This week we present the career path of Dr. Adia Ross. She’s experiencing several very exciting professional roles and gives us all some resources about stress in the workplace, especially valuable for this season of the year.
How long have you been at Duke and the Division of General Internal Medicine?
I came to Duke as a resident in 2009. I have been in the Division of General Internal Medicine since 2013.
What are your responsibilities within the division? What does a typical day for you look like?
In addition to being a hospitalist, I have two main roles: 1) Assistant Program Director for the Management Leadership Pathway for Residents – I co-lead an administrative fellowship program for GME trainees who have an MBA, MHA, etc., or other graduate degree in healthcare administration, in the Management and Leadership Pathway for Residents. And, 2) Assistant Medical Officer for Quality for Duke University Hospital where I work in the DUH CMO’s office. My focus is on performance improvement and patient safety initiatives of strategic importance to Duke University Hospital.
What’s it like to be a hospitalist?
It is great. Hospitalists are at the center of inpatient care for a lot of non-surgical patients. It also has helped me tremendously in my other non-clinical roles because hospital medicine touches so many medicine subspecialties. In addition the specialty plays a primary role in providing a good patient experience for hospitalized patients and managing transitions from the acute care setting back to the community.
When asked about how she got into internal medicine, Dr. Ross tells us:
"I chose this specialty because some of the best mentors I had in medical school were internists!"
I should add that internal medicine training focuses on systematically assessing and diagnosing medical conditions and I felt this approach fits my personality.
Tell us about the significance for you with the MHA degree and following the leadership pathway at Duke.
Even in childhood I knew that I wanted to be a physician. As a college student, I loved finance and economics and wanted to find a way to combine my love of medicine and business administration. Similar to many researchers who feel that one of the biggest ways they can contribute to advancing the field of medicine is through scientific investigation, I too hope to use my love of healthcare administration to improve the lives of the patients we serve through eliminating delays in care, standardizing processes and making the work environment better for the providers and staff at Duke University Hospital and beyond.
What passions or hobbies do you have outside of the division?
I will admit, at this stage in my life, my passion outside of work right now involves ensuring my family unit provides a loving supportive environment for my children.
Have you recently read any books, articles, blog posts or other material that would be of interest to the division?
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am an avid NPR listener. I recently listened and was inspired by this podcast hosted by Krista Tippett with Adam Grant: Being a Giver and Work – about how to contribute to creating a good work environment. Grant is an organizational psychologist and a professor at Wharton School of Business at UPenn. He discusses the fact that people can be successful in their professional careers by not focusing on their own career development but also by helping others. (Link) I want to add that I just started reading Kelly McGonigal’s book “The Upside of Stress.” Dr. McGonigal is a health psychologist from Stanford University. This book talks about how we can use stressful situations to learn to cultivate a lifestyle of mindfulness by embracing stress instead of fighting it. Very interesting work. Check out her Ted Talk here.