Show Notes
Description
Drs. Darren Mays and Margaret Gatti-Mays visit the studio as we consider couples in academic medicine. Dual-career couples must navigate competing schedules, family responsibilities, travel, deadlines, and professional expectations. Our guests are a married couple who have found a way to thrive in academic medicine, and they share their insights and strategies on the podcast. We hope you can join us!
Topic
Couples in Academic Medicine: Thriving Together
Learning Objectives
At the end of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Describe common challenges faced by dual-career couples in academic medicine.
- Explain strategies for communication and coordination between partners with demanding careers.
- Identify practical tools that support family logistics and professional collaboration.
- Apply principles of mutual support and shared success to strengthen academic partnerships.
Guests
Dr Darren Mays
Professor of Internal Medicine
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays
Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
The Ohio State University College of Medicine
Links
Center for Faculty Advancement, Mentoring, and Engagement
Episode Transcript
[Dr Mike Patrick]
This episode of FAMEcast is brought to you by the Center for Faculty Advancement, Mentoring, and Engagement at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
[MUSIC]
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of FAMEcast. We are a faculty development podcast from the Ohio State University College of Medicine.
This is Dr. Mike coming to you from the campus of Ohio State. It’s episode 20, and we’re calling this one Couples in Academic Medicine Thriving Together. I want to welcome all of you to the program.
We are so happy to have you with us again. You know, academic medicine can be demanding under the best circumstances, but when both partners are pursuing careers in medicine or biomedical research, that complexity multiplies. Dual-career couples often find themselves navigating competing schedules, family responsibilities, travel deadlines, and professional expectations.
Yet, many couples not only make it work, they thrive. And in this episode of FAMEcast, we will explore how dual-career couples in academic medicine support each other professionally and personally, coordinate family life, and celebrate both successes and setbacks. Maybe not celebrating those but dealing with those setbacks together.
Of course, in our usual FAMEcast fashion, we have two terrific guests joining us in the studio to discuss the topic. They are a married couple living in a dual medical career household. They are Dr. Darren Mays. He is a professor of internal medicine at Ohio State, and Dr. Margaret Gatti-Mays, associate professor of internal medicine, also at Ohio State. They’re going to share practical insights on communication, flexibility, shared calendars, and the importance of being each other’s biggest advocate. Before we get to them, I do want to remind you the information presented in FAMEcast is for general educational purposes only.
And your use of this audio program is subject to the FAMEcast Terms of Use Agreement, which you can find at famecast.org. So, let’s take a quick break. We’ll get Darren and Margaret settled into the studio, and then we will be back to talk about academic couples and how they can thrive together in medicine.
It’s coming up right after this.
[MUSIC]
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Dr. Darren Mays is a professor of internal medicine and associate dean for research and tenure track faculty at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, and Dr. Margaret Gatti-Mays is an associate professor of internal medicine and deputy director of medical oncology and section chief of breast medical oncology, all at Ohio State. They’re a married couple who know the challenges firsthand of a dual medical career household.
That is what they’re here to talk about today, academic couples thriving together. Before we dive into our topic, let’s offer a warm FAMEcast welcome to our guests, Dr. Darren Mays and Dr. Margaret Gatti-Mays. Thank you both so much for stopping by the studio today.
[Dr Darren Mays]
Thank you, Mike. It’s great to be here to talk with you today.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Thank you, Mike, so much for having us on.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, I am really excited about this conversation because there are a lot of dual career medical career couples, busy households out there. And there are definitely some unique challenges that I think are important to talk about. And even if you aren’t in a dual medical career household, some of your colleagues are.
And so having empathy for their situation can certainly be helpful in terms of understanding and working together and all of those things. So, Darren, let’s start with you. You know, a lot of people talk about work life balance, but dual career academic couples often describe something a little bit different because there’s just so much to think about.
How do you go about balancing or juggling two careers and family life?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, I think, Mike, juggling is the appropriate analogy with respect to dual career academic couples, because there’s always more than one ball in the air for us between the two of us. At least one of those is always work related, whether that’s a grant deadline or some clinical or administrative responsibilities or travel. And then when you throw family care into the mix, getting kids to and from school, getting them to after school activities and managing the unexpected things that inevitably come up, it gets a little chaotic.
And you really need four hands to make sure none of those balls drop. And that’s kind of how we’re always tackling things in that juggling act.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, yeah. You got to be really intentional about it, don’t you? I mean, just like juggling, like people who don’t know how to juggle, it’s because you’re not being intentional about the muscle memory that you need.
