Late Career Transitions
Our vision is to support DoM faculty to transition toward and through retirement as a fundamental and rewarding part of the career arc of academic medicine.
Optimal career transition is both a result of, and a contributor to, overall well-being. We want to emphasize this duality and encourage transition/retirement to be viewed as a productive part of the life arc.
We want academic careers to end in a planned and successful way. This involves not just financial planning but also a planned and structured approach to reduction of activities. To make the transition successful in all domains, a strong sense of individual worth and identity that extend beyond the formal professional role is crucial. Developing and nurturing this sense of identity and worth is a career-long process that we intend to promote through wellness and mentoring initiatives.
Transition and retirement also have a time and purpose to ensure that the quality of patient care, research and teaching are maintained. This can be a sensitive issue in which transparency and fairness are key. Encouraging self-awareness and insight throughout the career arc can help mitigate these late career challenges.
We want the institutions we work within (hospital, department, and university) to have a fair and compassionate approach to our retirement that values not only our work and our legacy but also our financial and emotional well-being.
We want careers to transition and end in a way that facilitates renewal and innovation within our institutions, departments and divisions. By facilitating this renewal, the end of an academic career can be as meaningful as the start.
Eric Cohen, Faculty Lead - Late Career Transitions
Dr. Eric Cohen is a cardiologist at Sunnybrook, having recently served as deputy head of cardiology. Earlier in his career he was director of the cath lab, a role in which he helped recruit and mentor several cardiologists who are now colleagues on a large high-functioning team. His professional focus for many years was on evaluation and integration of new technology into practice; training fellows from around the world has also been a significant and rewarding aspect of his career. On the fringes of his day job he is a math and aviation geek, a keen skier in a skiing-mad family, and (pandemic pastime) newly interested in the interplay between photographic technology and the way snapshots tell stories.