This interview is one in a series of interviews with recipients of the 2020 ACGME Awards. The awardees join an outstanding group of previous honorees whose work and contributions to graduate medical education (GME) represent the best in the field. They will be honored at the upcoming ACGME Annual Educational Conference, taking place February 27-29 in San Diego, California.
2020 Parker J. Palmer Courage to Teach Awardee Robyn Blair, MD is the program director for pediatrics at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook Children's Hospital.
ACGME: How did you become involved in medicine, and in academic medicine specifically?
Blair: I've always loved science, but initially thought I wanted to become a lawyer. When I enrolled as an undergraduate student at Cornell University, I chose to major in biology and society with a concentration in genetics and human development, in preparation for a career as a forensic attorney. I visited the law school often, talking with the law students about their studies, slowly realizing that their path was one I did not want to follow. As my coursework progressed, I recognized my interest in medicine and my fascination with learning the basic sciences and the connections to the human body and disease. Once in medical school, I knew I had made the right career path choice. I loved it!
After pediatrics residency I joined an outpatient general pediatrics practice, but after a few months I made a decision to return to the academic environment. I was fortunate to obtain a position working under the mentorship of my own residency program director, Dr. Susan Guralnick. Dr. Guralnick's inspiring approach to program leadership and her dedication to teaching academic medicine was something I admired. Eventually, I became the program director, providing me with the amazing opportunity to lead the development of newly graduated medical students into pediatricians in just three years of residency education. Academic medicine is the perfect career path, full of stimulating and challenging opportunities in teaching, learning, leadership, research and administration. I couldn't imagine myself doing any other job!
ACGME: What does receiving this award mean to you?
Blair: I am absolutely honored to have been nominated by my institution and residents for this award. I remember when I opened the notification of the award, I was speechless. I read through the qualifications for the award and became emotional. The thought, time, and effort required to nominate someone is considerable and it's something that I sincerely appreciate my colleagues considering me for. As the news spread of my award, I received so many touching messages and phone calls. I'm truly grateful!
ACGME: What do you feel is the most important job the program director has?
Blair: The program director has a million important jobs! The most important one, in my opinion, is to maintain a thriving program with a positive work environment, that listens to the needs of the residents, while keeping up with all the newest program requirements. Of course, this is not easy and requires coordination, collaboration, time, and creativity!
ACGME: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Blair: The most rewarding part of my job as a program director is watching new interns, excited but relatively inexperienced as new physicians, transform and develop into confident, capable, and knowledgeable pediatricians. Every year at graduation, I smile with pride as I reflect upon each graduate's journey. It's especially exciting to follow everyone's career paths and watch their success!
ACGME: What is the most challenging?
Blair: The absolute most challenging part of my job as a program director is limiting the number of new projects I take on at once. I have so many exciting ideas to put into place and not enough time to do it all. I am usually working on 10 things at once, collaborating with faculty members, residents, and other program directors. I try to carve out protected time to accomplish some of these things, but somehow last-minute meetings and discussions seem to routinely take up much of my protected time. Despite being incredibly organized and good with time management, there's never enough time in the day. All my residents know that I “never sleep.” I'm famous for replying to emails in the middle of the night or sending out an update at midnight.
ACGME: What advice do you have to residents or fellows who may be interested in pursuing a career in academic medicine?
Blair: If you're interested in academic medicine, realize that there are limitless paths you can take. Talk to different people in academic medicine about what they love about their academic career. Through academic medicine, you can create a job that's perfect for you. I've been very lucky to be able to incorporate clinical medicine, resident teaching, program leadership, and participation in departmental, hospital, and national initiatives. You can choose to teach in a medical school, conduct research with residents and fellows, create a new program—really anything! A career in academic medicine is never boring.