Conflict, stressors, broaching difficult conversations, and learning to say no—these are some of the “spookiest” challenges we've identified and addressed over the years on the Faculty Factory Podcast. Since our 2019 inception, we've explored how to handle these issues with confidence and grace, featuring a series of incredible interview guests. We’re excited to share highlights from five of these conversations with four different guests in this week’s episode. Since today is October 31st, we're delighted to present this “Best Of” episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast, showcasing some of the  most “spooky” challenges in academic medicine. These may be the things keeping you up at night, but rest assured, they are common and manageable. This “Best of” show includes highlights from the following episodes: Episode 299 – Best Supporting Practices and Strategies for Stressed-Out Learners and Faculty with Jessica Seaman, EdD Episode 79 – Managing Difficult Issues with Charles G. Irvin, Ph.D., DE, ATSF, FERS Episode 75 – How to Handle Conflict with Dave Yousem, MD, MBA Episode 72 – The Art of Navigating a Difficult Conversation with Dave Yousem, MD, MBA Episode 46 – Prioritizing and the Art of Saying No with Jennifer Haythornthwaite, PhD Interested in hearing the full conversations from any of these episodes? Click on the links above to explore each episode in-depth. About Today’s Speakers Jessica Seaman, EdD, serves as Assistant Professor of Medical Humanities, Co-Director of the Gold Track Curriculum, and Assistant Dean of Faculty Development at Creighton University School of Medicine in Phoenix, Arizona. Jennifer Haythornthwaite, PhD, has joined the Faculty Factory for memorable episodes over the years with important feedback for our audience when it comes to time management and much more. Dr. Haythornthwaite is a professor in the department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md Charles G. Irvin, PhD, DE, ATSF, FERS, is a Professor of Medicine, Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, Vice Chairman for Research Department of Medicine and Director of the Vermont Lung Center at the University of Vermont. He was named Associate Dean for Faculty for the College of Medicine in 2012. Dave Yousem, MD, MBA, is a frequent contributor to the Faculty Factory Podcast. He serves as Associate Dean for Professional Development at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is also the Vice Chairman of Program Development at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution.

Equipped with a conviction that all of us are leaders in academic medicine, Judy Tung, MD, joins the Faculty Factory Podcast this week to discuss leadership development and so much more. Dr. Tung serves as an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. She is also the Associate Dean of Faculty Development at the School of Medicine. You can see the two articles referenced in this interview here: Putting Traits Associated with Effective Medical Leadership into Action: Support for a Faculty Development Strategy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39143441/ Enhancing a Faculty Development Program: Identifying and Addressing Leadership Skill Gaps Using an Established Leadership Framework: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40503092/ Learn more: https://facultyfactory.org/judy-tung 

Lekshmi Santhosh, MD, MAEd, an innovative leader in medicine, joins our Faculty Factory Podcast this week to discuss building an array of mentors, each playing a different role in your life and career journey in academic medicine. She also encourages us to challenge conventional definitions of mentoring throughout this conversation. The concept of matrix mentorship invites us to explore the metaphor of a “bouquet of mentors,” which is a central theme of the interview. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Dr. Santhosh is an Associate Professor of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine and Hospital Medicine. She serves as the Department of Medicine’s Associate Chair for Mentorship and People Development and is the Associate Program Director for the internal medicine residency program at UCSF. She also holds the title of Gold-headed Cane Endowed Education Chair in Internal Medicine. Her passion for mentoring trainees, early-career faculty, and peers shines throughout this discussion. “Just knowing that one mentor is not going to be able to meet all your needs is really important,” Dr. Santhosh emphasizes. Thank you to a dear friend of the Faculty Factory, Joshua Hartzell, MD, MS-HPEd, FACP, FIDSA, for recommending Dr. Santhosh as a guest on our show. It was a very memorable and special debut on the Faculty Factory Podcast for her. You can revisit our leadership conversation with Dr. Hartzell: https://facultyfactory.org/joshua-hartzell/ And of course, if you have a guest you’d like us to invite for a conversation on our podcast, please send us a message: https://facultyfactory.org/contact-us/

