Different Paths to a Successful Career with Dr. Yul Ejnes
Yul Ejnes MD is the Chair-elect of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine, Chair Emeritus of the ACP Board of Regents and a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown Medical School, his alma mater where he completed his medical school and residency training. Dr. Ejnes is also the founding partner of Coastal Medical, the largest physician owned and governed primary care practice in the state of Rhode Island. Dr. Ejnes has been awarded Mastership by the American College of Physicians and the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award from Brown Medical School and is a frequently invited guest lecturer and contributor to KevinMD.com. Although the path through medical school is fairly regimented, the paths open up after residency. Private practice is one possible choice. Today, Dr. Yul Ejnes shares a unique career path, from private practice to Brown Medical School; leadership in a primary care physician group to professional societies. When Dr. Ejnes advocates for having variety in your career, he doesn’t just talk the talk. A primary care physician through it all, Dr. Ejnes measures his success as “ going to bed even on a day that ended much later than you expected, having a smile on your face, saying ‘we did a lot of good stuff today'.” Pearls of Wisdom: 1. Don’t say yes to everything, but when you say yes, give it your 110%. That’s what catches people’s attention and creates a chain of sponsors that can lead to more opportunities. 2. When you need more confidence to see yourself doing amazing things, mentors can give you the encouragement you need to take risks and go beyond what you thought was possible. 3. To move from a good internist to a great internist, work on making your patient relationships non-adversarial. Your goal is not to lower someone’s blood pressure, it’s to keep the patient engaged which leads to better long-term effects. 4. Introduce variety in your career. Find other interests outside of patient care and protect time for yourself to have a degree of control over your schedule.