Energized at Work: Episode 12 with Pediatric Allergist/Immunologist Dr. Pooja Varshney

Dr. Pooja Varshney is a Pediatric Allergist and Immunologist at the Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin Texas. She is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas Austin, and is Director of the Dell Children’s Food Allergy Center, a clinical research center of distinction. She is the principal investigator on clinical trials that are studying the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of food allergy. Dr. Varshney has a busy clinical practice, along with teaching and research responsibilities. She conducts clinical research and also teaches students and residents at the bedside and with didactic lectures. One of the things that struck me about our conversation is that when it comes to her field, she “sometimes feels so lucky – I love everything about it“. She specifically highlights the long-term relationships with her patients, and the ability to follow them throughout their childhood. In her particular field, she also finds the scientific aspects to be fascinating, with an explosion of knowledge in the basic science and clinical aspects of food allergy. When I asked her how she handled such a busy practice, she highlighted several important strategies.  One is knowing your priorities, and making sure that you protect time for those priorities.  Her research days are protected time, meaning that she can focus completely on her clinical research patients during that time.  She also highlighted that if you are employed, you need to set these goals in your job description. She also described “earning your autonomy“, meaning that performing at a high level over the years means that with time, you can work your way to a place where you can structure your job duties around your goals. It’s important to have agency to be able to design the job that you want. Her entrance into clinical research was really helped by having a mentor in her fellowship, going to professional meetings, presenting her work, and collaborating and networking and committees