With mergers and acquisitions (M&As) potentially reshaping the landscape of academic medicine, we are honored to welcome Elza Mylona, PhD, MBA, to this week’s episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast to explore this emerging trend. Dr. Mylona is the Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development and also serves as a Professor of Foundational Sciences at Methodist University Cape Fear Valley Health School of Medicine in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In this timely discussion about a topic that impacts everyone the institution undergoing a merger or acquisition touches, we examine the economic and demographic pressures driving many of the M&As in academic medicine and beyond. Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

Carla L. Spagnoletti, MD, MS, has some promotion portfolio gems of wisdom for our listeners in her return to the Faculty Factory Podcast this week. At the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Dr. Spagnoletti serves as Professor of Medicine and holds the George H. Taber Endowed Chair in General Internal Medicine. In addition, she is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, the Associate Division Chief for Education in GIM, and the Associate Director of the Masters and Certificate Programs in Medical Education within the Institute for Clinical Research Education. As discussed in this interview, there are many reasons why clinical faculty should seek promotion. However, clinical faculty often climb the ranks more slowly than their research counterparts. While Dr. Spagnoletti concedes that this is probably due to multiple factors—such as rigorous and competing clinical duties, a lack of understanding of the process, and not always seeing tangible incentives for pursuing promotion—it became clear that something needed to be done. Therefore, Dr. Spagnoletti set out to help faculty overcome the final hurdle in promotion: building a promotion dossier or portfolio. She helped form a supportive group to assist faculty in submitting and building this portfolio so they can initiate the promotion process. At her institution, this group is called the Promotion Portfolio Club (PPC). As a true clinician-educator, she designed it as a curriculum based on a few core theories commonly used in medical education. “One of the participants in a recent club told us, ‘I'm eternally grateful, as I can only imagine this task would have been incredibly daunting had I gone it alone,’ and that really captures the main reason why we started this project,” she said. Learn more: https://facultyfactory.org/ 

We are honored to have Farzana Hoque, MD, MRCP, FACP, FRCP, return to the Faculty Factory Podcast this week. This is her third appearance on the podcast, and this time she joins us to discuss her recently published article in the Journal of Brown Hospital Medicine entitled “WISE Framework: Teaching Guide for Early Career Hospitalists.” The article is based on the WISE Framework, which she formulated and discusses in depth during today’s chat. As she notes at the start of the interview, it is applicable to all specialties, not just hospitalists. She currently serves as an Associate Professor of Internal Medicine in the Division of Hospital Medicine at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She also co-directs the Medicine Sub-Internship at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Additionally, she is the Medical Director of Bordley Tower at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. Dr. Hoque’s previous two interviews with the Faculty Factory can be found here: Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for Unlocking Leadership Potential: https://facultyfactory.org/eq-leadership/ Embracing Culture Over Strategy: Lessons Learned in Academic Medicine: https://facultyfactory.org/farzana-hoque/ “After several days of thinking, I came up with this WISE framework. W stands for Watchful Observation; I for Insightful Awareness; S for Specific Feedback; and E for Empathic Communication,” she told us. Read Dr. Hoque’s recent article in the Journal of Brown Hospital Medicine entitled “WISE Framework: Teaching Guide for Early Career Hospitalists”: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40191700/. You can follow along with her guidance and clinical tips for residents and fellows, and much more by subscribing to her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.FarzanaHoque.

