Teeter-Totter or Tapestry: A Life in Academic Medicine.

Constructing a career in academic medicine involves more than a focus on work-life balance. That image of a teeter-totter suggests that life is what happens when you are not working. The nature of the scope of interests (clinical, research, teaching) and values (service, leadership, curiosity, transparency, and honesty) creates a larger framework through which home life and work life become one interwoven tapestry. The author reflects on these perspectives as she looks back on a career in academic medicine.