Prof Jodi Sassoon: How I made it work
Career changes can be daunting. When I read about Prof Jodi Sassoon’s switch from an OB/GYN to Pathology residency during her medical training, the push and pull factors shaping different pathways through a career really resonated with me. Here is how Prof Jodi took the career change and made it work.
“My whole life I watched my Dad receive gratification from his career as an Obstetrician. Wherever we went he met his patients who were always so grateful. We even went out to dinner to the chain of restaurants, which were amazing, all owned by his Greek patients. I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps. He, however, did not wish this for me; as the life is a hard one. Staying awake all night is definitely NOT my forte. It seems most babies are born between 2 am and 5 am.
Dad said he would cut off my medical school tuition if I went for OB/GYN. Of course it was an idle threat.
I went to my favorite city- the BIG APPLE- for my residency. Within 2 months the program lost a first and second year resident so we took double call. Life was so hard: I was up all night and working the next day till 7 pm and crashing when I got home and repeating the same scenario. It is hard to be upbeat when you are exhausted.
I met the man who went on to be my husband at work. He was an OB/GYN too and he expressed many of the same opinions as my Dad. Here were two people who were looking out for my best interests encouraging me to rethink whether pursuing OB/GYN as a specialty was really right for me. As a result I decided to explore other careers. Anaesthesiology: hours of calm punctuated by moments of extreme pressure. I am not good in STAT situations. Radiology: too desk- based for me. Pathology: something I thought I could do! Certainly not an easy speciality but at least the hours are regular. My husband had just delivered a patient who was a Path resident at NY HOSPITAL-CORNELL. She had also been in a surgical speciality first (ENT) and then switched to Path. I spoke to her and she told me there was a position outside the match in her program. I interviewed for it and was accepted.
It was a hard change for me. The first day I found myself standing in front of a pan of a patient’s body organs from an autopsy. Oh my goodness what a mistake I thought I had made!!! But I knew I had to give it a chance to make it work and I did!
As far as changing my jobs within a career I feel like there is only so much complaining you can do… if you don’t make the change you live with the downsides. On the other hand, change isn’t easy and can be scary. Once I reached a point I realised I wanted to move on I took the decision and made the change. It was the right move for me at the right time and I haven’t looked back.”