Table 3.

Themes Related to Why Women Choose Careers in Academic Medicine, Gleaned from Interviews with 53 Women Academic Physicians, 2010

Theme	Subthemes	Associated quotations
Fit	Prestige	I had gone to a medical school that was academic…I could see how they looked down on private doctors… if you are out in the field doing the actual work, you are not an intellectual, you’re not interested in research, you are not up to date…I wanted to stay in the glamour of research.
	Personality	I think there is a personality type for a person [who] goes into it [academic medicine] that is very different from private practice. You have to have a certain personality to do this [academic medicine]; not everybody is cut out to do it.
	Interest	I think the main thing was my interest and love for academic medicine…if I had desired, I could have gone into private practice....it was really just a question of what I was interested in.
	Salary as a non-issue	[M]oney was never an issue with me…I was not looking at the economics of the whole thing…I was looking at what I would be more comfortable doing.
Aspects of the academic health center environment	Mobility	[It was] less of a transition to go from one academic environment to another [compared to going into private practice].
	Intellectual stimulation	- I chose academic medicine because I liked the intellectual aspects, and I liked the intellectual challenge.
		- Well, I think I believed I would constantly want to learn…just the fact that I can participate in ongoing learning…maybe right or wrong, but I’ve always felt that private practice might probably stunt the ability to do that.
	Teaching	- I was attracted to teaching…and having a role in education. It was my experience as a teacher as a resident that attracted me to [a career in academic medicine].
		- I wanted to be a teacher before I wanted to be a physician. I probably wanted to be a teacher since early elementary school, and it wasn’t actually until mid to late high school that I changed that, and I decided to go into medicine. So teaching medicine was just a good marriage of the two things that I really wanted.
		- I’ve actually had the opportunity to get some experiences in other career paths before kind of settling in academic medicine…but for me even when I was a resident, I knew that I wanted to teach…I’ve always had a desire to teach…and when I was in private practice, enjoyed the times that I had the opportunities to work with residents when I was doing inpatient rounds and to work with medical students when they were taken through our office.
	Variety	I felt that [academic medicine] was going to give me a range of responsiblities, clincial experience, administrative [work], and research.
	Training opportunity	[An] opportunity … arose as I was finishing residency in which there was an academic position available…so I thought I’d give it a try.
	Remaining current	- I felt [that] in an academic setting people were more up to date and kind of looking for new things.
		- I guess I just felt like it was going to be the way for me to stay up to date; with the field of medicine constantly changing, I thought … forcing myself to be in a position where I was teaching others would keep me more up to date than if I were out practicing on my own without anyone else to worry about.
	Subspecialty practice	I had always been interested in [specialty] and most of those types of positions were available in large academic teaching institutions.
	Lifestyle and flexibility	- [A]cademic medicine allows for a lot more flexibility…I knew that I would be starting a family at the end of residency, and I wanted to be in a position where I could adjust my schedule accordingly and not be locked into…30 patients every day.
		- [I]t was the flexibility…I was able to work part time, which was what I wanted when I had children.
		- I was attracted to a practice where I would have more flexibility with my time…that is pretty much it.
		- [B]ack in those days, academic medicine was very female friendly in terms of hours and responsibility because you did not have to be there for hands-on care … because you had residents and fellows [who] would work while you did your research, or while you diapered your children, or while you made dinner for your family. It was kind of almost a cushy lifestyle.”
	Patient accuity	I also decided that I wanted…an academic health center because I wanted to keep up with the latest medical care and wanted to continue seeing patients [who] received a higher level of care.
People	Mentors	I guess people would be at the top of my list. When I was a fourth-year medical student, I did a [specialty] rotation and I met someone who became my mentor both in residency and in fellowship …she was also involved in teaching....I wanted to be like her.
	Role models	I guess you could say every single attending [who] taught me and everyone [whom] I learned from during my residency were all role models for me. They were all in academic medicine; all my role models were in academic medicine. I think that was just a natural track for me: to just follow in their footsteps.
	Colleagues	During residency…I had a feeling if I went into private practice …that I would miss the excitement…and also miss working with colleagues…I would really miss out on the collegiality.
	Parent/family	- My father was a researcher…I would go to work with him and I would sit in the lab…I knew from the get go that I wanted to be a professor. Because he always said being a professor was the best job you could have…I just wanted to be a professor of science because I wanted to be like my dad.
		- I think for me part of it has to do with [the fact that] my entire family…are teachers…I think my family placed a high value on education and on the value of teaching others.
Exposure	Positive/Negative exposure	Probably a lot of it came from exposure; especially during residency…everything was academic based; probably a lot of constant exposure and what I had experience with. My community [and]… the private sector that I was exposed to weren’t as positive experiences…as the more academic models.
Clinical medicine	--	- I like being on the clinical side of it.
		- [I like] seeing all kinds of cases and patients.