Q: What are the benefits and pitfalls of working in the same specialty?
Explore This Issue
December 2022Dr. Wang: The benefits are that we can discuss issues and cases that we face in our work. We also can go to the same meetings, and that has been a lot of fun. We both understand the challenges and rewards of dealing with a busy residency and lifestyle. The pitfall is that we may sound like an echo chamber and need to make efforts to see things from other perspectives.
Dr. Watson: Even when my mom doesn’t agree with my life choices, we can always talk about work! Especially as a busy resident, it’s such a gift to have one of the most important people in my life understand why (and how) I’m up in the middle of the night draining abscesses, shuttling between hospitals, and dealing with challenging cases and patients. When I’m about to doze off while driving home at all hours of the day and night, I know I can always call her and not have to explain.
Q: Did you ever feel the need to urge your child to follow the same path?
Dr. Wang: I didn’t, although I did frequently talk about how satisfying it was to be in healthcare—and that there would always be a need for your skills. But I always recognized that other careers could be similarly rewarding.
Dr. Watson: I’m the fourth otolaryngologist in my family, and that’s more than enough! Even though otolaryngology is by far the best specialty of medicine, I think we have plenty to go around. But these are probably famous last words.
Q: Dr. Wang, what advice do you have for your daughter as she travels along this highly challenging path?
Dr. Wang: Find joy in whatever task you are doing, both large and small. Patients greatly appreciate the time and care that you give them, even if it’s a just small detail that you explain or a few minutes you spend inquiring about their well-being. Get involved in research projects to answer questions about the diseases we deal with. Submit abstracts and attend the meetings, where you will meet other committed and engaged otolaryngologists.
“The Nut Didn’t Fall Far from the Tree”
Michael M.E. Johns II, MD, has had a long and distinguished career in otolaryngology. Among his many roles, he has served as a member of the U.S. Army Medical Corps and assistant chief of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center Otolaryngology Service; a faculty member at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville; a professor and chair of the department of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery and then dean of the medical school and vice president of the Johns Hopkins University medical faculty in Baltimore; executive vice president for health affairs and chief executive officer of the Robert W. Woodruff Health Sciences Center at Emory University in Atlanta; and chancellor at Emory, until his retirement in 2012. His son, Michael M. Johns III, MD, is a highly accomplished otolaryngologist specializing in voice, swallowing, and airway disorders. At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, Dr. Johns III serves as professor of clinical otolaryngology– head and neck surgery, director of medical student education, and division director of laryngology, as well as director of the USC Voice Center.