S4E1: An Emory Grad Reunion – The Transition from Resident to Attending

It’s that time of year when newly minted graduates of surgical training programs start their first attending jobs! It’s an exciting time, but do you really know what to expect? And how do you go from years of pre-scripted training to finding the right first job? 

So, for our first episode of season 4, we decided to reunite with some of our recent grads who have now completed their first year of their first jobs. Drs. Maggie Diller, Adekemi Egunsola, Priya Rajdev, and Vivian Wang graduated together in the Class of 2019 from the Emory general surgery program. They went on to do one-year fellowships across the country, found a variety of jobs, and transitioned to attendings. Not to mention interviewing and building practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these similarities, they have all started on different career paths: academic, community, and hybrid jobs, venturing out versus returning to their home institution, and more. 

Here, they eagerly share what went well, what surprised them, and what they would do if they were to do it all over again. And because recording remotely across time zones with busy surgeons doesn’t always go to plan, our intended “reunion recap” ended up being recorded over a couple different conversations. Our editors Samridhi Banskota and Cameron Blount did fantastic (extra) work splicing them together. 

We hope this helps the next class of new surgeons navigate the job search and transition to attending life!