DOM “Next Acts” Program for Faculty in Later Career

In 2023, the Department of Medicine initiated a new program (‘Next Acts: A Workshop and Panel Discussion for Faculty in Later Career’) designed to support faculty in later career, i.e., full professors, in their decision making around goals for their remaining professional time. Data from the American Association of Medical Colleges suggest that the average age of our academic faculties at each rank is increasing, and feedback from faculty in this demographic had suggested this was an area of unmet need.

We conducted two workshops in the fall of 2023, one virtual and another in-person, to present information on options for continued full-time and part-time work, retirement with or without recall appointments (or on a fee basis in the VA system), and UCSF-based resources for planning around these issues. At each program, four faculty members, each of whom had made different choices around continued work or retirement, graciously shared their stories as a springboard to small group discussions of individual faculty’s goals. A panel discussion and Q&A session followed, along with a reception and opportunities for networking at the in-person event. This inaugural program was highly rated, with 85% of faculty at the initial program deeming it ‘Very useful’ or ‘Useful.’

See the slides from this program