standpoint, from a, you know, from someone who is trying to build something, uh, like like you are if, um, if there’s 1 or 2 just actionable tips that, you know, somebody out there, maybe they’re in a corporate job, maybe they’re a practitioner and they’re thinking about some sort of entrepreneurial pursuit. I don’t know, you know, 1 or 2 do’s or or or don’ts or just some things to be thinking about or reading that will kind of help them navigate these waters, especially when they get a little bit rough.
Speaker4: [00:25:33] Yeah.
Eder Garavito : [00:25:34] And look, the first thing is, I’ll say stone is just go for it. I can’t tell you how many years I’ve seen colleagues and friends of mine start businesses. And I always think to myself, oh, I wish that was me. And now I’m on this side. I just went for it and it was scary. But just make sure that you, you know, if it’s something that you’re not sure about and it’s scary. Find yourself a good team, take your time and make sure that the people you’re going to be working with are people that are going to help you, not only the business but help you grow, that you’re like minded. And the very last thing never doesn’t matter if your business is going to be worth millions or not, or it’s going to fail. Whatever. Be vulnerable, be humble and ask for help. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Stone Payton: [00:26:17] I am so glad I asked this. This 20 minute conversation could be a business seminar. All right, let’s make sure once again that our listeners know there are a variety of ways that they can tap into your work. So let’s leave them with with those coordinates again.
Eder Garavito : [00:26:34] Yes. Uh, email us at info at sacred-texts.com. All our socials scholar x 360, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook X, Twitter, whatever it is, etc. or our website scholar netflix.com.
Stone Payton: [00:26:50] Well, editor, it has been an absolute delight having you on the program. I’m quite sincere. We want to circle back. Continue to follow your progress. Congratulations on the momentum, man. You’re you’re doing important work and we sure appreciate you.
Speaker4: [00:27:06] Thank you, Stone, and thanks for having me.
Eder Garavito : [00:27:07] And yeah, we’d love to circle back once we have a little bit more to talk about.
Stone Payton: [00:27:11] My pleasure. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Edgar Garavito with Scholar Genetics 360 and everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying, we’ll see you in the fast lane.
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