Page 8 - Mecklenburg_Medicine_February-2017

Feature

Taking the Pulse of Medical Marriages

By Lee McCracken, Contributing Writer Jean Chai, MD, Janie Chai, MD, and their daughters

M ore and more physicians are committing their lives Ideal Match
to each other and wielding stethoscopes by day and
spatulas by night. It’s no wonder, given that young Working in the same field while building a family and overcoming
doctors can spend 60-80 hours a week at the hospital challenges together strengthens a marriage says relationship experts. A
and the remaining hours eating and studying (often together). physician-physician match can be ideal … even when the doctors work
for different hospital systems.
The bonds between medical students/residents are strong. The
long hours in the library or hospital certainly can stoke the flames Chai’s husband, Jean, is an oncologist at Carolinas HealthCare
of romance, as shared exhaustion and stress are unifiers. While System’s Levine Cancer Institute. The couple has been married for 18
Hollywood is making a fortune sensationalizing the flirtation between years and has two daughters, ages 12 and 13.
wide-eyed interns, confident residents and skilled physicians on
“Grey’s Anatomy” and “Chicago Med,” the reality isn’t so glamorous. “We get each other,” says Chai, noting she and her husband
understand their respective busy schedules and office lingo. “When one
Statistics confirm hospital corridors are extremely coed. The number of us is running late to get home for dinner, the other just knows —
of women enrolled in medical school is at an all-time high, according there’s understanding.”
to a November 2016 report released by the Association of American
Medical Colleges, and some 40 percent of doctors marry other doctors Dating through medical school and residency, Janie and Jean
or healthcare professionals, according to the AMA Insurance 2014 were comrades in sleep deprivation, stress, fear and grief as they
Work/Life Profiles of Today’s U.S. Physician. faced morbidity and mortality. As a married couple, they strive to
communicate well and often about the children’s/family’s schedule, and
Charlotte pediatrician Janie Chai, MD, says 11 couples married from being present with each other (as opposed to preoccupied with patient
her class of 180 students at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta concerns) when they are at home.
(now Georgia Regents University). She and her husband met in their
first year, were engaged in their third year and got married in their “We tend to have friends who also are doctors,” says Chai,
fourth year. “and one of the benefits is being able to take family vacations around
medical conferences.”
“We’re all still married,” says Dr. Chai about her 22 fellow students
who tied the knot. Chai is with Novant Health Randolph Pediatrics. As their careers and marriage progressed, Chai assumed most of
the responsibilities of running their home and family life. “There’s the
Charlotte has quite a few doctor duos, who speak each other’s possibility of a professional power struggle, but we didn’t fall into it,”
language and have a shared passion for caring for the sick. Two couples she says. “It came down to who made the most money, and I eventually
chimed about their experience. went part time in my practice. We always felt like equals, until I went
on maternity leave. Child care almost always falls on the woman, and it
Tips for a Healthy Medical Marriage suits me fine.”

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8 | February 2017 • Mecklenburg Medicine Doctors who have another doctor as a spouse are choosing to live
life with a respected colleague, says Charlotte plastic surgeon Bryan
Criswell, MD. He and his wife, Kara Criswell, MD, met during their
general surgery residency at the State University of New York (SUNY)
Upstate Medical University in Syracuse.

“Bryan was my chief resident on the trauma service when
I was an intern,” explains Dr. Kara Criswell. “We kept our dating