Balancing Family and Career: Advice from the Trenches

I was recently asked to address a group of residents on the subject of balancing family and career. Although I had never considered myself an expert on this topic, I provided these young physicians—almost half of whom were women—with practical advice from my own experience over the past 14 years. Although many of my suggestions seemed self-evident to me, the residents' enthusiastic responses encouraged me to offer my suggestions to a wider audience.

Women currently make up a greater percentage of medical students, residents, fellows, and physicians in the United States than ever before. As a result, balancing family and career has become imperative for an increasing number of women physicians. This issue, however, receives little attention in traditional medical forums. Ideally, the art of balancing family and career is equally important to men and women, but as long as women are the traditional caregivers, this balance is more of an issue for them. This is particularly the case in academic medicine; because the academic clock and biological clock tick in synchrony, efforts to build a family and a career typically converge for a woman in her twenties and thirties.

Obviously, all families are different, as are everyone's needs and wants. What works for me might not work for others. Nevertheless, it is the prerogative of middle age to become reflective. In so doing, it has become clear to me that certain things have been helpful, even essential, in having a family and a productive career and enjoying both on a full-time basis. Although my own experience is as a woman in academic medicine, my advice may be useful to physicians of both sexes in other settings as well.

I am currently an associate professor in the Department of Medicine at a major academic institution. I was the first woman …