Why Quit Medicine?

I am frequently asked this question... why quit medicine?

The answer is, I didn't 'quit' medicine. I made the decision to pursue a lifelong passion for technology, and its applications to improve health care delivery. It wasn't a decision to 'quit', per se, but to move forward.

As a high school student, I debated between three potential career choices: becoming a doctor, a computer programmer, or a high school chemistry teacher. The chemistry teacher option was quickly ruled out- it just seemed like it would quickly become the same thing, year after year- plus, the other options paid better.

I was still in the process of deciding, when the opportunity presented itself to apply for the combined 6-year BS/MD program at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (NEOUCOM). The challenge of the program was appealing to me, and the invitation to reserve a slot in medical school was too tempting to pass up. Medical school admission was pretty competitive back then, or so it seemed, so at the tender age of 16 I committed to the medical school path and I hit the ground running!

From high school to medical school, medical school to Family Practice Residency. As a resident, I developed a passion for teaching, and decided to pursue this as a career. I completed a one year academic family medicine fellowship after residency, earning a Masters' degree in Education, then joined the faculty at Wright State University School of Medicine.

For 18 years, I practiced, and taught, Family Medicine. It was a most enjoyable career! The blend of seeing patients, teaching students, and doing some research proved to be stimulating and challenging. But, through it all, my passion for technology never waned- in fact, it grew stronger every year.

That passion led me to develop the Computers in Clinical Medicine elective for 4th-year medical students. Over a 10-year period, roughly 150 medical students worked with me to learn about the applications of computer resources to the patient care arena. In 2007, we implemented our first ambulatory EHR, and the benefits of technology became even more apparent!

The decision to transition to a full-time career in the computer industry began late in 2006. For many years, I had attended the meetings of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), where geeks like me hung out on an annual basis to examine uses for technology in medicine. After the 2006 meeting, I felt the deep desire to make this aspect of medicine more than just a hobby- to make it a career! I pursued additional informatics training, first at the NLM Woods Hole course, and then through the AMIA 10X10 program, and finally decided to begin examining the job market!

Long story short- I was very blessed and very excited when Epic posted a job description for the Clinical Informatics role. My experiences with developing, using, teaching, and evaluating technology resources with students made this a perfect fit for my skill set. In addition, Epic is a very stimulating and positive work environment, not to mention a strong player in the EHR industry with a very stable market position and a very positive outlook for the future.

So... I found a very stimulating job, pursuing my passion, in a great working environment. I honestly didn't 'quit' medicine... I fulfilled a lifelong dream to pursue a new challenge, in a way that will improve the practice of medicine for physicians and for patients for the rest of my career and beyond!

Charles Barkley, noted NBA analyst, hall of fame player, and amateur philosopher, once stated, "Any knucklehead can score." Well... in my more cynical moments... I feel that "Any knucklehead can see patients... but it takes a special kind of knucklehead to improve the practice of medicine."