CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

January 31st, 2011

Learning to Network/Networking to Learn

Last weekend, I attended a heart failure meeting in Florida. It was designed as a small meeting where fellows interested in heart failure got the opportunity to meet with heart failure faculty from across the country. The meeting provided various teaching seminars as well as one-on-one meetings and workshops. It was a unique experience that offered us fellows the chance to get career advice and research ideas.

This meeting was probably the closest I have ever come in my cardiology fellowship to actually network. Where career advancement is concerned, we fellows place most of our efforts into finding mentors and obtaining publications. But all of us are on the same trajectory — in a year or two, we will be looking for jobs or subspeciality fellowships. So how do we go about that?

  • Should we be networking more to get more opportunities when we finish fellowship?
  • If so, how, or where, could we do this? Are meetings like AHA are too oversized to offer this opportunity?
  • Or are our research and clinical collaborations considered to be networking?
  • Also, many of the smaller meetings have industry sponsorship. Some institutions do not let their fellows go to these meetings, even though they are among the most worthwhile. Is that the right approach?

Where do you set up the boundaries between education, collaboration, and networking? Is any gathering a networking opportunity?

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One Response to “Learning to Network/Networking to Learn”

  1. Saurav Chatterjee, MD says:
    February 1, 2011 at 10:02 am

    also I donot know how much of an impact these serendipitous 1/2-1 hr meetings in conferences have in terms of a concrete objective/formulation of a plan….I have generally noticed that only those mentors whom you have known for a while and share a personal connection-finally have an impact on what you do and who you are…

    Competing interests pertaining specifically to this post, comment, or both:
    none