About Our Founder
Physician. Educator. Advocate for Doctors—and the Advisors Who Serve Them.
Dr. Vicki Rackner is not a marketing coach who “discovered” the medical niche.
She is a retired surgeon who lived inside it.
For decades, she carried the weight of clinical responsibility, life-and-death decision-making, and the emotional load that defines the World of White Coats. She understands, from the inside, what it means to:
- Be responsible for outcomes that change lives forever
- Make high-stakes decisions under relentless pressure
- Carry professional authority while privately feeling uncertain, exhausted, or overwhelmed
- And quietly struggle with money in a world that assumes doctors should always “have it together”
That insider perspective is the foundation of everything she teaches today.
From the Operating Room to the Physician–Advisor Bridge
After leaving surgical practice, Dr. Vicki did not step into abstract business theory.
She stepped directly into the gap she had lived:
The painful disconnect between how doctors experience money—and how the financial world tries to speak to them.
She saw firsthand how:
- Well-intended financial professionals confused, overwhelmed, or unintentionally alienated physicians
- Doctors delayed critical money decisions not from irresponsibility—but from fear, shame, and decision fatigue
- And how deeply doctors needed protection and translation, not pressure
That realization became the seed of what is now Engaging Doctors®.
Why Advisors Listen to Dr. Vicki
Financial advisors work with Dr. Vicki Rackner for one core reason:
She teaches what no non-physician ever truly can—how doctors actually think, decide, and trust.
Her work is rooted in:
- Medical training and clinical psychology
- Behavioral economics
- Nervous system regulation under pressure
- And decades of observing how doctors behave when the stethoscope comes off and the vulnerability appears
She is the creator of:
- Cracking the Physician Code®
- Get More Doctor Clients™
- The Power Prospecting Program™
- The 10 Laws of Physician Engagement
- The Medical Magnetism framework
- And the Suits vs. White Coats professional identity model
Together, these tools form a unified system for building trust-based physician relationships—not transactional pipelines.
Her Deeper Mission
Dr. Vicki’s work is not ultimately about marketing.
It is about:
- Reducing financial harm in the medical community
- Helping doctors feel safe with money
- Preventing burnout-driven financial mistakes
- And restoring a sense of agency and clarity to people who give everything to others
And for advisors:
Her mission is to help the right advisors become the financial “wealth doctors” their physician clients desperately need.
Where Her Authority Comes From
Dr. Vicki brings together:
- Clinical training
- Lived physician experience
- Behavioral decision science
- Marketing psychology
- And the emotional realities of medical life
She is widely recognized for:
- Translating complex physician behavior into actionable advisor strategy
- Naming dynamics that doctors sense but rarely articulate
- Helping advisors move from vendor to trusted insider
- And building physician engagement systems based on attunement, not pressure
A Personal Note from Dr. Vicki
“I created Engaging Doctors because I once was the doctor sitting on the other side of the table—overworked, high-earning, deeply committed… and quietly uncertain about money.
I know what it feels like when financial conversations don’t feel safe.
I also know what it feels like when they finally do.
My promise to every advisor who works with me is simple:
I will teach you to see doctors not as a niche…
but as human beings carrying extraordinary responsibility.
And if your heart is built for that kind of work, I’ll show you how to serve them beautifully.”
— Dr. Vicki Rackner
Your Next Step
If you’ve made it this far through the About journey, you now understand:
- Why the medical market is different
- Whether you’re wired for Suits or White Coats
- How attraction and repulsion shape doctor behavior
- The real truth about serving physicians
- And who Dr. Vicki is within that world
Now it’s time to choose your growth path.
👉 Explore Services →
👉 Take the Physician Growth Quiz →
👉 Watch the Free Masterclass →
If my life had a bumper sticker, it would read, “Heal thyself”. I faced challenges, made lots of mistakes as I searched for solutions. Now I share my hard-won lessons with others. – Dr. Vicki Rackner
Who is Dr. Vicki Rackner?
Dr. Rackner calls on these experiences to support her clients’ success:
- A breast surgeon who had the privilege of treating many, many patients in her solo private practice
- Clinical faculty at the University of Washington School of Medicine
- Serial entrepreneur
- 10+ years helping financial advisors engage doctor prospects and clients
- Keynote speaker at local, regional and national meetings
- Guest on over 100 radio shows, including NPR
- Coach and consultant helping organizations build business relationships with doctors
- Founder of Thriving Doctors helping doctors achieve the personal, professional and financial goals that attracted them to a career in medicine.
- Someone who has interviewed hundreds of doctors about their money stories
- Author of multiple books, including The Myth of the Rich Doctor, 9 Money Mistakes Doctors Make and How Doctors Build TrueWealth.
When Dr. Rackner is not in her office, you can find her enjoying time with her son and dog, gardening, taking on home remodel projects, cooking and making lists of places she wants to visit.