Maggie, when you both have demanding careers and in the introduction, you know, I mentioned some of your roles and they’re pretty big demanding roles for both of you at Ohio State. So how does mutual support work in terms of making all of that happen?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Sure. So, I think that’s a great question and a really important point. You know, mutual support, respect and appreciation for your partner, both professionally and personally, is really the only way I think that Darren and I have ever been able to really work as a couple and just in general.
You know, and throughout our careers, Darren and I have taken turns being the driver and being the support person. For example, near grant deadlines, I try to take on more of the family responsibilities and respect that Darren needs more time to write. And when I’m on inpatient service or traveling for conferences, the family responsibilities and shift to Darren.
But even during the day to day, I think we constantly try to work as a team and support each other’s career. We really try to keep things even and make sure that we’re both able to attend priority events for work as well as priority events for our boys. You know, and I think really just on a larger scale, supporting your partner is, again, really about appreciating them as a professional.
And I’ve always felt that Darren has supported my dreams and goals. There have been several times that, you know, Darren has even pushed me beyond my comfort level professionally because he was confident in my abilities to accomplish things that I didn’t even think I was necessarily qualified to do. For example, the deputy director role that I’m in.
And I’ve always tried to do the same for him. And it’s really this additional professional, emotional and personal support. I think that really has helped us as a couple family in a professional doublet.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, yeah. I love that it’s not only support, but there’s some cheerleading that goes along with it and encouragement and those sorts of things. Just so important.
But it also sounds like you really need some intentional moments in terms of planning. Like if you’re going to be presenting at a conference and he has a grant proposal to write, it might not be a good idea for both of you to be really like knee-deep in doing those things. Plus, you got the kids and the house and everything going on.
You almost have to sort of plan when you’re going to do things so that at least someone’s somewhat free, right?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think, you know, it’s really trying to make sure that someone is able to tag in if needed.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Do you have outside help in case both of you are busy? Do you have a third person to tag if you have to?
[Dr Darren Mays]
We’re fortunate to have multiple other people. So, we have two sets of grandparents that are local, a couple of aunts and uncles. That is an enormous resource for us because, you know, they step in if there’s something totally unexpected or in circumstances like you were just describing, Mike, like if one of us is away and, you know, we need extra hands to like get kids to football practice or whatever it may be.
Like it’s really great to have family around who can assist in those pinches when they come up.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. And when it’s grandparents, they always love that anyway. So, it’s a win-win.
[Dr Darren Mays]
Right, right.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Darren, you’ve used the phrase, it’s always a Tuesday. What does that mean in the context of a dual career house?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, we’re both kind of chuckling at this because it’s a little bit of an inside joke for Maggie and me, but I think it will resonate with others. So, Tuesdays, Maggie has clinic, like a full day clinic that usually starts 8 a.m. and she’s not home until 7 p.m. And of course, those are the days when something unexpected comes up, like a kid is at home sick or it’s a snow day or, you know, whatever it may be. So, we joke it’s always Tuesdays because those are the days when we have the least amount of flexibility and tend to be, you know, the most challenging when it comes to this juggling act.
Because one of us is on the hook for family care plus a quote unquote normal workday and the other one has a 12-hour clinic day with 30 plus patients. So, by the time we get home, you know, it’s like making sure homework’s done, putting kids in bed, taking a deep breath and then getting ready to do it all over again. And when you throw something unexpected in on one of those days, it just kind of adds to the chaos.
I think those are often the days when we typically wind up leaning on our supporters or, you know, other family members if we need to, just because they’re so busy. But invariably, it’s always a Tuesday.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Maggie, do you look ahead at those really busy days so that you can anticipate if you’re going to need someone? It’s not just like the night before your calendars, right? I mean, there’s actually some planning, I would imagine.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Absolutely. I think, you know, because as part of the clinic days, some days I’m chemo coverage, which means I have to stay till the last patient is finished with chemo. And so those are absolutely the days that, you know, we put on our calendars months ahead.
We look at school schedules. We say, OK, do we need additional support? And I agree with Darren.
I think those are the days that often we call a set of grandparents and say, hey, someone needs to get picked up and brought here. But yeah, I mean, we have to look at everything, you know, weeks in advance. There’s definitely trying to limit that last minute adjustments if needed.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. Yeah. And Darren, I would imagine communication then between the two of you really becomes very, very important.
