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Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills

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to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.

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When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find

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that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research

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program.

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Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.

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However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.

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For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians

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the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.

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Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.

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I'm your host Toyosi Onwuemene, and it is such a pleasure to be speaking with you today.

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So when I was in medical school, I got so caught up in all the studying that we had

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to do and keep up with that I stopped reading books that were non-medical.

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I just couldn't do it every time I picked up a book that was non-medical.

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I got really anxious and worried, and I was like, wait a minute, my fund of knowledge

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is so poor, how dare I spend any time looking up any information that was not going to advance

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my medical career?

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So very short-sighted of me, but I didn't do much reading.

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And so when I finally finished all of my training, which really was 10 years after I began medical

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school, I finally had breathing space and I started to read books that were non-medical.

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And one of the books I read that really was transforming was, was a transformative experience

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was The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

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So I love that book, I always recommend it.

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It's by Stephen Covey.

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And I thought I would share with you 10 habits of highly effective clinician researchers

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or clinician scientists.

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And so there's some of the seven habits in here, the seven habits of highly effective

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people in this 10, but clearly there's a little bit more that's kind of really focused on

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and connected to research that we'll talk about.

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So the first habit that I want to talk about is that they take ownership of their career.

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And so, you know, when we do our training and we start in medical school, there's a

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clear end.

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We know exactly all the things we're supposed to learn.

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There's a curriculum, there are people who are guardians of the curriculum.

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By the end of four years, maybe five or six, you graduate.

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It's very clear what the end points are and people are shepherded through med school.

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Residency similarly, there's a list of things you're supposed to do, competencies you're

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supposed to acquire.

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And at the end of it, you get the certificate, you're done with your residency.

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And for those of you who finished fellowship, it's the same thing.

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You have this path, you complete all the competencies, there is a golden certificate for you at the

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end of the rainbow.

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But then when you get to a faculty position, all of a sudden, there isn't that clear end

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in sight.

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It's like you're looking ahead at a 20, 30, 40 year career, and there is no gold watch

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at the end of the whole experience.

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And so then you have to ask yourself, so what am I doing here?

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What do I do?

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Now, some people will be lucky, they'll find a mentor who will take them under their wing

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and help them excel and do great.

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And then for most others, they won't find such a mentor.

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And then they struggle and they flounder and they're not able to figure out what to do

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because there are so many bosses and so many people ask them to do different things.

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And so you know the mark of a highly successful and effective clinician scientist by the fact

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that they take ownership for their own career.

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Yes, they may have a great mentor, they may have a team of people that they connect with

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and get advice from, but other people are not leading them, they are leading themselves

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with high quality advice.

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They're leading their own careers.

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And I want to invite you to think about how you can effectively take ownership for your

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career because you really are the best person to lead your career.

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And the challenge with our medical training is that if we have gone to a great program,

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then we're probably disconnected from the things that help us have a clear sense of

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where we want to be.

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We spend a lot of time practicing ignoring our feelings and our emotions or our bodily

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sensations.

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So we practice suppressing sleep and suppressing the urge to eat or suppressing the urge to

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go to the bathroom.

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And so no wonder we don't know exactly what we want out of our careers.

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That's where coaching can be a benefit.

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And so if you are an academic woman in hematology and you are looking for a coach, I am that

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coach that can be helpful to you.

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Let's connect via DM and see how I can be helpful to you.

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So gaining ownership of your career comes from knowing where you want to go and then

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recognizing the tools that help you get there.

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So a highly successful clinician scientist takes ownership of their career.

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Number two, habit number two, is that they travel to the future to understand their end.

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And so someone who is an effective clinician scientist has gone to the future and they

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figured out that, wow, at the end of all of this, I go away.

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And so what am I going to leave behind?

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And so they have a good sense of what their legacy will be.

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They have a clear understanding of how it all ends.

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And because of that, it helps them be very, very clear about developing and creating the

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steps to get them there.

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And so somebody who is going to be highly effective has a clear sense of what legacy

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they're building that at the end they're going to leave to others.

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A highly successful clinician scientist thinks about the end.

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Now habit number three is that they put first things first.

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Because they've gone all the way to the end, they know that this ends with them not being

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in the picture.

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They have a clear sense of their legacy, what they want to leave behind.

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And what they do is they put first things first.

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It means that they do not sacrifice their health just so that they can make this research

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thing work.

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They don't ignore their families thinking, well, in five or six years, I'll have tenure

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and then I can be a family member again.

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They put first things first.

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They have a clear sense of what their priorities are.

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And they don't allow other people to drive their boats or to reorganize or reassess their

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priorities.

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And so someone who's going to be a highly successful clinician researcher has the habit

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of putting first things first.

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The fourth habit is protection.

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So they protect their most precious assets, their minds, their energy, and their time.

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They protect their minds because they understand that their mind is the source of all good

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things, the source of their thinking, the source of their writing.

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They understand how important their minds are.

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And so they protect their minds so that they have clear thinking.

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They read high quality material that allows them to expand their minds.

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They look for experiences that grow their, grow their and expand their understanding.

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They really protect their minds.

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They get rest when it's needed.

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They are not spending days and days binge watching things on TV or on the tablet.

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They protect their minds.