For W. Neil Duggar, PhD, DABR, everything on his path to leadership in academic medicine started with fully understanding his own “why.” That process of understanding your purpose, who you are, and how that dictates what success will look like, and whether you are making progress, is a central theme within today’s broader leadership discussion.  Dr. Duggar currently serves as an Associate Professor and Director of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.  Learning to lead without formal authority is important in our field because, as Dr. Duggar puts it, “most of us don’t have authority or a title most of our careers, if we ever do get one, so learning to lead without authority becomes a very powerful combination of skills.”  Embracing feedback and constructive criticism about yourself is vital to this discussion because, without this journey to self-awareness, it’s very easy for leaders to fall into the trap of “your own legend.”  “You can start believing your opinion and feedback are most important, but the reality is that there will always be voices you need to listen to outside of your own,” he said.  We thank Dr. Duggar for reaching out to us via the Faculty Factory inbox and requesting to be a guest on this show! If you have something to share within your corner of the academic medicine world as a guest, please send us a message: https://facultyfactory.org/contact-us/    After you listen to Dr. Duggar’s interview, for more fantastic podcast episodes, please check out our show’s archives: https://facultyfactory.org/podcast-topics/

Oscar W. “Skip” Brown, MD, is our guest this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast. He lays out the keys to building a fulfilling retirement and acknowledges the severe consequences of simply “doing nothing” with the windfall of time on your hands. As a clinical professor of pediatrics with UTMB in Galveston, Texas, Dr. Brown has accumulated numerous accolades over his illustrious career. He is the immediate past vice chair for clinical affairs and former chief medical officer at UTMB. As a past president of the Texas Pediatric Society (TPS), he is a recipient of the TPS Charles W. Daeschner, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award, for his contributions to the health and welfare of the children of Texas. He joined us to map out some serious considerations we should all keep in mind as we approach the twilight stages of our full-time careers. "You've got to have a plan for what you're going to do with yourself with all the time you're about to create. And it is very bad for you—very bad for you, emphasized with giant capital letters—to just have time," Dr. Brown stressed. Questions? You can contact him via email here to learn more: owbrown@utmb.edu, and you can visit the Faculty Factory website for more resources: https://facultyfactory.org/.  

Donna Vogel, MD, PhD, joins us this week to share her journey of recognizing that it was time for retirement and how she optimized her plan using her trademark discipline and scientific vigor to achieve the healthiest possible retirement from a physical, mental, and financial standpoint. This is Dr. Vogel’s ninth appearance on the Faculty Factory Podcast, and we are immensely grateful for her selfless and relentless contributions to this community over the years since our 2019 inception. Among her career highlights, she served as Director of the Professional Development Office at Johns Hopkins Medicine and was the Program Director of the Reproductive Medicine grant portfolio at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is also a former Jeopardy! champion, having won four consecutive days and reaching the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions. The four pillars of retirement, according to Dr. Vogel, and discussed toward the end of this podcast, are as follows: Financial planning Health and general fitness Things you do for yourself Things you do for others “Above all, keep learning in retirement, as that overlaps with all four pillars and ties them all together. Never stop learning,” Dr. Vogel told us in the closing moments of today's show. Important Resources from Today’s Chat Helping Medical Education Faculty Navigate a Post-Academic Landing Pad (Recent Academic Medicine editorial) New York Times article on retirement and mental health referenced by Dr. Vogel The Academy at Johns Hopkins for retired faculty Learning Ally Catch up on Dr. Vogel's Faculty Factory Appearances Networking in a Virtual Environment Applying for Funding, Top Ten Things to Know Be a Memorable Mentor Get That Paper off the Ground How to Turbocharge your Presentation Skills Overcoming Imposter Syndrome Professional Societies, Beyond Getting the Journal Time Management for Faculty Please make sure to listen to today’s episode via the podcast player above; and listen to more podcast episodes here.

