30. Marathon running, dual physician household, leaving academic medicine, and prioritizing all aspects of your identity with Dr. Renee Rodriguez Paro

Moms of Medicine

"I feel like I was able to spend those years of fellowship really asking this question of how do I want this career to fit into my life. Before I never really
understood what it was going to feel like to be a mom or to be a wife or what it was going to feel like to just want to be Rene and who I am and the rest of the things. For so long, understandably so, the main focus was how do I become the best doctor and that's what you need to get through medical school and residency to get the best training to be a good doctor but I started to realize that if I was only thinknig about my career and that was it and I wasn't giving ample priority to the rest of the things around it, then I would eventually hate my job for what it was taking away from the other parts."
This episode is with Dr. Renee Rodriguez Paro, a pediatric cardiologist in California.
In this episode we talk about:
- The decision to change your name
- Being married to a physician - the good and the bad!
- Starting a podcast with her husband called "Reconciling Medicine"
- Having a baby in pediatric residency and going back to work after 6 weeks
- Starting fellowship with a 6 month old baby and questioning if she should leave fellowship
- Considering surgery and ultimately deciding she wasn't sure want to be part of a two surgeon family and she loved clinic just as much if not more than the OR
- Shifting career priorities pre- and post-kids
- Making the decision to leave academic medicine
- Her view on part-time work for herself as well as globally for other physicians
- Becoming department chair
- Running marathons!
Connect with Renee:
- Instagram @drreneeparo
Connect with Moms of Medicine:
- Instagram @moms_of_medicine
- [e-mail]