Defining Your Path: Identity, Niche, and Negotiation in Early Career Transitions

Speaker: Meredithe McNamara, MD, MS, FAAP
Friday, August 29, 2025 – 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. EDT

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Session Description: The transition from fellowship to faculty or other post-graduate roles can be both exciting and daunting. This interactive session will support early career professionals in adolescent and young adult health as they navigate this pivotal stage. We will explore how to cultivate a professional identity, define or refine a clinical, research, or advocacy niche, and advocate for a position that aligns with personal values and long-term goals. Through case-based discussion, peer reflection, and practical tools, participants will leave better equipped to assess job opportunities, negotiate roles and responsibilities, and chart a fulfilling early career trajectory within the broader landscape of adolescent health.

About the Speaker: Dr. McNamara is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and specializes in Adolescent Medicine. She cares for youth in FQHC, school-based and sub-specialty practice settings. She leads medical education initiatives to improve trainee proficiency in strengths-based communication and positive youth development, and directs the Yale Pediatric Residency’s adolescent medicine rotation. She previously conducted research in implementing trauma-informed systems for high-volume pediatric trauma centers in Chicago, and culturally appropriate curriculum development in adolescent medicine in both global and local settings, particularly in eastern Uganda. She is currently SAHM’s Advocacy Co-Chair and is the co-director of the Integrity Project for Child and Adolescent Health at the Yale Law School. Recent advocacy initiatives include efforts to combat disinformation that advances bans on gender affirming care for trans youth, including amicus briefs, testimony and published scholarship.

She received a Doctor of Medicine and Master’s of Clinical Research from Emory University in 2013. She completed residency in pediatrics at the University of Chicago in 2016 and a fellowship in primary care from the Leadership in Urban Primary Care Education and Transformation Program at the University of Chicago in 2017. She completed fellowship in Adolescent Medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 2021.

Upcoming lecture dates:

• • October 31, 2025 — (same time slots)
  • January 30, 2026 — (same time slots)
  • May 29, 2026 — (same time slots)
  • July 31, 2026 — (same time slots)