This week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, we're exploring overcoming adversity and stressful times for a very special "best of" episode.

The snippets from today's podcast focus on viewing your career as a marathon, staying positive through unimaginable circumstances, and embracing a mindset of humility through leadership, teambuilding and mentorship over the course of your career in academic health.

We're featuring important highlights from three episodes in our archive:

• Episode 130 – Habits and Hacks with Barbara Fivush, MD
• Episode 150 – Habits and Hacks with Fawaz Al Ammary, MD, PhD
• Episode 312 – Life Lessons in Informal Learning, Mentorship, and On-the-Job Education with David J. Skorton, MD

We start out hearing from Dr. Skorton, who reflects on his own approach to overcoming the persistent waves of adversity he must address while leading the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

After that, we hear from Dr. Al Ammary, who shares how he turned a vicious and unprovoked physical attack into a source of positivity, with a take-home message of staying positive no matter what.

We close with Dr. Fivush. She outlines crucial tips for building a team to get things done and chats about why working on your career is a long-term process, a marathon and not a sprint. She also touches on how staying focused and resilient through the inevitable ups and downs of a career is a must.

Lauren Maggio, PhD, MS(LIS), Editor-in-Chief of MedEdPORTAL, visits the Faculty Factory this week for a comprehensive look at the value of submitting to this open-access, peer-reviewed publication and why utilizing its resources throughout your career is a must.

In addition to her role with MedEdPORTAL, Dr. Maggio is a Professor and the Director of Research in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

She also serves on the editorial boards of Academic Medicine and Perspectives on Medical Education.

Founded in 2005, MedEdPORTAL is the Association of American Medical Colleges' journal of teaching and learning.

"MedEdPORTAL is a diamond open access journal. And what that means is that not only can everyone around the world read what's in MedEdPORTAL for no charge, there's also no charge for you to publish in MedEdPORTAL. So there are no fees for the authors and for the readers. Which to me, as someone who came up in information science and open access, is incredibly important," Dr. Maggio said.

MedEdPORTAL also supports the creative commons approach to protecting the intellectual property of those who are published, while allowing others to utilize its value.

"We use Creative Commons licenses, which ensure that you have your copyright, that you will get credit for your work, but you are allowing others to reuse your work and modify it for their own context. Because at the end of the day we want our colleagues around the world to be able to take those off the shelf and put them into play in their classroom," Dr. Maggio added.

This week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, David Niesel, PhD, tackles one of the most underexplored questions in academic medicine: do you actually know how to be happy outside of your career? It's a provocative starting point, but one that gets at something real in a broader discussion on being strategic when approaching retirement and transitions for leaders in academic health.

"Not everybody is ready for retirement at the same time," Dr. Niesel said, "and that question of readiness sits at the heart of this conversation."

Over the course of his career, Dr. Niesel rose through the ranks of academic leadership, serving as Vice Dean for the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Department Chairman, Dean, and ultimately as the Chief Research Officer at University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).

He retired from full-time employment in 2021 and continues as an adjunct professor.

He also co-hosts Medical Discovery News, a weekly radio show that recently surpassed 1,000 episodes and publishes a 500-word column each week. You can find out more and tune in here: https://www.medicaldiscoverynews.com/

Dr. Niesel makes the case that skills you've built over decades don't disappear when you step away from the institution. They remain in demand, and that's exactly why intentionality matters. You can't afford to live this next stage by default.

On this week's episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast, Donna J. Adams, EdD, discusses the noticeable rise in learner concerns over the past five years. Now that we are more than half a decade removed from the peak of the pandemic, managing these issues has become a top priority.

With UTMB in Galveston, Texas, Dr. Adams serves as Program Director, Translational Research Education, in the Institute for Translational Sciences Office of Educational Programs.

We're excited to welcome Dr. Adams for her first appearance on the show as we explore how faculty leadership can actively step in and help address these challenges.

"I always tell students you need to look long term. You need to think about what skills can I pick up now that could be transferable to a postdoc to get into where I really want to go? Sometimes you have to play the long game instead of the short game," Dr. Adams said.

Learning about unexpected career paths, opening new doors, and playing the "long game" (since some of the skills you gain will stay with you throughout your career) are all explored in this episode through the lens of Dr. Adams's robust experience. Transferable skills, a sense of curiosity, and relationship building are also covered.

As the discussion wraps up, Dr. Adams also addresses getting comfortable with change, one of the few constants in academia, and why providing psychological safety is essential.

This week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, we’re talking about education once again, and this time it's all about exploring teaching that goes way beyond the status quo for a very special "best of" episode.

The snippets from today’s podcast focus on technology, meeting learners where they are, avoiding cognitive overload, and introducing clinical and micro-scale instructional approaches.

