Session 66 Dr. Natalie Crawford, found on Instagram at @nataliecrawfordmd, is a Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (REI) specialist and she talks to us about it today. Natalie is trained as an OB/GYN but did Fellowship training in REI. And if you're an OB/GYN resident listening to this and thinking whether REI is right for you, then take a listen. Natalie has been out of fellowship training now for a year and a half. In her Instagram profile @nataliecrawfordmd, she shows the ins and outs of being an REI doc as well as being a mom and female physician. Check out today's episode to find out why Natalie chose Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility as well as why she actually chose to change residencies. She actually started off in one residency and then changed to OB/GYN after her first year. By the way, we’re constantly in search of awesome specialists to be a guest on this show, so if you know someone you’d like to recommend, please shoot me an email at ryan@medicalschoolhq.net or message me on Instagram and Twitter. [02:00] Interest in Being an REI Doc Natalie actually had a hard time deciding what to go into during medical school. But she loved all the all the fields that involved clinical care of patients. She remembers just loving taking care of people in her third and fourth year. She had a hard time deciding but she ended up matching into Emergency Medicine (EM). She did a year of EM before she switched to OB/GYN. So she really didn't really know continuative care and taking care of patients for more than just one encounter. Until she started having very brief encounters with them and feeling like something was lacking as a physician. When she realized this during her Emergency Medicine internship, she started seeking out some mentors and realized she really loved women's health and this led her to OB/GYN. In her OB/GYN residency, she discovered a passion for the endocrine system and for patients struggling with fertility. Hence, this has led her to do REI. For one, she really loved the relationship with the patients. And they're not just brief encounters. Her new patient visits are 45 minutes long. So she gets to understand their history, both the male and female partners. She gets to understand everything they've gone through. So it's that having that type of connection with the patient and trying to see them from a point of being very low to being very high with the goal of pregnancy was what really drew her to the field. She also got fascinated by how all these hormones work together with all the feedback loops. She loves this part of the body and how it was puzzled that made a lot of sense. "Patients who are struggling to start a family feel like they're missing out on something that most other people can achieve so easily." [04:35] Her Thought Process in Figuring Out It was a Wrong Specialty Natalie always encourages students to not be afraid. She was very fearful having heard many people discouraging her to go to OB/GYN because of the lifestyle. Or that she's not going to be happy in the surgical field if she wants to have a family. She wouldn't want to work that hard otherwise she'd never be a wife or a mom. And that fear has led her to not wanting to do things even if she was really drawn to them. Not to mention, she didn't have any mentors who knew her well enough to give her the best advice. So her advice to students is to not being fearful of things and to find a mentor that can help guide you along the path. "Find a mentor who can get to know you well enough and help guide you, either validate or put away some of those fears so you can make a decision that really sets what your goals are." [05:50] Traits that Lead to Being a Good REI Doctor Natalie describes OB/GYN as a notoriously difficult residency. That said, you need to have rally good work ethic. You have to be able to think quick on your feet and like taking care of patients. You should also be able to enjoy variety in that there's a lot of