Jason: Could you please introduce yourself, give us a brief overview of Appell & Sorrell Wellness, tell us a little about your background in medicine and what led you to where you are today?

Dr. Sorrell: I’m Dr. Robert Sorrell, an orthopedic surgeon in Birmingham, Alabama, and co-founder of Appell and Sorrell Wellness. I attended medical school and completed my orthopedic surgery residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Since finishing residency in 1992, I have been in private practice in orthopedic surgery in Birmingham, Alabama. Throughout my career, my focus has been helping patients restore mobility, remain active, and improve their quality of life.

The idea for Appell and Sorrell Wellness actually grew out of our orthopedic practice. We frequently cared for patients with severe hip and knee arthritis who needed joint replacement but whose weight increased their surgical risk. We began offering medically supervised weight-loss treatment, including GLP-1 medications, to help appropriate patients lose weight, improve their health, and become better candidates for surgery.

Jason: How did the idea for Appell & Sorrell Wellness come about, and what made you want to build something like this alongside your existing clinical practice?

Dr. Sorrell: What began as a solution to a specific orthopedic problem quickly opened our eyes to something much broader. Patients weren’t simply losing weight—they were feeling better, becoming more active, and taking a greater interest in their overall health.

That experience ultimately evolved into Appell and Sorrell Wellness. Today, we combine medical weight management with hormone optimization and a personalized approach to helping patients improve how they feel and function. For me, it’s a natural extension of what I’ve always tried to accomplish in medicine: helping people live healthier, more active, and fulfilling lives.

Jason: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building Appell & Sorrell Wellness and balancing those responsibilities with your clinical practice?

Dr. Sorrell: The biggest challenge has simply been time. I’m 66 years old and at a point in my career when I had actually begun thinking about slowing down a little. Instead, starting Appell and Sorrell Wellness has given me an entirely new area of medicine to learn and a new practice to help build, while I continue to maintain an active orthopedic surgery practice.

Balancing those responsibilities has certainly required a significant commitment of time and energy. At the same time, it has been incredibly rewarding. After practicing orthopedic surgery for more than three decades, I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to expand my knowledge into areas such as medical weight management, hormone optimization, and preventive wellness.

In many ways, Appell and Sorrell Wellness has given me a renewed enthusiasm for medicine. Rather than simply slowing down, I’ve found myself learning, growing, and becoming excited about another way that I can make a meaningful difference in my patients’ lives.

Jason: Many of our readers are aspiring physicians or are early in their careers. As both a physician and as someone developing something new, what have been the biggest lessons you’ve learned about innovation and building something meaningful?

Dr. Sorrell: One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that you have to love what you’re doing. Building something new requires a tremendous amount of time and energy, and if you’re not genuinely passionate about it, it’s difficult to sustain that commitment.

I’ve also learned that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are tremendous resources available if you’re willing to seek them out. Find people who have successfully done something similar, reach out to them, ask questions, and learn from both their successes and their mistakes. Most people are surprisingly willing to share their knowledge and experience.

Finally, surround yourself with people who share your goals and values and, just as importantly, people you genuinely enjoy working with. Building something meaningful is rarely an individual accomplishment. Having the right people around you makes the process more productive, more enjoyable, and ultimately more successful.

Jason: What impact do you hope Appell & Sorrell Wellness will have on your patients and the broader Birmingham community, and what advice would you give to medical students or young physicians who hope to build something of their own while practicing medicine?

Dr. Sorrell: Our goal at Appell and Sorrell Wellness is really very simple: we want to help our patients feel better, look better, and live longer so they can fully enjoy their lives. We want to help people take a more proactive role in their health—not simply treating disease when it occurs, but improving their health, energy, strength, and overall well-being as they age. If we can make that kind of difference for our patients and ultimately within the broader Birmingham community, I think we will have accomplished something very meaningful.

Perhaps the most important lesson for me personally has been to never stop learning. Over the past year and a half, as we’ve developed our approach to hormone optimization, wellness, and longevity, I haven’t just been learning how to help my patients—I’ve incorporated many of these same principles into my own life. At 66, I’ve experienced a considerable difference in how I feel, my energy, and my overall well-being. That has made this work very personal for me.

For medical students and young physicians who hope to build something of their own, my biggest advice is this: you have to love what you’re doing. Medicine already requires an enormous commitment of time and energy. If you decide to build something in addition to your clinical practice, it will require even more.