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The second thing they protect is their energy, and so they don't let people diffuse their

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energy by being worried and anxious about things that they're not able to control.

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Instead, they conserve their energy so that they can focus it on the things that are very

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important to them and that they value most.

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The third thing they protect is their time.

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And so because they're highly effective people, people are always reaching out to them, asking

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for things to be done, asking for them to sit on committees or do uncompensated projects

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that don't advance their own work.

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And because of that, they are very careful about protecting their time.

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Whether the institution protects it for them or not, they take steps to make sure they

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have the time that's needed to advance their work.

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They protect their most precious assets.

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Habit number five is that they have a plan for their research and writing.

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And so they don't leave it to chance.

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They don't wait until the opportunity comes to write another manuscript.

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They create a plan that creates the opportunities for them.

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They have a plan for their research and writing.

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As a scientist, one of the most important things you do is to communicate the science

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that you do.

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It is so important that you're constantly in communication with your science, about

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your science, but to others in regards to where your science is going.

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And so they have a plan for their research and writing.

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They have a one-year plan.

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They have a three-month plan.

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They have a weekly plan and they certainly have a daily plan.

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And because they have a plan for their research and writing, they're able to do habit number

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six, they write consistently.

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I also think about that as they produce consistently.

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They have a plan for their research and writing, so it's not left up to chance.

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Because they have a plan for writing daily, they produce writing consistently.

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Now, again, as a clinician scientist, your job is to communicate your research.

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You communicate your research to your funders so that you can encourage them to write you

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more checks.

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You communicate your research to the scientific community so that people understand where

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your science is going and how it fits within the greater context.

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You communicate your science to the lay public so that your patients have a sense of what

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impact you're making.

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And you're always in constant communication with the literature to make sure that your

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science fits within the broad picture of what is being unfolded in the scientific community.

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And so they produce consistently, they share their work through presentations, but they

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have a plan.

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And because of that, they're able to produce consistently.

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They don't do the thing that a lot of people did in college and still take through their

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research careers is binge writing, where you wake up one day and you vomit pages and pages

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of work.

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What they do is they write consistently so that the quality of their work over time is

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excellent.

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The seventh habit is that they have a beginner's mind.

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They're always interested in going back to the basics, going back to the fundamentals

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and making sure that they have mastered the basics.

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And so they've mastered the basics of creating a strategic plan.

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They've mastered the basics of creating a weekly plan.

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They've mastered the basics of creating a daily plan.

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They've mastered the basics of writing.

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And then they're not afraid to go back and revisit the basics.

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They're not afraid to go back and learn more new things.

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They have a beginner's mind.

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They're always teachable, always coachable.

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Habit number eight is that they collaborate for synergy.

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And so they recognize that great science comes from a diversity of minds coming together

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to make science possible.

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And they recognize and are careful about their collaborations so that their collaborations

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move them forward in synergy.

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And so they make investments in relationships that allow them to do work that is bigger

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than they are, that's bigger than their own scopes because they collaborate for synergy.

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Habit number nine is that they think when, when.

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They do not allow other people's work to get ahead of the work they do.

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They have a plan for their own work.

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And so they're always working to advance their own science.

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But when they do work with others, they recognize that their science must be advanced while

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the science of others is being advanced as well.

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For that reason, they're constantly thinking about how best to structure things so that

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everybody wins.

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When they work with mentees, they work hard to make sure that the mentee wins and they

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win.

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They work hard to think when, when.

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Instead of thinking scarcity and narrowing the pie and fighting over it, they think,

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hmm, there is abundance.

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How do we expand the pie so that everybody gets what they want?

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And so one of the habits, habit number nine, is that they think when, when.

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Habit number 10 is that they invest in themselves.

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And so clinician scientists who will be successful know that they need to do more beyond what

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is being given.

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And so some people are waiting for their institution to give them permission to attend a career

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development workshop.

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Where they say, well, if there's no money in the budget, I'm not doing that self-development

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project.

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But someone who is a successful and effective clinician scientist says, whether you invest

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in me or not, I will invest in myself.

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And some of that investment looks like investing in skills to improve your writing.

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Whether your institution supports that or not, whether they're going to give you funding

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to do that or not, you recognize that as a writer, you make investments in your own writing.

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They recognize that they make investments in their own growth, especially opportunities

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to grow exponentially.

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So they read books.

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They are open to experiences that transform them.

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Another thing they do is that they work with coaches who will help them get better at their

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craft, who will help them play the game bigger and better, who will help them play the long

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game.

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Now, if you are an early career scientist and you're looking for a coach, please DM

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me and let's talk about how we can work together so that you are able to establish the habits

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of a highly successful clinician scientist yourself.

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And that starts with investing in yourself because you are your most important asset

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in this journey of academia.

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So that's all I have for you today.

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If this episode has been interesting and something you find useful, please share it with somebody

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else who needs to hear about it.

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Share it with a mentee if you're a mentor.

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If you are a mentee, share it with your mentor or share it with your peers.

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But get the word out so that other people can find us and also have the opportunity

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to learn what you're learning.

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It's been a pleasure to talk with you today.

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I look forward to the next time.

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Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic

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clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they

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have a mentor.

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If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.

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Someone else needs to hear it.

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So take a minute right now and share it.

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As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation

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of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.