BLOG: Unexpected success of leaving academic medicine for community practice
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When I graduated from oncology fellowship in 2015, I went straight into an academic position thinking that I would continue to pursue my goals of early drug development and phase 1 clinical trials.
I truly enjoyed being a new attending. I was building my practice, teaching fellows, conducting research and working with wonderful colleagues. The only challenge — a big challenge — was a long commute, where I was routinely spending 3 to 4 hours in the car daily.
I discovered audiobooks and would dictate patient notes on my phone to be productive. My husband worked 2 hours in the opposite direction, so moving closer to where I worked was not an option. Additionally, both of our families lived nearby, and we wanted to be close as we began our family.
Gut feeling
Fast forward 1 year later, and I was up at 3 a.m. breastfeeding and aimlessly scrolling on my phone. I hadn’t canceled my prior email subscription to The New England Journal of Medicine Career Center and I saw that my community hospital was looking to hire a breast and gynecologic medical oncologist — my exact area of practice.
I was already dreading what my commute would look like when I returned from maternity leave, and so I clicked apply without thinking much more about it. I filled out some brief information, put my baby down in her bassinet and fell asleep.
I woke up the next morning to a voicemail from the recruiter and shortly after, had a formal interview lined up for the following week. Although this was not an academic position, I had a feeling that I should at least explore the opportunity.
I went in for the interview, and by the end of the day, I had this gut feeling that I belonged there.
When I received a job offer, I really had to think about what taking the job would mean. I would be seeing many more patients. There were no residents or fellows. At the time, there were no significant opportunities for investigator-initiated research and certainly no possibilities at the time for phase 1 clinical trials and novel drug development. This was hard for me to reconcile because I had spent most of my fellowship training pursuing goals that I would now have to, at least temporarily, put on hold.
I was nervous about losing the structure and support that came with an academic institution, and some people felt that leaving academics would be a mistake. Despite all of this, there was a pull that I could not let go of and I decided to trust my instincts and accept the offer.
Social media
Several months later, as I was settling into my new role, I saw other doctors creating professional social media accounts and thought, “I can do that.”
I started with Instagram because Twitter was already saturated with oncologists. I posted a photo of myself with a brief introduction and a stock photo of calcium highlighting its role in bone health for breast cancer survivors. I started posting periodically, usually inspired by a conversation or a topic that came up in my clinic.
My mission was simple: Combat misinformation through sharing evidence-based facts and data. I had no other strategy or plan. Slowly, more and more people started to follow me. People would make appointments to see me because they were following me on social media. I was soon posting more, breaking down new research and complex topics in ways that patients could understand.
I then started the Interlude Podcast, which has wholeheartedly helped me to become a better oncologist. I began connecting with other physicians and making relationships outside of my hospital. The mentorship and sponsorship that I worried about losing when I left academics developed organically on its own.
Incredible opportunities
One day, I received an email from ASCO asking me to be a “Featured Voice” for their annual meeting. There was a lot of imposter syndrome going on internally when this email initially arrived because the other experts being featured were well established and well known.
Yet, I kept reminding myself that if someone at ASCO felt that I would be good at this role, I should say “yes” and that was just the beginning.
The opportunities that have emerged from my presence on social media have been beyond incredible and more than I could have ever imagined.
I feel privileged to reach people on a larger scale, to encourage other health care professionals to show up online where the patients are and to use social media to transform how we practice and deliver care in oncology.
I am much more fulfilled professionally now than I could have ever imagined. I am so grateful that I made that career pivot even when it didn’t all make sense at the time.
To think that it all started with a 3 a.m. email scroll.
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Eleonora Teplinsky , M D , is head of the department of breast and gynecologic medical oncology at Valley Health System. She can be reached at teplel@valleyhealth.com.
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