Navigating work-life balance: VUMC’s Family Planning for Surgeons Series

In this interview, Lauren E. Corona, MD, highlights the launch of the Family Planning for Surgeons Series at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Corona is an assistant professor of urology in the division of pediatric urology at VUMC.

Lauren E. Corona, MD

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.

What is the Family Planning for Surgeon Series? What are some of the main goals for the program?

After becoming my department’s Wellness Officer I reached out to our faculty and residents to ask about the wellness needs of the group, and this topic of family planning came up. One of our residents had shared with me that the ENT group had had a session with an IVF specialist for the residents in the past. So, I reached out to the planner of that event (Shi Yang). This turned into several coffee dates and planning sessions.

Our goal was to empower resident, fellow, and attending surgeons to make informed decisions about building their families while navigating a demanding career through education, resources, and a peer networking environment that they could be supported in.

What were some of the other motivating factors for starting this program?

This idea stemmed from some research that came out of Harvard, [led by] Erika Rangel, MD, MS, FACS, about how female surgeons were more likely to experience complications in pregnancy, more likely to need to use assisted reproductive technology, and more likely to delay starting a family compared with the [non-surgeon] female partners of their non-childbearing counterparts.¹ They also did some qualitative work interviewing general surgery residents, finding that mentorship and faculty support on work-life integration is desired.² 

Dr. Corona and her children

In addition, I had personal experience having a baby as a resident, a fellow, and as an attending. Having a young family during those years, [I was] a little bit surprised about how challenging that work-life integration was, how to do it all well, and how to compartmentalize well. I recognized that this experience is likely not unique.

What are some of the topics that will be covered during this series? What do you hope that surgeons get out of these sessions?

Our first session was on in vitro fertilization and embryo or egg cryopreservation. We brainstormed some ideas for other topics, but it's still very much in the planning process. We've asked for feedback from participants about what they want to hear. Some ideas that we had were pregnancy, breastfeeding, partner dynamics and support, parental leave, miscarriage and loss, [and] childcare.

I hope that [attendees] will be exposed to a community where they feel that they're able to freely ask questions, gain accurate information, and feel heard, validated, and connected. [We want to] reduce the isolation that comes with navigating a lot of these complex issues and demystify the experience.

You mentioned that the first session was on IVF and egg or embryo cryopreservation. Could you share some of the key points that were addressed during that session?

[This was] about an hour and a half, and it was a panel of 5 people. We had a reproductive endocrinology and infertility specialist start out by giving us some information. She talked about what the experience would be like for someone coming in wanting to do a cryopreservation or IVF and some details about success rates and the timeline of how it all would work.

There was also an OB/GYN from Vanderbilt who is currently working on establishing a fertility program. Historically, in Nashville, people have had to go to the private practice center for fertility needs, so it is exciting that it will soon be an option to be able to stay at Vanderbilt.

We [also] had 3 panelists that shared personal experiences. There were 2 residents who talked about their experience with egg cryopreservation, and 1 attending who talked about her experience with IVF. They were able to go into some details about how things worked for them, [spanning] the emotional, physical, and financial side of it. [They also] gave some cost saving tips and tricks, as well as [advice on] how to talk to your colleagues about it—especially when you're in a more junior position—and how to set expectations and ask for what you need. That was really helpful.

We went over the allotted time because of the numerous questions that followed. We ate pizza and got to know each other. It was fun!

Who is the intended audience of this program?

We're open to anything here. We started with just surgeons at Vanderbilt, so that could have been in any surgical sub-specialty at any level. But I think expanding and including surgeons at other institutions would be phenomenal, so maybe that can come out of this as well. If there's anyone that would like to chat about that, we'd love to work together.

References

1. Olds A, Hirji S, Castillo-Angeles M, et al. Risk factors for major pregnancy complications in female cardiothoracic surgeons. Ann Surg. 2024;280(6):966-972. doi:10.1097/SLA.0000000000006364

2. Rangel EL, Castillo-Angeles M, Changala M, Haider AH, Doherty GM, Smink DS. Perspectives of pregnancy and motherhood among general surgery residents: A qualitative analysis. Am J Surg. 216(4):754-759. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2018.07.036