Choosing your Career Track – Academic, Private Practice, and NGOs

Course Description
This session will discuss diverse choices in building a career post- training in child neurology. Three different career paths will be discussed:

1. Academic/research careers – how to interact with chairs, apply for jobs, negotiate time for research or education.
2. Private practice – how to find a good practice, tips towards starting your clinical career and negotiating for dedicated time for your clinical interests.
3. NGO and governmental jobs (i.e. CDC) – how to pursue a non-traditional career path and interact with multiple governmental associations and industry resources outside of the traditional clinical setting.

These sessions include speakers that are early career investigators at the NIH, public health officials working for the department of defense, and physicians in private practice. Speakers will discuss options available for junior child neurologists in building bridges to various research funding entities, carving out a subspecialty interest within a group practice, as well as pursuing governmental careers in the translation of scientific advances to the field. ICNA • CNS | San Diego 2020 35

Learning Objectives As a result of this educational session participants will be able to:

1. Identify distinct career options following training.
2. Successfully transition into a long career role that best suits their career needs.

Impact Statements This educational session helped me to identify changes I could make in my practice related to:

1. Pursue as a child neurology attending.
2. Identify clear steps to continue on my career trajectory and achieve my long-term career goals.

Organizer: Payal Patel, MD; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

The Academic Track
Naila Makhani, MD, MPH; Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

The Private Practice Track
Doug Smith, MD; Minnesota Epilepsy Group, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

The Off-the-Beaten-Path Track, Working in Government
Ana-Claire Meyer, MD, MHSH; US Army Medical Research and Material Command, Frederick, Maryland, USA