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Talking to the Children Who Followed Their Parents into Otolaryngology

by Linda Kossoff •

In 2019, a literature review published in the International Journal of Advanced Research concluded that parents have a strong influence over the career choices their children make (Int J Adv Res Publ. 2019;7:221-227). This is hardly a surprising conclusion, but the study did include an interesting caveat: Parental influence can occur inadvertently as well as intentionally. For example, the child who notices that their parent—an otolaryngologist, say—seems to be frequently unhappy or stressed out over their job receives an impactful negative message about work in general and otolaryngology in particular. Conversely, the parent whose passion for and satisfaction with their profession is regularly on display at home as happiness inadvertently communicates to their offspring that being an otolaryngologist is a great thing to do for a living.

There’s no denying that a family’s circumstances play a major role in a young person’s career path as well. It has been legitimately argued that the child of a physician often has a socioeconomic leg up from day one. As sociologist Kim Weeden, PhD, the Jan Rock Zubrow ’77 Professor of the Social Sciences and director of the Center for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., notes in a 2017 article in The New York Times on the topic, “There’s an inheritance of advantage but also disadvantage when you talk about occupational plans.” The piece goes on to note that cultural influences, such as an emphasis on education, as well inherited aptitude, are key factors in whether a child follows in a parent’s footsteps (Bui M, Miller CC. The Jobs You’re Most Likely to Inherit from Your Mother and Father. The New York Times Upshot. Nov. 22, 2017).

How common is it for physicians to raise other physicians? Researchers in a 2020 Swedish study found that, out of 27,788 physicians, 14% had a parent who was also a physician and 2% had two parents who were physicians (BMJ. 2020;371:m4453). Although there are no available statistics on this phenomenon specifically in American otolaryngology, it certainly does exist. ENTtoday spoke with two parent–progeny pairs of otolaryngologists to find out what it’s like for them to share the same calling.

“We Can Always Talk about Work”

Marilene B. Wang, MD, is a head and neck surgeon and professor in the department of head and neck surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, where she has been a faculty member since 1992. She is the director of the UCLA Nasal and Sinus Disease Center and co-director of the Endoscopic Skull Base Program and has been active in professional organizations such as the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, the Triological Society, the American Head and Neck Society, and the American Rhinologic Society. Dr. Wang’s daughter, WayAnne Watson, MD, is currently a third-year otolaryngology resident at Loma Linda University Health in Loma Linda, Calif.