Dr. Betty Liu recently sat down with alumna, Dr. Vicenta Gaspar-Yoo, to talk about her career and work-life balance.
I first met Dr. Gaspar-Yoo as a junior attending at UPMC PM&R Residency Program. She was a confident and bright resident. She went on to become one of the Chief Residents of her graduating class ('96). She took to her Chief Resident responsibilities beautifully. As a Chief Resident, one needs skills like leadership, organization, problem solving and multitasking. She had those skills and more. It is with pride, but not surprise, to hear that Dr. Gaspar-Yoo was named amongst the “Top 100 Women of Medicine” by online group Women We Admire in December 2021. She is also the first female President of the AHN Allegheny Valley Hospital. Below are answers to questions, in her own words.
What made you decide to go back to school for an MBA after residency?
When I had my third child in 2002, it became hard for me to juggle work and our home schedule, so I went part-time. But as part of that, I became interested in the administrative side of the office. Residency did not teach us coding, charges, billing, appeals, and how to manage an office practice. I wanted to do a good job being the practice administrator of a multi-specialty practice, so I took some courses in office management. That was not enough to make me be well equipped in the changing landscape of healthcare.
In 2009, I was convinced that I needed more than an MD with some administrative experience, so I enrolled in an MBA program at Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management. As I finished my program in 2011, I got recruited by my hospital to be on the hospital board, and to be Medical Director of our first Spine Center or Excellence. In 2014, I was recruited for a Chief Medical Officer Position for the two regional hospitals of University Hospitals in Cleveland, OH. After my 5-year stint at University Hospitals, I, again, got recruited for this position as President of AHN Allegheny Valley Hospital.
As president of Allegheny Valley Hospital, can you comment on how you see the future for PM&R?
I think there still remains a lot of opportunity for PM&R to be at the forefront of our medical landscape. A lot of providers still need to be educated on what our specialty can offer people with and without disabilities. Support, especially financial support from enterprise leadership, for investing in equipment, is crucial to the viability and future of the specialty.
As a woman leader but also a mother and partner, what advice would you give to PM&R residents regarding work-life balance?
We can’t have it all. We need to accept that there are tradeoffs in life. Be mindful that if help is offered, TAKE IT! Grow your social capital so you can reach out to family and friends that you can rely on, and who can help you with simple daily challenges. We only have 24 hours during the day to spend, and only enough ATPs to use. Try to simplify your schedule as much as you can. If you can hit three birds instead of two, with one stone, GO FOR IT!