I.M. a Health Leader: Hanny Al-Samkari, MD
Where did you attend medical school and post grad training?
I attended medical school at Washington University in St. Louis and completed my residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where I also spent a year serving as Chief Medical Resident. I completed my fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Massachusetts General Hospital combined program.
Hanny Al-Samkari, MD
The Peggy S. Blitz Endowed Chair in Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
What inspired you to choose internal medicine?
When I was a medical student, it was very clear to me that internists and subspecialty internists were most representative of the sort of academic physician and investigator that I wanted to be—they had in-depth knowledge across a broad range of medicine but also expert knowledge in specific areas or diseases for which they took a special interest. Internal medicine offers the most intellectually stimulating diagnostics as well as treatments, and the options within it for careers offer immense breadth. From the time I was a second-year medical student, I knew I loved classical hematology, but I also recognized that the best subspecialist is also an excellent generalist, so I aimed to learn as much internal medicine as possible during my training.
Describe your internal medicine journey and how it has shaped your career.
I was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many incredible physician-educators and physician-investigators throughout my training. My mentors have included Tom DeFer, MD, physician-educator at WashU, who solidified my passion for clinical internal medicine; Lisa Bellini, MD, physician-educator at Penn, who was my program director in residency and chief residency, and who exemplified to me the best in leadership in academic medicine; and David Kuter, MD, DPhil, a consummate hematologist-investigator at Harvard who modeled the very best in clinical investigation. As a clinical/translational investigator in classical hematology today, I reflect back on these mentors and how each had a critical role in imparting the knowledge and examples that have brought me to where I am today.
How has internal medicine training given you the skills, insight, and/or experience needed to become a leader?
I like to say that “internists need to know everything.” There is nothing better than approaching your training recognizing that just about everything you learn will help you to be a better physician, academic leader, and/or investigator one day, whatever the path you ultimately choose. I also must credit my year as a Chief Medical Resident at Penn under the tutelage of Lisa Bellini, which I view in many ways as a year-long fellowship in leadership in academic medicine. The best leaders are well-informed but also recognize when they are lacking in knowledge about something and should seek the assistance of a colleague. To me, this also describes internal medicine training at its best.
What advice would you share with medical students or trainees that are interested in a leadership role?
Seek out opportunities and when you get an opportunity, do it well. Be honest with yourself and do not take on something you don’t have time to do. And remember that passion leads to success. Most people in medicine—myself included—would rather work extremely hard 80 hours per week doing something I enjoy that fulfills me rather than doing something I dread or find boring 30 hours per week. So, seek out those leadership opportunities that you find personally fulfilling, not just any opportunity for the sake of having a leadership role.
What are your interests and hobbies outside of medicine and how do you balance your work and personal life? Anything you have learned along the way to pass on?
Outside of medicine I enjoy fitness, college football, travel, spending time with my spouse, and occasionally just bingeing Netflix (I mean, really, who doesn’t?). You need to feel good about taking care of yourself, and for me, that means not feeling guilty about taking the occasional lazy Sunday and streaming the latest and greatest miniseries!