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Dr. JoAnn Galakatos is an anesthesiologist with Mercy Hospital. An obviously brilliant individual, JoAnn started out as an engineer, before transitioning to medicine. She and her husband are both doctors and have 6 children. JoAnn’s life has been a delicate balance of juggling her career and parenting duties, and she did a remarkable job prioritizing her family while sustaining her career value.
She talks to Cynthia about how she became a doctor and the struggles she and her husband faced as they were both doing their residency. She goes into detail about the early challenges she faced as a female doctor, especially when her children were young, and the nuances of managing a household where both parents are doctors. JoAnn offers great advice to anyone who wants to pursue to pursue their purpose without sacrificing their self-worth.
1 – Introduction 00:25
2 – Current Role 01:42
3 – More details 02:13
4 – Why become an anesthesiologist? 02:57
5 – Transition from Engineering to Medicine 03:50
6 – What about engineering wasn’t clicking? 08:18
7 – What is the time commitment of medical school 09:13
8 – Do you feel differently about suggesting a medical career? 11:22
9 – Challenges you faced along the way 12:57
10 – Would you do anything differently, looking back? 16:55
11 – Accommodations came after working hard and proving worth 18:45
12 – The offenses are not mean spirited but they occur 22:01
13 – Why more female physicians 23:10
14 – Speaking up 24:21
15 – How do you juggle house duties with two doctors 26:38
16 – What role do we play in our own frustration with family responsibilities 29:01
17 – Men seeing family behaviors modeled for them 31:44
18 – Are your kids impacted by changes in the world? 33:53
19 – Do a great job and earn special accommodations 35:30
20 – Story being really sick, but coming in 35:58
21 – What advice would you give your younger self or daughters 37:31
22 – Would mentoring help these young female doctors 40:08
23 – Younger people advocate and find introductions to potential mentors 41:43
24 – What is it like to take oral boards? 43:56
25 – Would you change anything about your path? 46:08
26 – How did you get through training with 2 toddlers? 58:19
27 – Achievement and finding the right role 59:25
28 – Career woman with mom guilt 1:02:03
29 – Tweaks to deal with mom guilt 1:06:22
30 – Importance of one parent with flexible schedule 1:07:29
31 – It’s training the schools that times have changed 1:10:02
32 – Kids want mom more than dads 1:13:50
33 – Figuring our what arrangement works for you 1:14:49
34 – What has been modeled for us more recently 1:15:46
35 – Some of the best things you ever did. 1:17:30
36 – How do you view roadblocks? 1:19:25
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
“Young Shannon became an overachiever because she was a people pleaser. She needed to please others. And so that really developed in my adulthood as well. “
“They say, I’m still working 60, 80 hours a week. I got into this so I could pick my kids up from school and so I could attend their soccer games that are after school and I haven’t been able to attend one. I got into this so that we could go on great family vacations. And I haven’t been on a vacation now in five years. More people are coming to us for those reasons…it’s the lifestyle sacrifices that are causing people more pain than taking home a paycheck that isn’t what they thought it would be.”
It’s not about me selling and, you know, me making money. It’s about you being satisfied and happy with what you want and what you need. And I’ve always had that kind of philosophy, and my dad had that, too. And people recognize you’re not in it for yourself, you’re in it for them. And you’re sincere, and it really goes a long way.
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
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