Heart Behind the White Coat: Dr. Jill Majeski
Dr. Jill Majeski is a pediatric psychologist with the Supportive and Palliative Care and Trauma Programs at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. At UPMC, Dr. Majeski provides trauma-informed care for children with a broad range of life-altering and life-limiting medical conditions and traumatic injuries. In Heart Behind the White Coat (HBWC) programs, DHH features healthcare professionals to learn the sparks that motivate HCPs to explore careers in medicine and how their passion endures.
In this HBWC program, Dr. Majeski explains what initially inspired her interest in a career in medicine. Dr. Majeski shares what continues to drive her passion in medicine and patient advocacy and her advice to students aspiring to become healthcare professionals.
How did you become interested in a career in medicine?
When I was in high school, a close family friend was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. Until that point in time, I had limited experience with serious or chronic illness. The experience gave me a great deal of insight into the lived experience of children and families affected by serious illness. In particular, I was concerned with the emotional experience, which can include feelings of fear, being overwhelmed, uncertainty, anger, challenges with decision-making, grief, and so much more. When I was in college, I discovered that I could develop a career in pediatric psychology that would allow me to integrate my interests in child clinical psychology and medicine. My career is now focused on supporting children and families affected by serious and complex illness and injury through providing evidence-based psychological care in the pediatric medical setting.
What drives your passion to continue your work in the medical field?
Since my training when I began working with pediatric patients with conditions such as sickle cell disease, rare genetic conditions, chronic pain conditions, and children with complex medical needs; I knew this was where I belonged. And to this day, I still cannot see myself in another type of career. I value the privilege of being an advocate, getting to know children and their families during some of their hardest times, learning what is most important to them, and supporting their goals and values while working to optimize coping and quality of life.
What advice do you have for others considering a career in the medical field?
What I always suggest to my mentees is 1) Talk to others. Reaching out to people in your areas of interest or curiosity to network, build relationships, shadow and learn different styles and approaches is one of the main strategies I have used throughout my training and early career. It has helped me to gain exposure to learn what type of work I want to do (clinical, research, education), the types of settings I am most interested spending time in, the patient populations I find most meaningful to work with, and the different styles in which people do their work.
And 2) Try for opportunities you think might align with your values and interests, even if you think that there is a slim chance you will get the opportunity. When applying to training sites as I was nearing the end of my training, I did not believe that I was qualified or would be considered for the aspirational training experiences that aligned with my training and professional goals in academic medical centers. Despite this, I applied to several centers and matched at an academic medical center residency program that turned out to be a wonderful experience and helped me obtain a great fellowship followed by faculty positions at academic medical centers.
What’s a fun fact about yourself that you’d like to share?
My family grew up in the same home as B.F. Skinner, a psychologist who was named “The Father of Behaviorism.”
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