When we caught up with Zachary Hartley-Blossom, MD, he was awaiting the birth of his first child. A cardiothoracic radiologist with Strategic Radiology member practice Advanced Radiology Services (ARS), in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he completed his fellowship a little more than a year ago and already was fully engaged in private practice life and work.

He earned his medical doctorate from William Beaumont School of Medicine, followed by a radiology residency at Brown University and a cardiothoracic fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital. As his training came to an end, he knew he was interested in pursuing more of a hybrid practice model.

"I was really looking for flexibility in terms of research and non-clinical requirements, which are a little bit heavier on the academic side," he reports. "I wanted to be able to still do those activities, but more on my terms and less on a contractual basis. I also was looking for a physician-owned group to have some control in my current and future job and feel more like a part of a team and less like a cog in a wheel that just spins and spins, ever working on the list."

After interviewing with ARS, Dr. Hartley-Blossom left the East Coast and returned to his home state of Michigan to join one of the nation's largest private practices, with 190 radiologists, covering 8 health systems, and 75+ locations. ARS also has developed a growing residency program with Michigan State University, with three interventional radiology slots and three diagnostic radiology slots. "The IR residency is one year away from being fully staffed, so once it's fully staffed, we'll have 12 DR residents and 15 IR residents," he says.

Professional Development Opportunities

What Dr. Hartley-Blossom found is a place to grow and pursue his professional interests—cardiothoracic radiology and resident education. "Radiology is so vast, and the practice is so big, that there's room for everyone to really focus on what they want to be doing and what they're interested in doing." he said. "I don't have to spend a lot of my time doing too many things that I'm not interested in. For example, I really like resident education, and I've gotten very involved in that."

Dr. Hartley-Blossom has taken over as the chest education director and is working closely with residents and resident leadership to revamp the chest curriculum and move it forward in a new direction. "Teaching residents at the workstation and then building a curriculum has given me a lot of opportunities," he said. "I know I'm fresh out of training, but people in residencies change a lot in five years, so trying to figure out what this upcoming generation of learners is like and what resonates with them has been a great experience."

Finding innovative ways to connect with the next-generation of residents so that they all understand what Dr. Hartley-Blossom needs to teach them has been gratifying. "Instead of teaching them the way I learned it, I'm looking for the way that they all want to learn," he said. "This is one of the things I also really liked about private practice in general: The ability, early on, to get involved in what I'm interested in." 

A Highly Flexible Position

He could not be more pleased with how the past year has unfolded. "I work in a hybrid position, so I'm onsite working with residents a couple of days a week, and then I am home working remotely the other few days of the week," he shares. "It's been better than I could have hoped for, both in terms of work flexibility, and even onsite versus remote flexibility,"

Dr. Hartley-Blossom said his position enables him to feel connected to the hospital, patients, and residents, but also provides focused time to read from the comfort of home. That flexibility extends to his actual case mix so that if he tires of working in his cardiothoracic subspecialty, he can pick up extra shifts in other areas. 

"Even though my subspecialty training is in chest, I read a ton of nuclear medicine, body, and ER while in residency," he notes. "In private practice, it's great to be able to read outside of your subspecialty.  Having the ability to pick and choose outside of my scheduled shifts keeps me engaged with the work, I have found. Even within my scheduled shifts, if there's a shortage in ER for a particular day or a shortage in body, being able to be flexible and work in the ER or work ultrasound for a day keeps my skills up and allows me to break up my everyday-doing-the-same-thing pattern."

Time to Hone Personal Skills

After the immersion of residency, Dr. Hartley-Blossom has been working on developing his time management skills to achieve a better work-life balance. "Residency is different," he observes. "You're so immersed in everything, and your whole life is residency."

He also recognizes that medicine can be an all-consuming profession and knows that there are activities outside of work that demand time. "I think as an attending you can really let your job take over your life," he said. "There's always work to be doing, and if you wanted to, you could work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Finding ways to take the time for a personal life and to value that time, even if it's just reading a book for pleasure, requires a different mindset than in residency."

Dr. Hartley-Blossom likely has found the perfect tutor for that pursuit—a newborn baby boy.

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