Matt Liakos, MD

Name: Matt Liakos, MD
Age: 27

Hometown: Malverne, NY

Specialty: Internal Medicine

Place of Practice: Montefiore Medical Center, New York, NY

Why did you want to become a doctor?

I decided to become a doctor at a very young age. The biggest influence on my continued drive to go into medicine was my brother, Thomas Liakos, who started medical school when I was 13. He would call us every day to share with us new stories from his day working in the hospital. He was motivated, optimistic and compassionate. I found myself sharing a lot of the same qualities when I started working in the hospital. Every day, my goal is to remain as optimistic as he was when he was fresh in the hospital and experiencing everything for the first time. 

What sets you apart from other doctors in your field?

My colleagues always comment on how optimistic I am. We work with a very difficult patient population. In medicine, you deal with death and dying on a daily basis.  The other residents that I work with find it uncanny how I can continue to be optimistic and show up to work every day with a smile on my face despite the emotional and physical hardship that accompanies residency training.  

What's the funniest strangest experience you've had as a doctor?

When every nurse at the hospital independently started telling me that I look like Scott Disick from Keeping with the Kardashians. I would go from floor to floor and get chased down the hallway: “Do you know who you look like?” or “Hey Scott!”

What are your 5 tips for living longer?

1. Drink coffee. A recent article in the NEJM 2012 shows that drinking coffee is inversely associated with all cause mortality.
2. Eat a Mediterranean diet. There is good evidence that eating a Mediterranean diet (plant based food, fish, olive oil, red wine) reduces fatal and nonfatal heart attacks and all cause mortality.
3. Lose weight. Many patients have multiple medical problems would have no medical problems if they maintained a healthy weight.
4. Laugh more often. People stress out too much. Laughing is a good way to shatter the stress and to unwind. People who
5. Stay on top of chronic illness. Most chronic illness can be successfully managed with lifestyle change or low dose medicine. Chronic illness such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol that are well maintain have a much lower risk of harm. See your doctor regularly. Find one that you feel comfortable with, that has enough time for you and one that listens.