Balancing Global Surgery with Traditional Career and Life Demands

Over the past 10 years, global surgery has taken off like wild fire as a field of endeavor, and even a career focus, for many surgery residents and faculty. There is an ever-growing need to address all facets of surgical disease and treatment in low and middle income countries (LMICs), and academic surgeons in the US have developed an important role in ameliorating this problem. Reflective of this, the literature continues to grow on key issues in global surgery, such as healthcare delivery and management in LMICs, surgical workforce deficits and solutions, training and education, and economics. However, there remains a dearth of literature on how to actually develop and navigate a career in global surgery itself, especially within the traditional environment of academic surgery and furthermore how to best balance career goals in this unique and emerging field with other life demands and priorities. Accordingly, this chapter outlines the verities in pursuing a global surgery career through a series of interviews with nine established leaders, experts, and emerging trailblazers in the field who are based in the United States: