Work Ethic and a Good Idea with Dr. Aimee Zaas

Dr Aimee Zaas is a Professor of Medicine at Duke University and the Director of the Internal medicine residency training program. Dr Zaas completed her Medical school from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Illinois), 1998 and Residency and Chief Residency in Internal Medicine from Johns Hopkins Hospital. She pursued a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases from Duke University Medical Center, 2001-2005. Her early career focused on finding genetic determinants of susceptibility to fungal infection and identifying genomic signatures of infectious diseases before she re-entered the world of medical education. She has served as the Program Director for the Duke Internal Medicine Program for 10 years. When not at work, you can find her spending time with her husband watching her two boys (ages 15 and 17) play soccer, going for a run with her energetic but ill- behaved dogs and enjoying the company of friends. What do you do when you lack experience and accolades? Today, Dr. Aimee Zaas shares a powerful story of how a good work ethic—and a good idea—when supported by mentors turned into a new opportunity for her, dramatically changing the trajectory of her career. She encourages us to start listening to our inner voices and understand what is important to us and choose careers that maximize that. Today, we learn how having a network of mentors who believe in us, support us, and encourage us, can open us up to the endless possibilities in medicine today. And while sometimes from the outside, successful mentors around us can seem to have a straight line pointing up towards success, when we take the time to connect, we will see that the lines are often squiggly with ups and downs, twists and turns, and much more similar to us than we think! Pearls of Wisdom: 1. When we look at the lives of successful people, we feel like there is a straight line trajectory. But when we talk to them, we find that there are ups, downs, twists and turns. But through it all, it’s always a positive trajectory. 2. What you lack in experience and accolades, you can make up for in work ethic and ideas. And when you have work ethic and ideas, mentors are going to invest in you, support you, and trust you to take an opportunity and run with it. 3. Recognize who you are. Find your passions objectively by picking up the NEJM, scanning the articles, and paying attention to what is most interesting to you. And once you know that, talk to as many people as possible about your interests. 4. The best trait in successful residents is a ‘multiplier quality’. It’s the people who have the ability to help others shine.