On Being An Academic

Being an “academic” in medicine typically means one is employed as a university professor and tasked with teaching the next generation of physician scientists. It can be a daunting task. It takes longer to see a patient because you are explaining things to the trainee. And they ask questions you are supposed to know all the answers to. You guide them as they do a procedure for the very first time “patiently” watching as you let them do it. You typically make far less in salary then you would in private practice and are constantly asked to rate their performance.

But I love the job. Because the job of an academic allows you to watch people become great doctors and better people. And you get to see them do great things. And when you run into them at conferences, you get to catch up and see just what they have become.

"Running" into a former Pulmonary Fellow, Dagmar Lin while running a 5K for "HEALTHY LUNGS FOR LIFE" in Vienna, Austria