And the journey begins...

I should introduce myself here in case anyone stumbles upon this space.

I'm Kaytlin. I'm 37 years old and I'm getting ready to embark upon a new challenge: earning a PhD in Health Professions Education. The program I'm in is a joint endeavor between Utrecht University in the Netherlands and UCSF here in the States. I don't live in either of those places and will be completing the program remotely - though I'll visit San Francisco and the Netherlands at some point throughout this (hopefully) 5 year journey.

My area of focus in the PhD is professional identity formation - specifically for physicians. I am NOT a physician. A bit more about me, professionally: I'm a social worker by degree and an educator by practice. I'm on faculty at a medical school and I teach a health equity curriculum to undergraduate medical students. My background is in intergroup dialogue and creating space for growth and challenging conversations.

I'm also a mom of 2 boys and a partner to a healthcare professional. These will be the things I have to navigate and balance as I work full-time, parent full time, and work on a PhD. I also have ADHD and am currently medicated. My personal history is complex.

My goals for this space are currently (at least) two-fold and are subject to change:

1) To keep a record of my experiences, feelings, thoughts, etc. as I work through one of the biggest self-inflicted challenges in my life.

2) Potentially analyze the data I provide for my own professional identity formation as I take on a new role as expert and researcher, two identities I've never held before.

Along the way, I imagine I'll learn a lot about myself. I'll probably reveal more than I anticipate. I'm really nerv-cited about these next several years and I want to be able to remember who I was when I started and that growth is both not-linear and unavoidable. So, with that, let's see what 2026 and beyond have to bring.