What sort of strategies do you guys have in place to sort of keep you connected and coordinated with everything that’s going on?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, I think, I mean, mission critical to keep things afloat is really just constant communication. And I think a couple of the key things that we do, as was just mentioned, planning ahead when we can. So, when we know things are coming up, travel or evening or weekend obligations that would sort of impact like the day-to-day cadence of things.
We try to get those on our collective calendars, plan ahead, coordinate around those. And then just like day to day, it’s almost every morning or in the evening before Maggie and me kind of run the list like here’s our here’s our schedule for the day or the next day. Who’s dropping kids off?
Who’s picking them up? What we have after school, if any of us, either of us has to be at work later, just, you know, to start the day that way to make sure we’re on the same page. And then during the day, I mean, we’re often in communication as well, just as things come up, either unexpected or if one of us, you know, has to on short notice, like stick around and attend to something at work so we can shift plans if we need to.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
I would imagine that’s a lot easier today than it was, you know, 20 years ago in terms of just being able to throw a text message out there. You know, you don’t have to like take time out and make a phone call like we used to have to do back in the old days.
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, it absolutely is. I think one of the ways in which our modern technology is very beneficial from that standpoint.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
And Maggie, are there particular technology tools that you recommend that folks use to sort of stay coordinated and connected? I would imagine there’s plenty of stuff out there now.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Absolutely. So, Darren and I, we’ve always used a shared Google calendar, which I think has really been helpful. And in recent years, as our children have gotten older, we actually have them part of the family calendar.
And so those are things, especially late-night events or, you know, if I have chemo coverage, things like that, we put it on there. But we also really use redundancy. So, in addition to that shared electronic calendar, we also use a good old fashioned dry erase board that’s right by the door.
And, you know, we say, oh, it’s on the board. We write down things like after school events, write down, you know, when the kids have gym, who needs lunch, which days, if someone’s late. And I think that helps us stay organized but also invites our kids to be part of the process, that they know how we’re planning for the week.
They know what the routine will be. And finding a routine, I think, really helps everybody stay organized and making sure that we’re not missing critical items. You know, it’s a lot to juggle some weeks and between the two careers, the three kids, the after school and everything else.
And so, sticking to a routine really helps us keep things moving during moments of chaos and make sure that we don’t, you know, drop one of those balls that we’re juggling. And then finally, you know, thank goodness for unlimited texting. Really, that’s how we stay in touch during the day and the main way that we contact each other if there’s any change in plans.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Do your kids have an on-call parent? Do they know who to call on a particular day at a particular time if there’s an issue?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
I think so. I think they know on clinic days, mom is not necessarily the most responsible or responsive parent. So, yeah.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Do you find that, Darren, do you get on those days? I imagine you get all the notes and messages from your kids.
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah. And I think the other thing I try to do on those days is, you know, not that I’m less attentive on other days, but like on Tuesday, mindful, a little more mindful of like my personal email on my phone, because if school happens to reach out like that’s where it’s going to come through or they’re going to call if it’s something more urgent. So, definitely, we shift the communication in that way around schedules, especially in the case of Maggie when it’s like a busy clinic day and, you know, she’s not able to like to grab the phone when she’s in with a patient, for example.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. She’s messaging, talk to your dad. Right, right.
I can see that. You, Darren, you’ve talked about being the cheerleader for Maggie, and I’m sure that Maggie acts as cheerleader for you as well. Can you guys kind of highlight some of the themes of being a supporter, kind of what goes into that and what you do intentionally to support one another?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, yeah. So, this is something that has been, I would say, really important to both of us over like the arc of our career, because, you know, we’ve been married since we were both completing training, you know, so early career and have taken on faculty positions and taken on leadership and administrative roles. And really, you know, we’re both committed to our careers and want to do impactful work.
So, supporting each other on this trajectory has really meant talking about potential opportunities as they’ve come up and how we can make them work together. Because especially when it’s something where, you know, you’re talking about taking on something at work that’s a bigger time commitment, a bigger responsibility across the board, you know, we discuss those. And, you know, sometimes that means sort of shifting around the personal and family responsibilities as well.
So, I think over time, you know, this context has obviously changed for us as we went from like sort of residency and fellowship for Maggie and postdoc to faculty for me. And then on over the course of our careers for both of us, it’s been really important. So, we can align the responsibilities that we have outside of work and ensure that both of us are positioned from a work standpoint to progress in our careers and accelerate the work that we do over time.
