This week's Faculty Spotlight shines on Sharla Rent, MD, medical instructor in the Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatology. Rent talks to us about how she ultimately decided on a career in neonatology due to her love for the combination of intensive care and forming long-lasting relationships with families who are in the ICN for months. She also talks about her primary research interest in global health. Notably, she worked in Ethiopia and Ghana to explore provider perceptions of viability and decision making during newborn resuscitation. She also shares what she learned from her most significant mentor as well as her passions outside of work.
How long have you been at Duke? How did you decide to come here?
I started at Duke in July 2019, right after finishing my neonatology fellowship. My husband and I were both job searching at the time, and wanted to find institutions where we felt that we could thrive in our early careers. The Division of Neonatology at Duke has a strong history of research and amazing clinical care, but more importantly, I felt incredibly welcomed during my interview days and felt that this was a group of people I would enjoy working with for years to come. The presence of the Duke Global Health Institute was also a key factor.
What were your pre-COVID responsibilities at Duke? What did a typical day for you look like?
While on service, I would round in the Intensive Care Nursery. That actually hasn’t changed much with COVID. A typical day was prepping for rounds, rounds all morning with either the resident or the nurse practitioner team, and then teaching and meetings in the afternoon. I spent a lot of these afternoons my first year reading the Duke ICN protocols to learn the specifics of “the Duke way of care” that leads to such great neonatal outcomes.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work? What’s one strategy you and your colleagues have used to adapt or compensate?
Rounding hasn’t changed much, beyond the amount of PPE that we wear. We do try and limit the number of people in any given room and make sure to space out during break times. All of our ICN conferences have gone virtual, which allows everyone still to participate.
How and when did you initially become interested in medicine and neonatology in particular?
My undergraduate degree was in biomedical engineering, and I worked in that field for 2 years before realizing I wanted to be on the patient side of healthcare. Within medicine, I was always attracted to high-risk pregnancies and debated between maternal fetal medicine and neonatology. Ultimately, I decided on neonatology because I loved the combination of intensive care and forming long-lasting relationships with families who are in the ICN for months.
Is there any research you are doing or plan on doing?
My area of interest is in global health. In fellowship I worked in Ethiopia and Ghana to explore provider perceptions of viability and decision making during newborn resuscitation. At Duke, I am working on my Master's in Global Health through the DGHI to help develop more concrete research methods skills to help strengthen my ongoing global health work.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
Definitely the people. As someone coming from a different institution, it was a transition to learn all of the Duke ways. I asked a lot of questions at the beginning and everyone was great about explaining protocol rationale, orienting me to procedures at Duke, and telling me where to get the best take-out. I could not ask for a better group of people to work with.
Who was your most significant mentor and what knowledge did you gain through this collaboration?
My mentor was a PhD researcher in the School of Public Health. She taught me to look at things as a researcher and not just as a physician, emphasizing the role of a health system in healthcare. She also taught me to listen to what people are NOT saying – both when conducting qualitative interviews and when discussing projects with global collaborators.
Do you have any advice for trainees?
Seek out good mentors and collaborators, keep pushing towards what you are passionate about, and take time to relax amidst the chaos of training.
What passions or hobbies do you have outside of Duke?
I love hiking and am excited to explore more of what is available around North Carolina. During COVID-times, my husband and I started a garden and I’ve recently been into trying out new recipes that utilize veggies and herbs for the garden (honestly, it’s mostly just a lot of basil!).