Meagen McCusker, MD, shares why academic medicine's rigid schedule pushed her toward private practice and building an empowering, autonomy-focused culture.
Meagen McCusker, MD, MS, medical director of Integrated Dermatology of Enfield & Simsbury, reflected on her path from academic
McCusker recalled finishing residency energized by newfound independence and eager to build her career within an academic department she loved.
A University of Connecticut graduate, she described the thrill and fear of seeing her first patients without supervision, along with a sense of finally being able to apply years of training. At that stage, she said private practice was far from her mind; she felt secure in the structure and mentorship academic medicine provided.
That comfort shifted as McCusker's responsibilities as a physician and mother began to collide with academia's rigid demands. She pointed to a specific breaking point: missing her son's kindergarten graduation because department policy required six weeks' notice for time off. Balancing two young children with an inflexible schedule, she said, became untenable, and she recognized that meeting the needs of her family required rethinking her career structure entirely.
Rather than reject her training, McCusker said she carried forward what she valued most from academic medicine while reshaping the parts that no longer served her. Building her own practice gave her control over scheduling and let her define the workplace culture she wanted, one she described as rooted in the principle that empowered women empower women.
Shahriari, who also transitioned from academia to private practice, noted that autonomy often outweighs compensation in physician satisfaction, citing research suggesting that when physicians are given greater control over their work, income becomes a secondary concern. Both agreed that flexibility and self-determined culture, rather than salary alone, are often the deciding factors in physician career satisfaction and long-term fulfillment in medicine.
Editor’s note: Neither speaker had any relevant disclosures of note. This episode was summarized with the help of AI tools.
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