Sometimes these are, you know, relatively small things as we’ve talked about, like coordinating around travel or something. But I think the ones that are more substantive, like new roles at work, new responsibilities at work are the ones that we wind up talking about in more depth and, you know, how we can juggle things appropriately to take those on.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Do you guys schedule time to talk to one another about all of these things? Because, you know, in a busy household, the next thing you know, it’s bedtime and you almost have to set aside time, you know, for mom and dad to communicate, talk about your day. Is that something that you intentionally do?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Absolutely. I, you know, I think really, it’s important in these dual career relationships, you know, that you fully listen to your partner, you know, and so it’s hard sometimes not to be multitasking, especially with so many things going on. You know, we’re both type A.
We both like to multitask, but you really have to put things down, focus, and really actively listening to your partner. Honestly, I think we tend to have probably our most important talks at 6.15 in the morning in the kitchen over coffee. You know, it’s before the kids wake up from school.
We’re fresh, you know, and I think this routine helps us to establish really that the topics that we’re discussing at that time are important. Of course, you know, we have other important conversations at other times of day, but it’s kind of really protected quiet time as we start our day has become really important. And sometimes it’s not only important talking about, you know, big plans, but even just in terms of venting or talking about just what’s going on.
And I think when we listen to each other during any of our discussions, you know, Darren and I have been together for a long time. And as Darren said, our careers have kind of grown together. When we listen to each other, we know, I think that both of us have each other’s interest in mind.
And I think that that’s also been really important as we fully listen. Sometimes, you know, honesty is sometimes challenging and sometimes, you know, we need to make always remind ourselves, you know, that it goes back to mutual respect for each other and actively listening. And we’re really trying to be each other’s number one supporter, both personally and professionally.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, I’ve seen studies where it is really easy to ignore your spouse when they’re talking because their voice is so familiar to you that it’s sort of like can become background noise, so to speak.
But I would think you guys really have to make an effort to make sure that you’re actively listening because that would be pretty frustrating if the other person’s like, huh? Or, you know, ask a follow up question that was clearly mentioned two minutes ago. But I’m sure that still happens from time to time, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It’s like it does for everyone. Darren, you know, it’s great that you have a spouse who really understands your work and especially from an intellectual standpoint. You know, you both have had medical training.
You’re both in internal medicine. You know a lot about the same things. And that’s not necessarily true when there’s just one medical career person in the household.
You know, you don’t have that someone that really has insider knowledge that you can bounce things off of. How do you guys collaborate intellectually and help each other out, not just the emotional support piece, but really with the intellectual part of your career?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, that’s a great point. And Maggie and I all say we’re fortunate and this was not intentional, but both of our careers over the course of our training and, you know, early on converged on oncology, on cancer from a scientific standpoint, clinical standpoint, that happened independently for us. And we actually focus on different aspects.
So, Maggie treats patients with breast cancer and focuses on research on how to improve those treatments. I study behaviors and interventions to prevent cancer and reduce cancer risk. So, we work in quite different areas.
There are things that we directly collaborate on as colleagues on each other’s research. But in our conversations at home, one of the ways in which I find this to be really helpful from an academic standpoint is because we start talking about ideas and much of that reflects kind of how the peer review environment works and in which we do a lot of our research. You have reviewers that are in your area, whether it be for a paper or a grant or something else.
But then you always have, you know, often that reviewer number two who doesn’t work directly in the same area, but knows enough to ask questions, to raise alternatives and so on. And that’s kind of how we’re positioned relative to one another from an expertise standpoint. And often in practice, it’s that reviewer that you have to work the hardest to convince of the importance of your ideas.
So, I feel like a lot of our conversations are kind of a drive run, you know, a rehearsal for some of those peer review scenarios. And it’s helpful to have to explain your work and the importance of it to someone who is familiar with what you do, but not, you know, steeped in what you do. And that’s kind of a two-way street for us because we both are positioned the same way relative to one another’s research.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Have you collaborated on any research projects? Do you have dual authorship on papers?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, we have a couple of papers together and then a couple of active projects. Maggie is a breast oncologist and some of the work that I do, for example, is focused on risk factors for breast cancer and prevention strategies. And that has grown over time.
