The most valuable advice on medical specialty choice comes from those in practice. These are the five best-read entries in our “Shadow Me” Specialty Series, along with a small flavor of the kind of insights to be gleaned from the full profiles.
What it’s like to be in otolaryngology: Shadowing Dr. Gillespie. Christina Gillespie, MD, an ear, nose and throat specialist, says the most challenging part of otolaryngology is “the administrative burden of note writing and dealing with insurance companies.”
What it’s like to be in vascular surgery: Shadowing Dr. Aziz. Faisal Aziz, MD, offers advice about his life as a vascular surgeon. The most challenging aspect of vascular surgery “is complex anatomy and extremely complicated postoperative course,” he says.
What it’s like to be in neurology: Shadowing Dr. Govindarajan. Raghav Govindarajan, MD, says “neurological care requires time and patience” and that the most challenging part of his specialty is finding “the balance between providing care and keeping up with the expectations of the management in maintaining productivity.”
What it’s like to be in endocrine surgery: Shadowing Dr. Krishnamurthy. Vikram D. Krishnamurthy, MD, notes the most rewarding aspect of being an endocrine surgeon is two-fold: “(1) providing excellent oncologic outcomes that preserve functional capacity (e.g., voice) and optimize cosmesis and (2) reversing the debilitating effects of various tumors that produce excessive hormones.”
What it’s like to be in obesity medicine: Shadowing Dr. Lazarus. Ethan Lazarus, MD, says there are several challenging aspects of his medical specialty. “Patients lose weight, then stop treatment, then they regain the weight and blame themselves. It is hard to get people to accept that obesity is a chronic disease. There is also a lot of bias against treating obesity as a disease, particularly with regards to the use of anti-obesity medications.”
