First Job Blues

My first job was at Denver Health Medical Center (affectionately known as the Doghouse, derived from its old name: Denver General Hospital). I had a faculty appointment at University of Colorado but only spent a few days a month on campus. Most of my clinical work was at DG. I was hired by Doug Coldwell straight out of fellowship at CU, who then promptly hired his newlywed wife a few months after me. Despite his assurances of equanimity, it didn’t work out that way although I can’t really blame him. If he had to give an extra weekend call to either me or his wife, I might make the same choice as him. It is safe to say, however, that it was a challenging year for me.

In the spring of my first year as an attending, I was feeling a bit disillusioned. My boss was not only demonstrating blatant favoritism toward his wife, he was also climbing up the leadership ladder: Doug somehow managed to get appointed as the chair of the DG department of radiology, without a search or any apparent oversight. It felt like a coup. I was lucky to have Jan Durham supporting me throughout those surreal times. He later abruptly left his position with a few weeks notice (waiting until after I had resigned to go to Northwestern) along with his wife to join the University of Maryland practice.

Call me Pollyanna but even in the worst of circumstances, I had faith that things might work out for me. That spring, they did, in the form of Northwestern IR. Bob Vogelzang hired me to join him, Al Nemcek, Howard Chrisman, and Mark Saker at the “new” Northwestern Memorial Hospital which opened in 1999 to great fanfare. My time at Northwestern ('98-01, '05-14) was transformative for me, personally and professionally. I learned what qualities to value in my professional colleagues and I learned that my family far superseded any professional goals or aspirations I had. They were great years with great friends.

Again, not to be Pollyanna but I actually believe that most newly minted IRs end up in jobs where there is net gain personally and professionally. I think it is the minority of new practitioners who end up in weirdly malignant situations like me. But even if you’re amongst the unlucky, there is still a lot you can learn. It is hard to step back and get perspective when you’re miserable, but it pays to stay positive, curious, and open. I continue to believe that good things happen to good people; that’s from my own anecdotal observations of hundreds of residents and fellows with whom I’ve interacted over the years. And my own experience too- things have turned out pretty darn great for me despite a bumpy start. I have so much to be grateful for!