Carol Scott-Conner

It is never too early to start preparing for promotion. As you settle into your first job, make sure that you clearly understand the requirements for promotion.

Requirements differ from institution to institution, and between tracks in a single institution. Just as medical specialties differ, the job description for a junior faculty member and  Read More 

Factors to consider when you evaluate job offers right out of residency or fellowship include:
1. Clinical duties – how do these correspond to your areas of interest?
2. Academic opportunities – will you have protected time for research? What teaching duties will you have? How does the position meet your academic expectations?
3. Salary
4. Opportunities for your spouse  Read More 

If you are struggling to begin or complete a writing project, consider joining a writing group. Writing groups are small groups of individuals who share their writing and encourage each other. They may be geographically based (and have real, physical meetings) or virtual (and meet only through the Internet). Groups exist at most academic  Read More 

As you advance in academic surgery, you will inevitably attend meetings of surgical organizations (such as the Fall Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons, or a regional association such as the Central Surgical). Young surgeons sometimes wonder which organizations to join, how to become a member, and how to achieve visibility within  Read More 

A young surgeon recently asked me how she could gain more visibility at the national level. Participating in committees for national organizations is a great way to do this.

Committees do most of the work of any organization. Larger and more complex organizations tend to have many more committees than small ones. There is  Read More 

When I finished surgical residency and took my first job as an Assistant Professor, I emerged from a fog of chronic sleep deprivation and became conscious, as if for the first time, of a myriad of new emotions associated with work and home. Over the years that followed, I developed some methods and rituals  Read More