We're featuring important highlights from three episodes in our archive:

• Episode 283 – Tiny Talks, Academic Medicine and the Clinical Learning Environment with Anna Handorf, MD
• Episode 158 – Just in Time Teaching (JiTT), Evidence-based Knowledge, and Technology with Alice Fornari, EdD, FAMEE, RDN
• Episode 297 – The Art and Science of Delivering “Micro Resources” in Academic Medicine with Alice Fornari, EdD, FAMEE, RDN

We start out hearing from Dr. Handorf about the three rules of Tiny Talks. These three guidelines are so important to consider when crafting learning materials at any level.

After that, we move on to back-to-back interviews with Dr. Fornari, who is constantly incorporating the latest technology and applications to bring just-in-time teaching elements and “micro resources” to learners.

Our education-themed archive of content is robust here at the Faculty Factory. We've organized this content into its own dedicated section on our website, so it's never been easier to find the next episode that might inspire you.

This week on the Faculty Factory Podcast, we explore what neurodiversity is and how it plays out in the workplace with our guest, Kelley J. Slack, PhD.

Dr. Slack is an Organizational Psychologist in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas.

First things out of the gate, we learned neurodiversity is not a medical term but rather a social construct.

"You're not going to find neurodiversity in a medical textbook, but at the same time it's 'not not' a medical term in that it highlights the natural variation in human neurology," she said.

Dr. Slack reminds us that we all possess cognitive strengths and deal with different challenges. This natural range has played a vital role in human flourishing, and our latest episode is the perfect starting place to learn more.

You can contact Dr. Slack by email.

And learn more about the study she mentioned in the closing moments of the podcast.

Companies and institutions have mission statements, but when it comes to individuals, it is unfortunately much less common. Maybe it's time to change that narrative.

Crafting a personal mission statement takes strategic planning. This means being deliberate about having your behavior reflect what drives you. It entails reflecting on what is important to you and what values should govern your decision making as you forge ahead in your career.

Luckily for us, Adam D. Wolfe, MD, PhD, makes his fourth appearance on the Faculty Factory Podcast this week to discuss just that.

Everyone wants to save time, and there may not be a better time saver than doing what Dr. Wolfe encourages, which is to revisit your values, personal mission statement and what you want to accomplish in the next year or two.

That true north will help you have the confidence to say no, and a well-timed "no," as many of us can painfully attest, can save you significant time, headaches, and stress.

About Dr. Wolfe

Dr. Wolfe is Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Program Director of the Pediatric Residency Program. He also serves as Assistant Dean of Medical Education and holds the Jann L. Harrison Endowed Chair in Pediatric Graduate Medical Education at Baylor College of Medicine in San Antonio at CHRISTUS Children's.

As mentioned, this is Dr. Wolfe's fourth appearance on the Faculty Factory Podcast. Please be sure to visit his previous appearances here:

• Visit episode 320 – Self-Promotion and Other Challenges to Embrace in Academic Medicine
• Check out episode 326 – Key Communication Tips for Better Relationships in Academic Medicine
• Here is episode 374 - The Power of Peer Mentoring Circles

When it comes to exploring senior roles in academic medicine and understanding how one goes about achieving them, we have the perfect guest this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast as we welcome Jenny Mladenovic, MD, MBA, MACP.

She joins us to help make sense of the opportunities available and to shed light on the variables to consider when pursuing one.

"I do think it's really important to recognize that faculty have chapters in their life and they may not be interested now, or there may not be opportunity now, but it is still important to understand what these roles are, what they mean, and why we have them," she said.

She also reminds us that if you ever think you are overreaching for a job, you have nothing to lose by applying, except perhaps your pride.

"The reality is that there is no perfect job and you will never know everything going into a job. Once you start with that, it makes it a little easier," she said.

In leadership, communication skills are essential, as are operational expertise, discipline, and at least some level of financial management. The good news is that all of these skills can be developed.

"I have my personal biases, so everything I say should be filtered through that. But I believe a dean's role is most important in recruiting and managing faculty. They have to have some mix of charisma and operational expertise," she said.

About Dr. Mladenovic

Dr. Jenny Mladenovic is President and CEO of the Center for Women in Academic Medicine and Science (CWAMS) and Chair/Founder of the GEMS Alliance. Previously she was Executive Vice-President and Provost at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) and has held positions as senior associate dean at two institutions.

Additionally, Dr. Mladenovic is an AOA graduate of the University of Washington and trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Stanford University, and the University of Washington. For nearly two decades, she had an NIH/VA funded laboratory focused on hematopoietic cell differentiation. She holds an MBA from the University of Miami and is a certified mediator.