Q&A with Dr. Shapero

Sophie Baldwin, 12/1/24

• • Spend 7-8 weeks a year treating hospital patients while the rest are outpatient 

  • Clinic 3 days a week- see around 15 patients each day (both returning and new)

  • One day a week of reading Echocardiograms

What is most exciting about your job?

• • Get to focus on pregnant women

  • Do prevention in women with hypertension who are at risk for pregnancy complications

  • Decades ago, women had complications such as preeclampsia and were not aware of the issue or did not get the help they need

  • Now, we have information about further complications in pregnancy and risk factors

  • Changing trajectory of women’s lives

Why did you decide to pursue medicine?

• • Unusual background

  • Studied chemical engineering in college

  • Exposed to biomedical engineering in undergrad

  • Began a PhD in biomedical engineering, but wasn’t originally interested in medicine

  • During PhD- worked at a children’s hospital in Boston and was exposed to medicine

  • Saw miscommunications between scientists and doctors

  • Began medical school with the intention of working in a lab, but realized I was better at interacting with patients

  • Seeing patients was more rewarding than being in lab

  • Appreciated my path to medicine

What is one moment in your career that made you appreciate medicine?

• • There are some patients I developed strong relationships with

  • Had a patient in residency who was a vet

  • He had a very sick heart and needed bypass surgery, but it was very risky due to his heart condition

  • Spent a lot of time talking through the case and weighing options

  • He made it through the surgery but passed 4-5 months after from a complication

  • I wondered if I actually helped him, but I developed strong relationship with his daughter who wrote a note about how I changed his life

If you could go back and choose a different specialty, would you? Why or why not?

• • Toyed with OB/GYN because I liked taking care of pregnant women

  • Didn’t enjoy delivering babies

  • Probably would not have changed specialty

What was the most difficult aspect of your journey to medicine?

• • Hardest thing in training is that you do not have control of your life

  • The call schedule is assigned and there is a lack of control in residency- not a lot of flexibility

  • Do not always get to make it to important life events 

How are you able to manage a work-life balance?

• • Much easier to manage as an attending

  • Request vacation times in advance

  • More flexibility in schedule

  • Get to put daughter to bed every night

What is your advice to students interested in pursuing medicine?

• • I did not regret taking 5 years in between college and medical school

  • I became more mature and could connect better with patients

  • Take your time and try not to rush through- you will be more at risk for burnout

  • It is harder to take time off once you are in school

  • Take time to enjoy other parts of life and decide if this is really what you want to do