A Conversation With Jenny Eileen Murase, MD

Q. What is the best piece of advice you have received and from whom?

A. The 2 best pieces of advice I have heard as a dermatologist and working mother of 3 are as follows. At a Women’s Dermatology Retreat focus session, a dermatologist suggested making a list of everything during your week that you do not enjoy doing and hiring someone to do it. This seems self-explanatory, but I have conveyed this to several other female colleagues in dermatology who felt it was as much of an incredible revelation to them as it was for me. For some, this may be grocery shopping or taking the kids to school; others may love to shop or visit the school, but perhaps do not like to do the laundry or cooking. The more specific the list, the better for the people who are trying to help you to be clear on what they need to do and how best to help. One of my friends told me that she knew a “super mom” who would wake up at 4 am to do laundry, and someone commented: “That’s not super mom, that’s stupid mom.” The critical aspect to developing this support structure around you is to ensure that you, as a doctor, have adequate time built in to rest, exercise and get things done. Otherwise, this leads to burnout and/or deteriorating health. You need to create a lifestyle that you can sustain to be able to contribute meaningfully to our fi eld and been gaged in all the wonderful aspects our specialty has to offer. At an AAD life balance session, Dr Alexa Kimball stated, “You can never have too much help.” I have found this statement to be incredibly important, especially if you have academic pursuits in research, publications, and lecturing in addition to patient care and childcare. The only way I am able to free up time to mentor medical students, develop publications, and perform the research needed for my presentations is to have more than enough help to make sure that my children have adequate support and the time I have for my family is quality time and not household chores. I spend 3 hours a night with my children and most of my weekends. This time with my children is precious and something that I could never get back if I did not have an adequate support structure.