Path to Leadership: Find the value in life’s detours

We celebrate women across our NAPA family. In this Women of NAPA series: Paths to Leadership, we share stories of challenges, successes, and lessons learned on the career journeys of women throughout our organization.

By Rebecca Downey, MD
Regional Vice President of Clinical Services, Southeast Region

In high school, I didn’t think I had the grades needed to be a doctor or was strong-stomached enough to get through anatomy lab. Today, I am the Regional Vice President of Clinical Services for NAPA’s Southeast Region, supporting more than 650 anesthesia clinicians at 43 partnering sites.

I began my career as a psychology student, earning my master’s degree before I realized it was not my career path. While it was difficult walking away from a doctorate, I committed myself to taking pre-med courses while working full-time at the University of Georgia in technology transfer management and intellectual property protection. During that time, I also taught psychology classes at night, thus transitioning more easily into the workload expected in medical school once I was accepted to the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.

If my professional schedule was not grueling enough, my personal life was in a transition as well. When I accepted early decision to medical school, I did not know I was expecting my first child! I kept that information to myself until I showed up on the first day of my program eight months pregnant. I focused my time wisely to balance career and motherhood, such as memorizing medications and disease treatments while nursing at 3:00 AM. Combining young children and medical school is highly entertaining, but I was able to multitask.

 What it takes to lead

I had a relatively smooth medical school career and then completed my residency at Tufts University in Boston. I accepted the chief anesthesia resident role in my last year. I was always interested in taking on projects, which I now realize demonstrated my early desire for leadership. It was a matter of stepping up and taking on the next challenge to advance my career.

After residency, I started practicing full time with an anesthesia team in Virginia. That’s where I first met Julie Marhalik-Helms—now NAPA’s Vice President of Quality Improvement—and we started collaborating on quality. For me, an important avenue for leadership development is active participation in hospital committees, which gives opportunities to partner with people such as Julie and identify projects to inspire improvement and positive change.

I eventually became chief anesthesiologist at a site in Virginia, where I collaborated with regional leaders to improve our anesthesia department through strategic efforts. In this role, I learned how to relate to my facility in a different way by recognizing what mattered to my hospital partner, not just our needs as providers.

As I grew my career in clinical leadership, I naturally faced challenges along the way. Especially as a woman, I found some colleagues did not take me seriously. Over time, I learned the most effective way to handle a confrontational or disrespectful situation was to remove the audience—whether it be in an operating room or boardroom. I would seek out the person privately and explain in a calm tone how the behavior was inappropriate. This approach has always seemed to defuse any situation.

Take detours in your career

When I think back on my early days, and how my path to leadership has taken its own unique journey, I remember that position with the University of Georgia in technology transfer management. It was a job at the time—one I viewed as totally irrelevant to my medical career. But now, as one of NAPA’s clinical regional vice presidents, I realize my time in that role was a valuable detour. It involved working with attorneys on patenting intellectual property and negotiating license and research agreements. Marketing research and valuation were key components of the role. Today, that experience has tremendous value in my work with our regions and health partners.

On your own path to leadership, take every detour, embrace every opportunity—even if it does not perfectly fit your goals—and run with it. You never know when it will eventually serve a purpose.

Rebecca Downey, MD, serves as Vice President of Clinical Services for NAPA’s Southeast Region. Prior to joining NAPA in 2014, Dr. Downey worked for a statewide Virginia care team model anesthesia group. She was the Chair of Anesthesia Services for a large health system in Eastern Virginia before taking her current position. Dr. Downey received her medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University in Augusta, GA. She completed her residency at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, MA. Dr. Downey is a board-certified anesthesiologist and a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the Georgia Society of Anesthesiologists.