OasisLMS

Healthcare professional parents in science and medicine face practical and cultural barriers related to pregnancy, parental leave, and return to work after having a child, which contribute to greater risk of burnout and reduced productivity.

Dr. Laura Dichtel and Dr. Josephine Li are founders of the home-grown Mass General Brigham (MGB) Parental Wellness Program that supports physicians, faculty, and APPs across the MGB system. This parental wellness program has become a centralized resource for parents at the academic institution, creating connections and fostering community while addressing the structural and cultural issues that drive physician parent burnout. They will use their experience of founding and expanding this parental support program as a jumping point to discuss the challenges that parents universally face. They will talk about how to avoid “reinventing the wheel” as a new parent and focus on tough transitions for birth parents and non-birth parents. We welcome all to join for a lively discussion where questions are welcome!

• Recognize the importance of supporting parental wellness and lactation for healthcare professionals to promote well-being and sustainable careers in medicine and science
• Examine a Faculty and APP Parental Wellness Program (PWP) as a model of programmatic parental support that includes both individual support and advocacy for culture change
• Examine systems-based barriers to parental wellness and ongoing strategies to address these barriers