Challenges and Rewards of a Physician Executive Career

“Multitasking is critical if you want to be in an executive position,” says Dr. Lahita.

His numerous duties as an executive mean his life is never dull, says Dr. Lahita. “I’m sitting here with a stack of stuff to sign, for example. I have to sign off on everybody’s vacation, their time off, their reimbursement forms… I’m telling you, it’s a neverending saga.”

Despite his hectic schedule, Dr. Lahita, who was a first responder during the 911 terrorist attacks and is trained in emergency medicine, regularly rides in an ambulance for middle-of-the-night calls in his community to car accidents and other medical emergencies. He can choose his calls and only does it at night.

“If there’s a cardiac arrest and I’m available, I go,” says Dr. Lahita, “in the town, on the highway, in a bus, on a train, whatever, I do that. That’s all part of giving medical care to people. I have to do that for some reason. I don’t know why, but it’s part of my fabric.”

Careers in Pharma

Mittie Doyle, MD, director of immunology, clinical research and development at Janssen Research and Development, left academia to take a management position in the pharmaceutical industry. She was living in her hometown of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit and washed her “back up to the east coast,” she says. Fleeing the storm’s devastation, Dr. Doyle and her family went to Philadelphia so her children could continue their schooling. Once there, she decided to explore other job options and took a position with Centocor Research and Development, now named Janssen.

“If there was any silver lining to the hurricane, the fact that I switched career tracks ended up being a good thing and I really enjoy what I’m doing now,” says Dr. Doyle. “It’s a perfect combination of science and clinical medicine.”

Dr. Doyle obtained her medical degree at Yale University, completed a residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and a fellowship in Rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both in Boston, and then worked many years in academic research and as a clinical trials investigator, serving on the faculty at Harvard and Tulane medical schools, before stepping into her current role at Janssen.