And it’s been a natural opportunity for us to work together with another team of collaborators.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
And I can definitely see how your first draft that you send to a journal is probably very nicely polished since you’re doing each other. That’s really fantastic.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Well, I say I always joke with Darren, you know, if I have a grant and I need 500 words cut, you know, I say I give it to Darren because he is a ruthless editor. And I really do feel, I mean, you know, it’s just that, you know, collaboration and again, appreciation even during the editing process, during the reviewer to commentary, you know, that that leads to great discussions, and I think great research products, too.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, you know, we always bring our work home to some degree and talk about our days and our kids often are listening at that time. And so, some kids, you know, get motivated, like, oh, my gosh, I want a career in medicine. This is really cool.
And then other kids are like; I don’t want anything to do with this. Just based on those dinner conversations. How do you manage discussing work at home without necessarily letting it dominate?
And what do your kids think about all this?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Yeah, so our kids are funny. Our three boys are very opinionated and very confident in what they have to say, which is great. You know, and we do have dinner table discussions about everybody’s workday.
So, we try to really encourage the kids to share their workday, you know, at school. And when we talk about our work, our grant, our papers, challenging meetings, it’s interesting. The boys have started kind of weighing in with their own input to some of these.
And these conversations are fun. And I think that led to some good laughs. But, you know, honestly, our kids, I think, are really the best about reminding us of when we may be talking too much about work.
You know, it’s not uncommon where one of them will say, mom or dad, you know, you guys are talking too much about work again. Like, you know, and it’s a good reminder, you know, that, again, while we want our boys to be part of our work life, our professional life, we also have to make sure that we’re not just talking about that. And so, you know, I think our kids are the best at keeping us honest when it comes to balancing that.
So, yeah, yeah.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Darren, does the whole family celebrate successes? Like, if you get a grant proposal that goes through, like, do you all go out to dinner and sort of have that positive time together?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s one of the fun parts of the dual career couple aspect, because it’s shared success when it comes to accomplishments, accolades, achievements. Because we both know that, you know, although that accomplishment may directly be one of ours from a career standpoint, right?
Like someone gets a grant, has a paper published, gets a promotion. One of us, the other, I’ll say, is operating in the background along the way to do that. So, it almost makes, you know, we get to celebrate everything double kind of from that standpoint.
So, it’s fun in that way. And we involve our kids in that too, you know, when we accomplish something that merits celebrating and recognizing.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Maggie, I would imagine there’s a lot of barriers and challenges and you’ve had setbacks. What have some of those been? And what advice do you have for young couples?
Maybe they’re just really early in their career and they’re dual medical career households. What sort of challenges can they expect?
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
So, you know, I think setbacks and challenges are inevitable, right? And in every career, and I think especially in academic medicine, you know, grants are harder to get. Papers are going to be torn apart by a reviewer number two.
And I think, you know, we always remain each other’s biggest supporters. And I think I’ve always, and Darren’s always felt this too, that it’s important for our kids to see our setbacks and to see the fact that we’re not always successful is what we try. And that together we can navigate these failures, and we keep the focus on the journey rather than the stops along the way.
And I think that that’s really important because we really try to help each other see the failures as opportunities for growth. We vent for each other. We both find catharsis and exercise.
So sometimes on those challenges or those setbacks, we, you know, allow our partner on the challenging days to go for a longer run or a longer bike ride. You know, and I think that’s helpful for us. And, you know, I think when it comes to these setbacks, obviously, it’s always painful as the spouse to see, you know, your husband, you know, upset or I’m sure for Darren to see me upset.
And I want, you know, our kids to see that, that his success is my success and my success is his success. I think that’s important part of the partnership. But I think it’s also important that we, during these challenging times, I think we’ve both tried to sponsor each other even a little more and help promote each other in our respective fields to help each other kind of get through it.
And while we have related, you know, interests, but not directly overlapping, we’ve really been able to do that through kind of our interests. And so, when one of us draws on the other for expertise, we always participate in that request. And I think, again, that that collaboration, that respect is always important.
And sometimes being able to work with each other during these times that have been challenging for one of our careers, I think, has really helped us deal with some of the setbacks and challenging and can help with the redirection or growth during those challenging times. But I think for any of the couples out there, you know, there’s inevitably going to be challenges. There’s inevitably going to be times where you don’t get the grant, the paper isn’t accepted.
And it’s important to acknowledge the fact that, you know, your spouse may be hurting about it, that it may be challenging. And remember that, you know, you do this as a team. And so, I think that that’s one of the most important parts is you have to support each other and the good and the bad.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
Yeah, absolutely. And there’s a lot of couples who it may not be dual career medicine, but dual career professional, something that comes with a lot of busyness associated with your job. And a lot of these principles are going to apply in that situation as well.