David A. Rogers, MD, MHPE, whom we affectionately refer to as a Faculty Factory Podcast 'frequent flier,' returns to the show this week for the third time, delivering a gem of a conversation centered around leadership. Dr. Rogers is the Chief Wellness Officer with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine, a position he has held since 2018. He is also a professor in the Department of Surgery, with secondary appointments in the Departments of Medical Education and Pediatrics and holds an adjunct appointment in the Collat School of Business. Dr. Rogers served as a senior associate dean of Faculty Affairs and Professional Development at UAB Medicine from 2012 to 2021 and currently serves as the co-director of the UAB Health Care Leadership Academy. He is also the author of the new book, The Frontline Healthcare Leader's Guide: Leadership that Advances Healthcare Work and the People Who Do It. He joins us to discuss the book and share his insights on leadership, based on all he has absorbed about it during his incredibly accomplished career in academic medicine. You can catch up on his past Faculty Factory Podcast appearances here: Episode 8 – A Faculty Factory Interview with David A. Rogers, MD, MHPE Episode 159 – Taking Ownership of our Wellness with David A. Rogers, MD, MHPE "With leadership, I think fundamentally you need to have a vision and the ability to get people excited to follow or go with you on the journey," he told us. Looking for further great reads on leadership? As Dr. Rogers pointed out in this interview, for those looking to get started with some strong leadership education, he also highly recommends starting with The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner.

This week’s Faculty Factory Podcast is about building the skillset needed to keep pace with the many ways Artificial Intelligence (AI) can augment your productivity as an academic medicine professional. Leading this discussion for us are Stacey Pylman, PhD, and John Lowry, PhD.  Drs. Pylman and Lowry have been featured in an ongoing series through the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) on AI education. You can learn more about it here: https://www.aamc.org/about-us/mission-areas/medical-education/artificial-intelligence-and-academic-medicine   

Relationships, as the heart of building success in service of your institution’s mission and the many people who benefit from it, are the central focus of this week’s thought-provoking interview with Katie Branch, PhD, MSN, RN, FNAP, CHSE, on the Faculty Factory Podcast. With her professional background proudly rooted in nursing, Dr. Branch currently serves as the Vice President for Interprofessional Education and the Health Education Center at the University Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Building on a recent theme of episodes we’ve had exploring the importance of reclaiming joy in your professional life, this episode with Dr. Branch will surely inspire you and help build upon the positive mindset we all need to combat burnout in such a demanding career. To learn more about the Health Education Center (HEC) at UTMB, please visit: https://www.utmb.edu/hec

Heather Brod visits the Faculty Factory podcast this week with some high-level takeaways from a recent talk she has developed and presented called, "What You Should Know About Academic Medicine (But No One Tells You)." We hope you are familiar with the style of commentary and wisdom Heather brings to the table as a “frequent flier” on this show. She is also the coauthor of "The Insider’s Pocket Guide to Navigating a Faculty Career in Academic Medicine,” alongside Faculty Factory podcast host and co-author Kimberly A. Skarupski, PhD, MPH. The “hidden curriculum,” which encompasses the important, often unspoken aspects of a career in academic medicine, are covered throughout his discussion. This includes salient items like negotiating for a job and making an impact.  Learn More: http://facultyfactory.org/hidden-curriculum 

Anumeha Bhagat, MD, DNB, joins the Faculty Factory Podcast this week for a timely interview on medical education, innovative teaching skills, and building a new generation of well-rounded leaders in the field worldwide. As mentioned in this interview, Dr. Bhagat is a fellow of the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Institutes. She also serves as an Assistant Professor of Physiology and is a member of the MEU faculty at Government Medical College in Chandigarh, India. She is a major proponent of measuring impact in faculty development, and as an international podcast reaching over 100 countries, we are hopeful that learning about global best practices will be a key benefit of having Dr. Bhagat joins us this week! Her work aims to enhance the quality of medical training, cultivate well-rounded future leaders in medicine, and promote innovative teaching methods to better prepare faculty for the demands of this beautiful calling of academic medicine.  As discussed in the opening moments of this interview, getting trained in basic medical education technologies is a mandatory requirement for promotion in India. This contrasts with the United States, where education can be a pathway or track, or even supplementary. “The governing bodies have made this a mandatory requirement. So, once you become a faculty member, you need to complete this basic course in medical education to be promoted to the next level,” she explained.  We would like to thank a dear friend of the Faculty Factory, Page S. Morahan, PhD, a founding co-director of FAIMER, for connecting us with Dr. Bhagat, who helped paved the way for this enriching discussion with Dr. Bhagat.

