Okeanis Vaou, MD, FAAN, joins us for a new episode on the Faculty Factory Podcast to walk us through ways to combat toxic workplace environments and difficult behaviors.

Interprofessional incivility is a growing problem that needs to be addressed, especially, as we learn this week, toxic individuals (when left unchecked) are very skilled at cultivating institutional power to protect themselves and bully their way to the top.

Dr. Vaou serves as Associate Professor of Neurology, Division Chief of the Movement Disorders Program, Director of the PF Comprehensive Care Center, Director of the Movement Disorders Fellowship, Bradley Dawson Endowed Chair in Movement Disorders, and Vice Chair of Faculty Development at the Joe R. and Theresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio.

Unfortunately, high-stress, high-pressure environments within our profession mean that many of us are exposed to incivility. When these behaviors go unaddressed, they lead to a lot of festering issues.

“When it is actually happening, you should call it out,” Dr. Vaou explains.

The bottom line is that these behaviors and toxic environments must be tackled head-on and tolerating this behavior must become a thing of the past. Want to ask Dr. Vaou a question about all this? You can email her: vaou@uthscsa.edu

We are thrilled to give a tip of the cap to our friend Rachel Salas, MD, MEd, for putting us in touch with Dr. Vaou to make today’s episode possible! Please make sure to visit Dr. Salas’s rich archive of podcast episodes after you're done listening to today’s broadcast:

• Episode 216 – Advice for Making Life-Changing Decisions
• Episode 199 – Coaching and Strength-Based Approaches to Keep us Progressing
• Episode 92 – The Practical Use of Strength-Based Psychology

Today marks the 400th episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast, and to officially ring in this landmark achievement of our weekly podcast and its wonderful community that will soon reach its 8th birthday in December, we are ecstatic to announce the launch of our fourth book: "An Anthology of Academic Transitions: Faculty Factory Interviews on Retiring & Rewiring."

Drawn from the Faculty Factory Podcast's rich archive of interviews with deans, department chairs, physicians, and academic leaders, this anthology is an unbiased road map for nearly every facet of major career transitions and the retirement journey. We hope you will share a link to this book with a friend: https://facultyfactory.org/ebook/#retire

You can also download this eBook for free as a PDF: https://facultyfactory.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/An-Anthology-of-Academic-Transitions-Faculty-Factory-Interviews-on-Retiring-and-Rewiring.pdf

And/or order a print version of this book, or a Kindle version of it, on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Anthology-Academic-Transitions-Interviews-Retiring/dp/B0HKLZ3X27/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

The Faculty Factory Podcast is proud to be sponsored by the Office of the Provost at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). We are grateful to Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD, President of UTMB and CEO of UTMB Health System, and Susan Chubinskaya, PhD, MS, Senior Vice President, Provost, and Chief Academic Officer, for their continued support.

We would also like to thank the following guests, whose interviews form the heart of this book: Lawrence Appel, MD, MPH; Yuval Bar-Or, PhD; Janet Bickel, MA; Ann Brown, MD, MHS; Oscar W. "Skip" Brown, MD; Peter Densen, MD; Vicki Freeman, PhD; Darrell G. Kirch, MD; Jeffrey M. Lyness, MD, FACPsych; Michael Malloy, MD; David Niesel, PhD; Susan M. Pollart, MD; Jochen Reiser, MD, PhD; David A. Rogers, MD, MHPE; Paul Rothman, MD; Angela Sharkey, MD; Kimberly A. Skarupski, PhD, MPH; David J. Skorton, MD; Patrick O. Smith, PhD, ABPP; Wiley "Chip" Souba, MD; Donna Vogel, MD, PhD; Cary C. Ward, MD; Wendy Ward, PhD, ABPP, FAPA, FNAP; Carol Ziminski, MD; and Brian Zink, MD.

There are many Faculty Factory episodes to revisit and put on repeat when it comes to saving time.

With all of us in academic medicine looking to make the most out of the 24 hours we're all allotted each day, we've reached back into our archives and pulled out crucial moments from three important past interviews on time management.

Included in these clips are nuggets about how slowing down and being more deliberate is actually faster in the long run in many circumstances, and some clinical time-saving advice that may also help you be more present in the moment with patients.

Conversations featured in this compilation include clips from the following episodes:

• Episode 111 – Habits and Hacks with Vaninder K. Dhillon, MD, FACS
• Episode 254 – Happiness in Academic Health Comes from Better Time Management with Ashley Paul, MD
• Episode 288 – Chips, Chunks, and Email Hygiene with Ashley Paul, MD

In August, we brought you Part 1 of this two-part "best of" series on time management strategies. You can revisit it here: Time Management Tactics: Prioritization and List-Making Strategies for Faculty.

Next week we will be celebrating episode no. 400, and we cannot thank you enough for helping us get there as a listener, contributor, or supporter. Here’s to 400 more!

A career trajectory in academic health is never linear, with unexpected twists and turns almost always thrust upon it.

Navigating those ups and downs with intention is going to help you best prepare, as Amanda Termuhlen, MD, beautifully illustrates in this week's episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast.

She joins us to unpack a four-part framework for approaching career transitions with intention rather than waiting for opportunity to knock.

