2025 Annual Meeting

Surgical training is an arduous, demanding process with a prodigious work load, from working 80-hour weeks to pursuing academic activities such as research and leadership development. While the duration of surgical residency and fellowship varies by individual and program, the average age of a medical graduate embarking on surgical training is 28 years old, and as such, not only is this time one of intense professional growth, this is also a time traditionally in which individuals consider, grow, and/or raise young families. This can be equally demanding, physically and emotionally, and creates a unique battery of challenges, in which surgical trainees and surgeons must find balance between their professional and personal lives. These challenges span from fertility issues, the demands of pregnancy and breastfeeding and the intense need for parental presence at home yet intense need for presence at work and training. In this RAS-sponsored panel, attendees will hear from surgeons across Ohio who have experienced the joys and challenges of the modern surgical family. Panelists will share pearls and pitfalls of parenthood and reflections of their personal experience growing and raising a family as a surgeon.