“Being a Disruptor” with Kate Ackerman

Many high performance athletes learn to work, function, and thrive within systems not built for them. Others struggle with where those systems fall short, go against the grain, and build something better. In this episode of The Quiet Tension, host Dr. Sharon Chirban speaks with guest Dr. Kate Ackerman, sports medicine physician, endocrinologist, former national team rower, and co-founder of the Women’s Health and Sport Performance Institute (WHSP), about what it means to be a disruptor and build a system for high performing women from the ground up. Together, they discuss what sports medicine historically missed about female athletes, why women’s health was treated as a special case rather than a foundation, and how Ackerman’s own experience in rowing shaped the way she thinks about pain, performance, leadership, and care. Before co-founding WHSP, Ackerman found rowing almost by accident. The sport gave her a new identity and a clearer sense of what she wanted to pursue. After moving into medicine, she began hearing from female athletes whose questions about their bodies, health, and life after athletics were not being answered. That gap pushed Ackerman towards asking the questions the system avoided and building the care model that did not previously exist for these women. Listeners will hear Ackerman talk about: (03:52) Understanding the Pain Cave and Going All In (08:44) Learning How Other People Work (13:09) The Problem She Couldn’t Look Past (18:47) Building a System That Didn’t Exist (28:37) When Directness Comes From a Woman (33:43) Choosing a New Path With Her Family (41:14) Life Works in Phases New episodes of The Quiet Tension are released every other week. If you’d like to stay updated, subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033LFdP... YouTube:    / @drsharonchirban   To learn more about topics like today’s, follow Sharon on Substack: https://substack.com/@drsharonchirban or visit the show website: https://amplifyingperformance.com/the...