Moms of Medicine

"The big bottom line, ok, this is the big bottom line - young moms and women in general we are so self critcal and we are so down on ourselves, and I could practically cry just thinking about this because it's so unneeeded. We're as smart as the guys, we're as committed as they are, we probably work harder in certain ways. Women do a lot of unpaid work. And so we have no reason to feel bad about ourselves, but I know when I was a young mom, you're so insecure. What happens though, I think when you get around 35 or 40, you're just like "who cares what people think". You can't even worry about that. As long as you're comfortable, your partner, your conscience, your family, that's what matters."
In this episode Dr. Deborah Gomez Kwolek shares her experience with:
- Having a baby during her intern year in 1987 and how she barely survived that year
- Having to take time away from residency training when she had her 2 first kids
- Sharing a residency spot with another woman who had a baby in residency (she needed to heavily advocate for herself to make this happen)
- Going on to have 7 children
- Taking several years away from medicine midway through her career, and then coming back
- Supporting young moms now that she is more senior
Join the SGIM Women and Medicine Commission's workgroup on parenting
"Pregnancy and Residency- Overdue for Equity" published in NEJM March 11, 2023
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Follow Ali:
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"I've hit the point of burnout multiple times in my life. Most recently it was after I started my coaching business. So I was working full time as a primary care outaptient physician and I was coaching my clients on my admin half day and weekends. I realized that what was burning me out was medicine post-pandemic. I just couldn't do it anymore and it took me a while to recognize why I was feeling the way I was feeling. So I took some time to self-reflect. Actually a year ago in August I took 4 weeks off of unpaid leave becasue I was just fed up. I needed some space and some time to figure out how I am going to move forward in everything that I love. I love clinical medicine. I love building that relationship with my patients, but then there's all of the other BS. Here in the United States the system is broken - period. We can make small changes here and there but in the end I decided that being a full time physician and full time coach wasn't possible."
This episode is with Dr. Flora Sinha, who is a primary care physician, a physician coach, and a podcast host.
In this episode we talk about:
- Her experience with secondary infertility
- How/when she decided to stop fertility treatments
- Happiness with her current family size
- How to respond to invasive/inappropriate questions about your personal life, particularly your family size
- Her experience with burnout
- Taking 4 weeks of unpaid leave to figure out how she wanted to move forward
- Starting her coaching business
- Her podcast - The Beyond Podcast
- Her decision to share her life publicly on social media and why
Connect with Moms of Medicine:
- Instagram @moms_of_medicine
- [email protected]
Connect with Dr. Flora Sinha:
- Instagram @drflorasinha
- Instagram @the.beyondpodcast
- the beyond podcast on apple, spotify, and youtube

"Studying burnout has showed us that having control over your job, over your work life, is such an important component of being satisified, of not being burned out, that it makes me sad for women like you and women now giving birth and trying to find balance, in particular in primary care. I think there are just more and more barriers to it unfortunately."
This episode is with Dr. Gila Kriegel, a primary care doctor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
We talk about:
- Part-time work
- The underground mother's club
- Having a spouse in medicine
- Having twins
and so much more!
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Contact:
- [email protected]
Follow Ali:
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"I had a lot of ambivalence around being a mother and I think looking back on why it was all justified, and part of it is that particularly as working women we are expecetd to work as though we don't have children and parent as though we don't have jobs, and I just felt like I don't know if i want to do this. I dont know if i can be the type of mom I want to be but also be the type of physician I want to be and I still have those doubts in my mind"
This episode is with Dr. Huma Farid, an OBGYN at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
We talk about:
- Not wanting to have kids and changing her mind
- Having a 5 week maternity leave as an OBGYN chief resident
- Parenting through the pandemic with a husband who is also a physician
- Choosing to go part-time
and so much more!
Follow Moms of Medicine:
- Twitter
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Contact:
- [email protected]
Follow Ali:
- Twitter

"I remember so distinctly we were in Rwanda, I came back from a run, and my husband was like sitting on the chair looking shell shocked, and he said 'uhh you need to read this email'. And it was an email that said 159 children have been released from The Congo and yours is one of them. Please come get him"
This episode's conversation is with Dr. Beth Riviello, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
We talk about:
- The decision to adopt
- International and domestic adoption experiences
- How different her two adoptions were
- Having a career in globale health
- The moment she met her sons and felt like their mom
- The ongoing bonding process
- Advocating for fair leave for adoptive and non-birth parents
- Having a quarterly check-in with herself
- Making time to pray and run
And so much more!
Follow Moms of Medicine:
- Twitter
- Instagram
Contact:
- [email protected]
Follow Ali:
- Twitter