Major movements: Two women oncologists speak on new jobs, children
There are many major life events that can be as exciting as they are demanding, such as starting the next step in a career or having a child — both of which two oncologist colleagues experienced around the same time.
Healio spoke with Brittany F. Lees, MD, and Allison M. Puechl, MD, gynecologic oncologists who recently began working at Levine Cancer Institute at Atrium Health, about their experiences for Women in Oncology’s Women on the Move series.
Besides both recently having new additions to their family on top of a career move, they shared some similar thoughts as to why they looked to gynecologic oncology during medical school training.
“To me, continuity of care with patients and getting to know them as people and their family members was really important,” Puechl told Healio in an interview. “In a lot of surgical careers, often after you operate and see patients for their postoperative visit, you don’t ever see them again. Gynecologic oncology was the perfect mix of being able to perform the patient surgeries but then also do their chemotherapy care or their surveillance visits. You are able to not only be a surgeon, but to have those personal patient relationships that so classically define our subspecialty of medicine.”
Lees echoed the remark of being interested in caring for patients “across multiple time points” throughout their life.
“It was being able to take care of women at a very challenging time in their life but also being with them on that whole cancer journey,” Lees said. “This is unique to GYN oncology, as opposed to surgical oncology, in that we do their chemotherapy as well as their surgery, so we really get to see them across their cancer course.”
Next steps
Deciding where to settle roots following a fellowship or residency is a huge step in one’s career journey.
Both Lees, who recently had a son, and Puechl, who had twin baby boys and a toddler, took that step considering the region where they would be moving to and how it would affect their families as a whole.
“We rely a lot on our family for support because both my husband and I have careers and so location was our first criteria for a job,” said Puechl, who completed her residency and fellowship at Duke University. “Next, I just wanted a place that allowed me to be clinically active — seeing a lot of patients — but also able to teach residents, have the potential to teach fellows and continue some degree of research. My job at Atrium has allowed me to do all of those things.”
Although Puechl was already settled in the southeast, Lees admitted that her time spent working in the cold of the north — she completed her fellowship at University of Wisconsin — had partially inspired the move to North Carolina. However, the most inspiring aspects for her were also a good clinical volume and ensuring a good network of mentors.
“I really wanted to be at a program that had mentors like Jubilee Brown, MD; R. Wendel Naumann, MD; Erin Crane, MD; and David Tait, MD, who have been here for many years to provide that mentorship and continue to help me grow as a physician,” Lees said. “Then I wanted to be able to teach. I love teaching, so it’s been important for me having residents and hopefully soon a fellowship here.”
Balancing roles
Women in oncology often face the need to balance the different roles in their life, such as finding the time for both career development and caregiver duties, as well as moving or personal interests. This has been especially true for Lees and Puechl, who started their faculty positions at Levine Cancer Institute during the pandemic and with babies at home.
Both women said that they were well briefed during medical school and early career about developing and maintaining work-life balance, but it is always complicated maneuvering two parts of one life.
“We’ve really focused on balance, balance, balance, and I think it negatively impacts women in some ways because there’s no such thing as balance,” Lees said. “At some points, your career takes up more of your time and, at other points, your family takes up more of your time, and you have to really delicately try to figure out for you and your family what’s most important at what times and just know that it’s never perfect.”
Lees added that physicians can often strive to be perfectionists, but there is no one right way to do any one thing.
“One of the most valuable lessons I learned from my mother, a lawyer, is that it’s not about how much time you spend at home, it’s what you do with that time,” Lees said. “There are days where I’m in the OR until super late and don’t get home. I realized that, at different times in my life, I’m going to be able to do more of one thing than another.”
Puechl addressed a similar aspect of having an “ever-evolving” schedule.
“There are some stretches — days or weeks or months — when work is more time consuming than others,” she said. “On a day-to-day basis, I don’t have the perfect work and family balance, but I try to focus on it as a big picture. While home, I try to put away my phone and my computer to maximize the time I get to spend with my family and make sure that I’m fully present with them. Also, just trying to plan in advance helps. Knowing that if it’s a day or a week that I’m not as busy, I try and maximize the time with family and focus on making that time really count.”
Advice for early oncologists
As they continue to make strides in their medical career and continue to grow and nurture their families, Lees and Puechl said that they recommend women in the early steps of their oncology career journey keep in mind what is important to them personally while also reaching out to others.
For Lees, that means sometimes having to say no to some opportunities.
“It’s important to know yourself, know what you need, and take time for those things,” Lees said. “Seek out opportunities that are going to be beneficial for you long term and be OK with saying no to things that you don’t think are going to be helpful. You don’t want to close all the doors when you start because you’re overwhelmed, but it’s important to make sure that you're doing things that are going to lead to positive experiences in the future rather than taking on so much in the beginning because you’re afraid of saying no.”
On asking for help, Puechl emphasized how important it can be both in the workplace and at home, when possible.
“It cannot be said enough the importance of accepting help and being able to ask for help, and where you’re able, hiring things out if that is possible, having someone to help clean the house, or having someone to watch the kids,” she said. “Moving to start a new job inherently comes with its own struggles, and so I have been trying to give myself a little bit of grace that some days are going to be more uncomfortable than others and making sure I reach out to my support system. Ask for help and accept any help that is given to you.”
For more information:
Brittany F. Lees, MD, can be reached at brittany.lees@atriumhealth.org.
Allison M. Puechl, MD, can be reached at allison.puechl@atriumhealth.org.
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