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Personal and Community Advancements are Interlinked

When it comes to advancing your professional career path, it can feel like it’s a very singular and personal journey, built on sequential sets of decision-making opportunities that ultimately only affect you. Today in this blog, I aim to share the many angles that emphasize a viewpoint that shows advancing your own professional career is in fact a community building effort, and it is very possible that those decision-making moments, challenges to overcome, and opportunities to pursue, can ultimately affect a host of individuals that are interconnected with you, on a professional, and personal level.

Let’s start by pointing out the fact that currently all of the science and health sectors are significantly being affected by the Covid-19 global pandemic. These are special circumstances that bring about unique challenges and pressures on the decision-making processes that early careers (and actually, careers of all stages) have to tackle. Part of the unique situation that we’re all dealing with is the mixture of increased separation and distance within professional working groups (either in actual physical space, or with the addition of a larger work-from-home element), coupled with the shared connection that so many of us are basically dealing with very similar stresses (the novelty of the situation; the larger than normal burden on physical and mental health; the uncertainty of short/long term professional plans, etc.).

These challenges are all coming on top of the already known and understood stresses and pressures involved in trying to pursue advancements in a professional career path. So questions can come up in our mind every once in a while, such as “Should I delay, or reduce my strive to grow professionally for now? Should I hold on to what I have, make sure I ride out the storm? How can I think of professional advancement at this time, when so many are dealing with extraordinary challenges?”. These are valid and excellent thoughts to have, and to try to find actual answers for. Each one of us faces a few similar, and many distinct, sets of factors that contribute to our decision making process regarding our current and future professional paths.

When it comes to professional advancement, sometimes looking after your own self interests also serves as looking after the interests of the many communities that you belong to. Moving forward in a career path allows for a number of positive changes to happen simultaneously:

The professional space that you occupied can be now filled by someone else. 

Moving forward professionally frees up the junior position that you previously held (and managed to succeed in, allowing for the advancement to happen). Now someone else can come in this space, learn and have an opportunity to advance in their future, in a way similar to what you’ve done. Bonus community points: Now you are able to be a direct, or indirect (formal or informal) mentor to this new individual, or at the very least a useful contact and advisor.

Your new position will benefit from having you join.

Remember that advancing your career, getting the “new job”, is not just a win for you, but also for the job itself! Progressing through your career path means you’ve gained skills and experiences that will be of value to the new community and position you’ve moved into. This is also a reminder to always look inward towards what you can provide for the new career, not just look for what the new career provides you. Obviously there is a learning curve to every new professional position, but your unique collection of skills and experiences is just as important to integrate into this new path.

Science and healthcare serve the local, national and international population.

As an early career scientist, I always anchor my thoughts around this basic truth. My career progression depends on my ability to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and innovation, geared towards serving the needs of the global population. In my case specifically, my job focuses on reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease, and finding new ways to promote and sustain a longer healthier life. For me, professional advancement allows me to expand my reach and work towards affecting more people in a way that contributes to their health and global knowledge. When it comes to your professional path, make sure to evaluate and appreciate your own current and future contributions to the communities you’re part of.

So my take home message today is: advancing your own professional career path is in fact not just an act of singular self interest, but an opportunity to help progress the community you are leaving and the community you are joining. The current global pandemic has brought on some additional challenges and stresses that must be acknowledged and appropriately taken into account. All of these factors play a role, but should not dissuade anyone from striving towards advancing one’s professional career.

 

“The views, opinions and positions expressed within this blog are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent those of the American Heart Association. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them. The Early Career Voice blog is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Only your healthcare provider can provide that. The American Heart Association recommends that you consult your healthcare provider regarding your personal health matters. If you think you are having a heart attack, stroke or another emergency, please call 911 immediately.”

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My Professional Journey

I was fascinated by the body’s circulatory system in high school. I was also concerned about heart disease being the number one killer of adults in the world. I figured I would become a cardiologist and help save hundreds, thousands, or even millions of people over time in personalized and public health care from fatal heart conditions. I suspected then that I would one day be a physician in cardiovascular diseases.

In college, everyone knew. I majored in Physics, spent lots of time in Spanish, and met my humanities and social sciences requirements, yet everyone knew I was destined for medical school. I completed all my premedical studies, volunteered at a local hospital, and shadowed doctors, and pursued research. My high honors senior thesis for the Bachelor’s and my excellent Master’s thesis were ultimately based on analyzing blood samples to determine health and disease and make predictions, using quantitative analytical methods in genomics and transcriptomics (gene expression profiles). Those studies in the blood were the closest I could get to the circulatory system as a physics major doing biomedical research at that time. It was fantastic!