And then, Darren, what about your colleagues? Do you feel supported? Do folks understand?
Do you think that your schedule may be more complicated to put together?
[Dr Darren Mays]
Yeah, I definitely feel that way. I mean, you know, we have a number of colleagues who are in similar situations with, you know, juggling kids, family care, other aspects. But, you know, in my experience, when things have come up that kind of pull me and or Maggie away from work, like one of the things that I value a lot about where we work is the people who are around us, like they mobilize and help.
And, you know, whether it’s like needing someone to step in and clinic or meeting or whatever it may be, we’ve I don’t know, Maggie, you can speak to your experience, too. But I haven’t had any of my colleagues here say no, like they’re there. We work with great people.
That certainly is a huge reason, you know, why we’ve been able to pull off this juggling act, too. You know, not just us, not just our family, but the people surrounding us here at Ohio State. It’s kind of a culture that in both of the groups that we work in.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
So, and that’s been your experience, too, Maggie.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Absolutely. I was going to say I 100 percent agree with Darren that I think it’s just the culture here at Ohio State and in our department, in our division. You know, I think obviously everybody experiences challenges along the way, even if they’re not in, you know, dual academic households.
And so just that willingness to cover for each other, to help out. I think the other part, especially, you know, that I found, obviously, a lot of physician meetings tend to be before business hours or after business hours. And while I try to, you know, go to as many of those meetings as possible, there’s inevitably meetings that I can’t go to because I’ve got to pick up the kids from school because Darren’s at a meeting.
And I found that when I explain that and say, I’m sorry, I can’t be there again, it’s met with a, you know, people are very understanding about the need to have life outside of work. Which, again, I think really does that type of environment, makes this dual career, you know, family work, is we have to have that understanding and that acceptance that, you know, work is important, but so is family.
[Dr Mike Patrick]
And I would imagine that you also give back, you know, especially understanding how crazy schedules can get. If you do have bandwidth in your schedule, I’m sure that you guys help your colleagues out, too. So, it kind of works for everybody.
Absolutely. Win-win. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, this has been a really fantastic conversation, and I hope that other dual medical career households out there will get some encouragement from it, maybe get some ideas, some nuggets of wisdom since you guys have been doing this for so long. We really appreciate you stopping by.
Once again, Dr. Darren Mays and Dr. Margaret Gatti-Mays, both with Internal Medicine at Ohio State. Thank you so much for stopping by and chatting with us today.
[Dr Darren Mays]
Thank you, Mike. We appreciate it.
[Dr Margaret Gatti-Mays]
Thank you so much for having us on.
[MUSIC]
[Dr Mike Patrick]
We are back with just enough time to say thanks once again to all of you for taking time out of your day and making FAMEcast a part of it. We really do appreciate your support.
Also, thanks again to our guests this week, Dr. Darren Mays and Dr. Margaret Gatti-Mays, both with Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Don’t forget, you can find FAMEcast wherever podcasts are found. We’re in the Apple Podcast app, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Audible, and most other podcast apps for iOS and Android.
Our landing site is Famecast.org. You’ll find our entire archive of past programs there, along with show notes for each of the episodes, our terms of use agreement, and a handy contact page if you would like to suggest a future topic for the program. Reviews are also helpful wherever you get your podcasts.
We always appreciate when you share your thoughts about the show. Also want to mention a couple of other podcasts that I host. If you are a pediatric provider, we do have a continuing medical education podcast for you over at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
It does offer free continuing medical education credit for those who listen. And it’s not only for physicians, also nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, social workers, and dentists. So, if you work with any of those, please do let them know about the program.
And it’s because Nationwide Children’s is jointly accredited by those professional organizations that we can offer the credits you need to fulfill your state’s continuing medical education requirements. Shows and details are available at the landing site for that program. Pediacastcme.org.
You can also listen wherever podcasts are found. Simply search for PediaCast CME. And then if you’re a parent and maybe not in pediatrics, so you know a lot about an area of medicine, but it is not child health.
If that’s the case, we also have a podcast for parents called PediaCast, and that is an evidence-based podcast for moms and dads. Lots of pediatricians and other medical providers also tune in as we cover pediatric news and interview pediatric and parenting experts. Shows are available for that podcast over at Pediacast.org.
Also available wherever podcasts are found. Simply search for PediaCast. Thanks again for stopping by.
And until next time, this is Dr. Mike saying stay focused, stay balanced, and keep reaching for the stars. So long, everybody.
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