Talking to the Children Who Followed Their Parents into Otolaryngology

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.

I knew early on that my mom enjoyed and was deeply invested in her work, and I also knew that she still lived a full life outside of the hospital. —WayAnne Watson, MD

Q: What drew you to otolaryngology as a career choice?

Dr. Wang: Otolaryngology appealed to me because of the intricate anatomy of the head and neck, the variety of diseases, the mixture of clinic and surgery, inpatient and outpatient care, and, of course, the great mentor and role models I saw during my time at medical school. The otolaryngologists were the happiest and nicest surgeons!

Dr. Watson: For me, I knew early on that my mom enjoyed and was deeply invested in her work, and I also knew that she still lived a full life outside of the hospital. I would see her working on charts and research projects in the evenings and on family vacations, but at the same time having lots of fun with our family. As I grew older, I began to understand that [my mother] really liked being an otolaryngologist. It wasn’t some miserable experience that she needed to escape (as I had observed in many other working adults); instead, she was driven by enthusiasm for learning and contributing. I realized I wanted many of the same things in my choice of work. Later, in my third year of medical school, I rotated onto the otolaryngology service and immediately felt at home among the residents and attending physicians. I love the breadth and variety of otolaryngology diagnoses, the easygoing personalities in our field, and the opportunity to serve patients doing procedures in the clinic and the OR.

Q: Have the two of you ever found yourselves with differing professional approaches or opinions?

Dr. Watson: I’m still in training, so I have a lot of room for evolution and growth in my professional approach. I think I probably haven’t yet fully separated from my mom’s influence as a clinician.

Dr. Wang: Yes. WayAnne is in the early phase of her career, but I hope that as she moves further along, we can have lively discussions and disagreements that will benefit us both. She has unique talents that are different from mine, and I’m sure she will blaze her own trail in a brilliant career path. (That’s this proud mom’s opinion!)

Q: What are the benefits and pitfalls of working in the same specialty?

Dr. 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.

Having an otolaryngologist as a parent, especially an academic otolaryngologist, gave me early exposure to the people, societies, and structure of otolaryngology. —Michael M. Johns III, MD

Q: You’ve both achieved striking success in your otolaryngology careers. Were your trajectories the same as well?

Dr. Johns III: My dad’s story is very different from mine. He was born in humble circumstances in the Detroit area. His father worked as a janitor for the Catholic Church and his mother worked as a cook/ caretaker at the local parish. He thought back then that he might want to be a pharmacist, because walking home from school he’d see the pharmacist doing interesting things and making a stable living. Back then, when you went to medical school you did a general internship and saw lots of different things. It was a mentorship with Dr. Frank Ritter at the University of Michigan that got him interested in otolaryngology. By contrast, I grew up as the child of an academic otolaryngologist, so my situation was a lot more privileged than my dad’s due to his journey and hard work.

Dr. Johns II: I wanted my son to pursue what he loved; it didn’t matter what that was. I certainly wanted him to get a good education, which he seemed to be doing at the University of Virginia. He didn’t start out planning to be a physician and was interested in the business world and securing a job in business.

Dr. Johns III: I was an economics major—I was going to break free from the mold and do something different. But I did an internship at a bank doing credit work and I found it extremely boring. And frankly, I wasn’t very good at it. But I was good at the sciences.

Dr. Johns II: He came back after his experience at the bank, and he said he’d decided he didn’t want to go into business. He wanted to pursue a “noble profession” and go to medical school. I was shocked! It was totally unexpected. Back when he was in high school, he just wanted to be a billionaire. This caught me completely off guard.

Dr. Johns III: I went into medical school with an open mind about what I could accomplish and contribute to the world. So, at the end of the day, the nut didn’t fall far from the tree!

Q: What has been the most challenging part of sharing the same profession?

Dr. Johns III: Well, my dad is considerably more well-known and, by objective standards, has made a greater contribution to the world, so there’s a sense of my having to prove myself. And people have judgments, of course. They would parse me into either “the chosen one” who has this greatness embedded in my genes or an idiot who got to where I was because of who my father is. But, in the end, it was a powerful driver for me to perform and prove myself.

Q: What have been the benefits of being father–son otolaryngologists?

Dr. Johns III: Having an otolaryngologist as a parent, especially an academic otolaryngologist, gave me early exposure to the people, societies, and structure of otolaryngology. In the early years, our family vacations were typically paired with a Triological Society meeting or some other conference. I grew up going to a lot of otolaryngology conferences. Sometimes when my mom was busy, I’d be parked at my dad’s office, and I would see him wearing the head mirror and gain an understanding of what he did. As a physician, he has served as a fabulous mentor and motivator for me.

Dr. Johns II: It’s kind of fun to see him grow and be successful in the field. He’s such a thoughtful and creative guy. He sees a lot of different things. In terms of research, he always applied it both in the lab and then clinically. He’s a superstar.

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Linda Kossoff is a freelance medical writer based in Woodland Hills, Calif.