Our fantastic guest, Gulshan Sharma, MD, MPH, discusses key elements of leadership, such as teambuilding, applied knowledge (or intelligence), situational awareness, authenticity, and the role of brain chemistry, this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast. Dr. Sharma is the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical & Clinical Innovation Officer at UTMB Health in Galveston. He also serves as a Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep Medicine within the Department of Internal Medicine at UTMB. “What leadership should bring is a vision for the organization and a main thing for a leader is to manage and de-escalate crisis,” Dr. Sharma told us. Since leadership is personal, coaching becomes vital for leaders because it helps individuals build self-awareness. Additionally, dedicating time to clearing your mind is important, as an uncluttered thought process is essential for personalized leadership. “Leaders should lead; they should not be doing tasks. If leaders start doing, it invites trouble,” Dr. Sharma states.

Remembering why you first entered the wonderful and challenging world of academic medicine might be just the boost of joy you need to uncover to stave off burnout. Our guest this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast is Geeta Singhal, MD, MEd, FAAP, whom we warmly welcome for her first-ever (and very memorable) appearance on our program. She does a brilliant job painting a picture for us of ways to uncover joy amidst the challenges of patient care, teaching, research, and many other rich, rewarding, and difficult tasks of the academic medicine journey. Dr. Singhal currently serves as Executive Vice Chair of the Department of Pediatrics, Professor of Pediatrics, Director of Academics in the Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Attending Physician, and Co-Director of Pediatric Hospital Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). She is also a Faculty Leadership Development Program Partner at BCM and a Professionalism Partner at Texas Children's Hospital.  Learn more: http://facultyfactory.org/Geeta-Singhal 

Daniel Almeida, PhD, also known as the “Strengths Professor,” visits us this week on the Faculty Factory Podcast. Dr. Almeida is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California. As mentioned throughout this interview, he works diligently to incorporate Clifton Strengths into his teaching, coaching, and research. Learn More: https://facultyfactory.org/daniel-almeida 

This week's episode of the Faculty Factory Podcast features a rebroadcast of "Rethinking Success in Academic Medicine," a webinar that was co-presented by Heather Brod and Kimberly Skarupski, PhD, MPH in May 2025. This broadcast has been edited and shortened to enhance the podcast listening experience. Learn more:  https://facultyfactory.org/rethink-success/ For more visuals, you can watch the video version on YouTube: https://youtu.be/oClCmjhs1V4 You can also access handouts that accompany the session: Rethinking Success in Academic Medicine Case Studies [pdf] Clarify Shift Explore Template [pdf]

The vital role of the humanities in shaping empathetic communication skills and critical-minded healthcare professionals is explored today with our guest, P. Ravi Shankar, MBBS, MD. Dr. Shankar, MBBS, MD, currently serves as faculty and program coordinator at the IMU Centre for Education in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is a Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER) Institutes Scholar and a prolific researcher. Read more: http://facultyfactory.org/ravi-shankar 

The Faculty Factory podcast is back this week with a deep exploration of academic promotions for clinicians as we interview Anne Walling, MB, ChB, who has written extensively about the topic. Her writings are based on her years of practical on-the-job experience with faculty. Dr. Walling is a professor emerita at the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita in Wichita, Kansas and is the author of Academic Promotion for Clinicians: A Practical Guide to Promotion and Tenure in Medical Schools. She joins our show this week as a first-time guest to discuss the second edition of this book, along with exploring a variety of aspects related to promotions in academic medicine from many different angles. You can learn more about her book here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-84036-4