Age-related professional decline is the last thing many doctors want to think about. Those who have just finished years of arduous training can’t imagine that they have only 15 years until they will deteriorate (statistically true), and those of us in middle age don’t want to think about our impending, cognitive retreat from medicine. And yet, this fantastic piece in the Atlantic “Your Professional Decline is Coming (Much) Sooner than You Think” by Arthur C. Brooks is a fascinating, well written article about happiness, gifted and accomplished people, and personal relevance with multiple interesting celebrity examples. Brooks also proposes some quasi-solutions (or at least some work-arounds). I strongly recommend this compelling piece for physicians of all ages and stages.
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