By the time I started medical school, I figured that if I didn’t become a cardiologist, then I would be an oncologist or practice medical genetics (thinking that would be the closest thing to genomics). In medical school didactics, I quickly learned that medical genetics back then wasn’t what I thought it would be, and it didn’t focus on adults as much as I would have liked. Oncology lectures focused less on the conversation with the patient and more on signaling pathways that I had not yet begun to understand. I decided maybe that was not for me either. The physiology of the heart indeed captured my heart; the lungs and kidney were great too. So there I was, back to the heart and its circulatory system.

In my third year of medical school, I faced a dilemma. I enjoyed Psychiatry, Radiology, General Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Family Medicine, and Pediatrics, among other rotations, as well as my electives in Cardiology. What was I to do with my life as a doctor? I could almost see myself doing any of those! Almost.

During the PhD of my MD/PhD program, I shadowed a general cardiologist. I noticed that most of his patients were older and already in atrial fibrillation or heart failure. I asked myself, “Where are the 40-60 year olds before this happens?” I decided to create Preventive Cardiology. That was in 2006. I googled and saw that it already existed! In fact, we had just recruited a brand new faculty cardiologist, whose focus was prevention. I quickly became her mentee and spent some time in clinic with her. I realized that when it really came down to it, I saw myself managing and even more so preventing heart disease.

Then one day, I saw an email about a pilot research study in cardio-oncology. Thankfully, I was able to be a part of the study and learn more about this emerging field. This was in 2010. Almost a decade ago, I realized that my calling in medicine was to practice preventive cardiology and cardio-oncology and pioneer the merging of the two.

So, in my fourth year of medical school, I spent lots of time in various Cardiology clinics, to gain knowledge and exposure in other fields within Cardiology. I also had the opportunity to spend time in Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology clinics, as well as with the radiation therapy technicians, treatment planners, and medical physicists. I performed literature reviews on my own and brought in articles to discuss with the Cardiologists, Medical Oncologists, and Radiation Oncologists. My favorite paper then is still quoted today in many experts’ presentations on ischemic heart disease risk resulting from radiation therapy.

With such incredible exposure to Cardiology, Oncology, and Cardio-Oncology patient care, research, and education, I thought about what I wanted to do most in the world as a professional. It became clear to me in my fourth year of medical school that I wanted to manage and, even more profoundly, prevent heart disease in the general population and in individuals with a current or prior history of cancer, and especially too in women. During that year, I got to present on my learning experiences in patient care, research, and education to the entire Cardiology department.

In 2012, in my last year of medical school and the MD/PhD program, I matched into the highly selective clinician investigator program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I signed on the dotted line in advance for Internal Medicine Residency, Cardiology Fellowship, and Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Everyone, therefore, knew I was for sure destined to #ChooseCardiology.

During my second year of residency, during my Oncology rotation, I cared for a woman with congestive heart failure thought to be due to anthracycline therapy administered many years before. That blew the whole thing open. I informed my faculty and advisors in Oncology, Preventive Cardiology, and Cardio-Oncology that I desired and planned to pursue both Preventive Cardiology and Cardio-Oncology and find ways to merge the two.

Over seven years at Mayo Clinic, I was, therefore, able to focus much of my research and subspecialty training and learning efforts in Preventive Cardiology and Cardio-Oncology (see CardioOncTrain.com). I also had the privilege of several clinic sessions in Heart Disease in Women. To me, all three are related, in so many ways.

My mission, therefore, is to protect the heart from ischemia, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, and other ailments in the general population, and particularly those individuals with a current or prior history of cancer (and especially in women).

Thus, I am now a cardiologist, with special emphases in preventive cardiology and cardio-oncology, especially in women. I am also a poet, and writing poetry about science, medicine, and now the heart has truly become one of my greatest joys (see LyricalMezzanine.com).

I share this story with you as an example of an individualized pathway in #ChooseCardiology. Perhaps you too are leaning towards areas in Cardiology to which you have not had much exposure, yet you know somebody has to do it, and that it must be created. Don’t let the unknown obscure the certainty of your calling. Find mentors and advisors who will believe in your potential and vision and spur you on, and who will one day be proud and excited to see your passion become reality.

 

“The views, opinions and positions expressed within this blog are those of the author(s) alone and do not represent those of the American Heart Association. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them. The Early Career Voice blog is not intended to provide medical advice or treatment. Only your healthcare provider can provide that. The American Heart Association recommends that you consult your healthcare provider regarding your personal health matters. If you think you are having a heart attack, stroke or another emergency, please call 911 immediately.”