SEAK faculty member answers the question:  What advice would you give for physicians who are considering leaving clinical medicine?

I think probably the biggest advice that I would give them is to think long and hard about it. Once they’ve decided it’s a route they want to take, to just enjoy it. Find the best possible job they can for themselves that fits their interests and needs, to be enthusiastic about it and to realize that they are not selling out. They are not not going to be a doctor anymore. They are still a doctor. They’ll be a doctor every day that they go to work and they’ll be adding a lot of value to the overall healthcare system by developing new products, by ensuring that current products are safe and effective, and by expanding the knowledge of a lot of physicians out there by sharing new information with them. I think it’s a role that is very respected and very necessary in the current medical environment.