Begin Your Journey: Dr. Amanda C. North on her career path

In this installment of “Begin Your Journey,” urologist Amanda C. North, MD, talks with host Scott A. MacDiarmid, MD, FRCPSC, about her career path. North is an associate professor of urology at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York. MacDiarmid is a urologist with Alliance Urology Specialists in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Transcription:

MacDiarmid: Welcome, everyone. This is Dr. Scott MacDiarmid. Welcome to our interactive series on physician wellness entitled "Begin Your Journey." I want to thank Urology Times for supporting this important project. The goal of the series is really to help create a world that lifts up physicians and health care providers who serve, and that's really our guiding star. I often say physician and health care provider burnout is a national crisis and the crisis is now, and there's no question we need loud voices really supporting one another and working together to be successful in our battle against burnout. In this series, we hope to provide solutions and survival tactics to make us better fighters against burnout. But most importantly, we want to encourage all of us providers to be joyful and fulfilled when we're using our gifts and talents to help others and serve our nation. Today's guest is Dr. Amanda North. Dr. North is well known in this field. She's a pediatric urologist and an associate professor at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. She's chair of the AUA Data Committee, and she's very passionate about burnout, especially as it pertains to urologists and women in urology. Amanda, thank you for coming on today. Because you and I don't know each other very well, tell me a little about yourself. How did you get into pediatric urology vs other disciplines?

North: Thank you so much for having me. It's truly an honor and privilege to get to talk to you about burnout. I think we're both very passionate about helping doctors and other medical providers have access to resources to create career longevity, which is an issue. When people feel burnout, they may not want to practice anymore, so I think you and I are on the same page with that. I grew up in New York. We moved to Long Island when I was about 10. I did my medical education and training at Montefiore. I escaped for a brief 2 years to go to Baltimore and do my pediatric fellowship at Johns Hopkins. After I finished my fellowship, I came straight back to Montefiore. I was very drawn to taking care of the patients in the Bronx. We take care of a very largely underserved and diverse patient population. My mom used to say about me, I was either going into the Peace Corps or going to medical school, she wasn't sure which, and in some ways working in the Bronx is a little bit of both. I'm very passionate about my patient population in the Bronx. I was born to be a pediatric urologist. I was taking care of children even when I was a child. I always knew I wanted to have a large family. I've always loved being around children. I think in some ways I'm more comfortable with children than I am with adults, so it wasn't surprising that I chose pediatric urology. I myself am a mom of 3 teenagers, which has its own set of wonderful challenges. I've been very blessed in terms of my family with that too.

This transcript was edited for clarity.