Dr. Cindy Wang is a an emerging physician leader seeking advice to help advance her hospital management career. She responded to my offer to provide mentorship in exchange for recording and posting our conversation here on the podcast.

First, My Sincere Thanks

Before we get into our interview today, I’d like to thank all of you who sent me condolences following last week’s episode. I deviated from my usual topics and posted a tribute to my recently deceased mother, Vicky Jurica. I want to acknowledge those who sent me kind words of condolences and reassurance.

My Endorsement for the American Association for Physician Leadership

Also, I want to spend a minute talking about the American Association for Physician Leadership. I am not an affiliate marketer, and I receive no compensation for this endorsement. But I’ve been a member of the AAPL for about 25 years, and it’s an outstanding organization.

It helps to support and promote physicians as managers, executives and leaders. Its members work and lead in:

government agencies,
the military,
health, life and disability insurance companies,
hospitals and health systems,
medical groups,
pharmaceutical companies, and,
anywhere physicians are employed.

The AAPL provides live conferences and online education, books, coaching, mentoring, career services and nonclinical job postings. It also provides physician executive certification, the CPE, that demonstrates your expertise and skills as a physician leader.

I’ve mentioned the AAPL in numerous podcast episodes and interviewed the Director of Career Services in Episode 24.

It truly is the world’s leading organization of emerging and established physician leaders.

The cost of annual membership is a little less that $300 per year, which is a ridiculously low price. I strongly recommend you consider joining. Check it out using this link – AAPL Information.

Dr. Cindy Wang

Cindy has been practicing full-time anesthesia for about four years. She is determined to pursue a career in hospital management. She has already enrolled in the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in order to complete a master's degree in public health. And she has become involved in QI efforts at her hospital in Toronto.

anesthesia cindy wang advice emerging physician leader

Photo by Piron Guillaume on Unsplash

Advice for an Emerging Physician Leader

During our conversation, we address some of the following topics:

Cindy's educational background and work situation;
Some of the reasons she is pursuing this new career;
Why she chose to pursue an MPH;
What she has done so far to begin her career transition;
My model for pursuing a management and executive career;
How working with non-physician directors can help your cause; and,
The importance of mentors in career change.

Action Items

Some of the action items she will follow-up on include the following:

Develop a deeper understanding of the quality measurement tools being used at her hospital, so she can become a resource for her colleagues;
Seek out the quality director to learn more about quality efforts at her hospital;
Develop a relationship with the pharmacy director and learn about medication safety projects in which she can participate;
Evaluate the American Association for Physician Leadership as a possible research for her career pursuits;
Identify additional mentors to help her chart a clearer career path.

Photo by JOSHUA COLEMAN on Unsplash

I’ve completed a Free Guide called 5 Nonclinical Careers You Can Pursue Today. It’s a 24-page manual that outlines the steps you can take to pursue a career in utilization management, clinical documentation improvement, informatics, medical writing and hospital management. It can be found at vitalpe.net/freeguide