Promotion is a team sport, always point to your passer

Dean Smith, University of North Carolina Hall of Fame Men's Basketball Coach, was a decorated coach and coached many of the basketball greats including Michael Jordan. Despite the individual accolades on his team, Dean Smith understood the importance of team and especially the assist, which occurs when one player ("the passer") passes the ball to a teammate who then scores a basket. He instilled this mentality in his players and established the tradition of "pointing to your passer" to acknowledge who set you up to score. Academic promotion and sports have a lot in common; the accolade is often individual, but the sport is a team sport. You must always remember to "point to your passers." I believe that most successful academic faculty have relied on a team of passers. This may be even more important to ensure the success of women and others in academic emergency medicine on a path that has historically been challenging.1, 2 Balancing medical training and an academic career with life goals is a challenge. Throughout my training and career, I have been told both directly and indirectly that I would be a more successful faculty member if I did not have children. I am thankful for the many mentors and teammates who were the positive and encouraging voices that supported my pursuit of both an academic research career and motherhood. As I recently submitted my application for promotion to associate professor with tenure as mother to two girls under the age of four, I am pointing to my passers. I also offer encouragement to others on their promotion path. It is possible to be successful in multiple facets of your life. Most importantly, I hope I encourage all the current and future passers in emergency medicine, as a reminder that your efforts matter and you are appreciated. Thank you to all my teachers and coaches, from preschool on, who instilled a love of learning and the basic principles and knowledge that set me up for a successful undergraduate career. This is where it all started. Thank you to my mentors and sponsors in undergraduate, medical school, and beyond. You have been critical to my path at every stage. You are the people who I trusted and would follow to the edge of the cliff. You have and continue to push me further than I'd reach myself and provide invaluable feedback at every stage of my career. Thank you to the undergraduate and medical school admissions committees, residency and fellowship program directors, and a department chair who gave me a chance at each stage. I literally would not be here, achieving this milestone, without you. Thank you to my colleagues. For the clinical and research support in the department every day; especially thank you to the ones who answer the phone at all hours of the day when I need someone to talk to. You all help keep me sane on this path, and I am lucky that many of you have become dear friends and family. Thank you to everyone who gave me encouragement at national meetings. Your literal or figurative "fist bumps" kept me going in both the good and challenging times, and your willingness to share lessons from your successes have been critical to my growth. Thank you to the research managers and research assistants. My research would not be possible without your efforts to enroll patients, complete chart reviews, and keep me on track. Thank you to the research funders. Without your belief in and funding of my proposals, there would be no research. Thank you also for your encouragement and feedback along the way that strengthened my subsequent proposals. Thank you to our department administrative team who has supported every financial, supply, and miscellaneous request with a smile, no matter how big or small. Especially, thank you to the residency administrative team; we all know their critical role in our path to residency graduation. Thank you to the residents and medical students who challenge me every day on shift and in other teaching and mentoring activities. You help me continue to grow. Thank you to the nurses, patient care associates, and other members of our ED team who have helped raise me since I was an intern, and who continue to work side by side me every day. There's no one I'd rather work and grow alongside. Thank you to all the patients and their families who have trusted me as a medical student, resident, and attending physician. I believe I speak for all physicians when I say it is an honor to care for you. You are the reason I come to work (both clinical and research work), were critical to my medical training, are critical to our residents and students every day and continue to challenge me to become a better physician. Thank you to an institution and college of medicine that have embraced a progressive parental leave and lactation policy to support academic physicians. The institutional support has been instrumental to my success as both an academic physician and mother. Thank you to the national emergency medicine organizations who have provided a supportive group of national colleagues, leadership opportunities, and training and brought focus to challenges in promotion through many avenues including the recent "Joint Statement: Overcoming Barriers to Promotion of Women and Underrepresented in Medicine (URiM) Faculty in Academic Emergency Medicine."3 Thank you to my parents and grandparents. Your love and support put me on the path to becoming a physician. Further, your hard work, careful planning, and generosity helped fund the very expensive journey to becoming a physician. Thank you to my siblings who have been great friends and supporters for literally our whole lives. Thank you to my husband, who is himself a physician trying to balance his career with mine. For understanding the need for long hours and strange hours, listening to my stress, proofreading emails, and being the "final set of eyes" on many a publication. And for the many times that I didn't get home chores done due to a deadline. And to my daughters; the oldest whom recently made me feel like I do an ok job of balancing work and family when she declared that "Thank you for not always working like Elf's daddy" as we watched the movie. Thank you to my friends. You have understood every step of the way through training and my career when I haven't visited, texted, or called enough. Thank you to our daughters' daycare. Having a safe place that we trust for our daughters is invaluable, and I could not do my job without you. Thank you to everyone who has helped me at home including but not limited to our wonderful plumber, electrician, and yard crew. I hugely underestimated the value of "hiring out" tasks until I started to do it at the encouragement of my mentors. Thank you to my pets. Your cuddles and wet nose nudges were critical on many hard days and your antics and muddy pawprints provided levity at critical times. Finally, thank you to everyone who has walked this path before me. I am certain that each of your efforts played a part in my path being easier than it was previously, and I hope I can do the same for those who come after me. Thank you! Thank you to all my passers and teammates. While I hope to be the one promoted, academic medicine is a team support. I could not have done it without you. I hope my fellow early career academicians find their passers and that all the passers know how important and appreciated you are. Katherine M. Hunold conceived the idea for this manuscript and is responsible for the manuscript. Dr. Hunold is supported by NIA K76AG074941. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.