Dr. Termuhlen is a certified (ICF ACC) coach with more than three decades of experience in academic health, serving as a Pediatric Hematologist/Oncologist and a faculty affairs professional. She is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and Adjunct Professor at Drexel University, where she serves on the leadership team for the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program.

This is her third appearance on our podcast. You can contact Dr. Termuhlen via email here: mandy@atermuhlenmd.com and catch up on past Faculty Factory Podcast episodes with her here:

• Episode 157 – Rising to the Challenges of COVID, Burnout, Turnover, and Exhaustion with Amanda Termuhlen, MD
• Episode 20 – An Interview with Amanda Termuhlen, MD

“Hustle culture” is ingrained in so many of us in this field, and as our guest on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week, Jennifer Bickel, MD, argues, the busiest among us need to slow down and find time for wellness the most.

Dr. Bickel is a neurologist, and in 2024, she joined the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as vice president and chief wellness officer.

"Along the way, when did we start thinking that fun was not professional?" Dr. Bickel ponders, arguing that injecting fun is crucial to our work.

Wellness used to be looked at as a nice-to-have, not a mission-critical aspect of academic health, but those days are over. Not feeling valued is a leading cause of burnout, and how/why to show more appreciation for each other is a crucial aspect of this interview.

The effects of chronic stress on the brain make us see an impending change as more of a threat than as an opportunity. It also leads us to show up with cynicism rather than empathy (not ideal for any line of work, especially one that includes clinical care).

By staying super busy all the time and not getting sufficient breaks, we are much more likely to make mistakes. It's crucial to breathe, take a step back, and reflect regularly, because when you attempt to grind your way through everything, you actually don't have the time to keep the status quo.

Companion resources from this interview:

• Center for Brain Health: https://centerforbrainhealth.org/
• Duke Center for the Advancement of Well-being Science: https://caws.dukehealth.org/meet-the-director/

In this "Best of" Faculty Factory Podcast episode, we're revisiting conversations with three incredible past guests to bring you a compilation broadcast exploring some of the most common hazards associated with social media, technology, and AI large language model (LLM) usage.

These technologies can work wonders, but there are certain pitfalls to be on heightened alert for in academic medicine, and we discuss several of those in this episode.

Conversations featured in this compilation include clips from the following episodes:

• Episode 139 – Social Media Habits and Hacks with Sapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD
• Episode 389 – Examining the Ethical Obligations of Generative AI with Lacey W. Heinsberg, PhD, RN
• Episode 392 – Identity Formation Beyond the Job Title in Academic Health with Angela Sharkey, MD

First up, we look at ethical social media use and the common mistakes to be aware of with Sapna Kudchadkar, MD, PhD.

That's followed by a check-in with Lacey W. Heinsberg, PhD, RN. Dr. Heinsberg talks about LLMs impacting critical thinking and how they can get things very wrong, requiring careful, responsible use of these tools.

We wrap up with Angela Sharkey, MD, who discusses cell phone addiction and how the Healthy Minds Podcast, which she discovered while walking her dog, helped her gain an intentional focus on being present in the moment and break free from the poor cell phone habits so many of us endure.

Heather Brod is back on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week for a look at finding and owning your own "Main Character Energy," a concept borrowed from internet culture that has very real implications when taken to heart by faculty.

"What I've learned is that main character energy, at its core, is about agency. It's about how you are writing the script of your own life and not being a supporting character in your own life story," Heather said.

Heather is a prolific executive coach and consultant. Prior to branching off on her own to go into coaching full time, Heather was Executive Director at the Center for Faculty Advancement Mentoring and Engagement with the Ohio State University's College of Medicine in Columbus.

Heather digs into why so many faculty members struggle to answer a deceptively simple question: what do you want? Working through this concept of main character energy with them is about identifying their values, their non-negotiables, and the type of impact they actually want to make throughout their career.

For more information about Heather and her work, please visit the website of Heather Brod.

Along with the voice of the Faculty Factory Podcast, Kimberly A. Skarupski, PhD, MPH, Heather is the co-author of The Insider's Pocket Guide to Navigating a Faculty Career in Academic Medicine, which was published in 2024 by Springer Publishing Company. The book aims to outline a pathway to achieving a rewarding and prosperous career in academic medicine.

Kathryn Burtson, MD, MHPE, FACP, is our guest on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week for a look into academic coaching and individualized learning plans, part of a broader effort to move graduate medical education forward.

Dr. Burtson is a first-time guest on our show and a colonel in the United States Air Force Medical Corps. She is Director of Medical Education at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Associate Professor of Medicine at Wright State and Uniformed Services Universities, and Vice Chair of Faculty Affairs at the Wright State Department of Medicine.

Here are the links to her articles mentioned at the start of this podcast:

• Academic Coaching to Enhance In-Training Examination Performance in Internal Medicine Residency - PubMed
• Academic Coaching to Promote Self-Directed Learning in Graduate Medical Education - PubMed
• Empowering Learning: Self-Directed Strategies of Internal Medicine Residents in an Academic Coaching Program - PubMed
• The House Cup: Using Longitudinal Gamification to Improve Didactic Attendance - PubMed