ISM- INTERVIEW ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS

Student Name:
Printed Name of Person
Interviewed:
Role of Individual:

Calista Alvarez

Period:

1st

Dr. Denise Wilkes

Place of Business:

__x_Mentor ___Other Professional #1 ___Other Professional #2

UTMB Pain Clinic at Victory Lakes and John Sealy Hospital

Business Address:

2660 Gulf Fwy S. #10, League City, TX 77573

Phone Number:

832-505-2450

Date of Interview:

10/26/15

Type of Interview: _x__ In Person ___ Telephone* ___Email*

*Documentation Required (Attach E-mail to Interview Verification Page)

1. For someone working in your field, please describe the fantasies versus realities of the job.
(fantasy vs. reality)
The fantasy is, I guess that, is that you make a lot of money. Um, and you think that its an easy job, that
its easy money. The reality is, you dont make a lot of money, but you make a good living, Im not complaining,
but its pretty strenuous hours. You have a lot of stress because youre taking care of peoples lives. Um, so that
can get you pretty tired. So after a days work, a lot of the times Ill go to bed, take a little nap. Um, but its very
rewarding. I feel like Im making a difference in peoples lives and thats what keeps me working as hard as I do.

2. What is your current educational level? What continuing education and training are required?
(educational level and requirements)
Lets see, well my current education level, I have an M.D. degree and a PhD. Degree. And then, I am
certified in three specialties of medicine: anesthesiology, pain medicine and hospice and palliative medicine. And
we have continuing education and training that we have to do every year. So, its measured by units kind of
similar to coursework and we have to go to meetings, you know and study and keep up. Sometimes we take
practice questions to just keep our knowledge up.

3. Please describe the typical day to day activities of someone working in your field.
(day-to-day activities)
On a day-to-day its very different. Um, sometimes Im assigned to the operating room as an
anesthesiologist. Other days, Im in the pain clinic as a pain physician. And then I do research, so I am working in

Revised Fall 2013

a lab and doing experiments, working with people who are doing experiments also and other collaborators. And
then I do some teaching of medical students, residents, and pain fellows and thats about it.

4. How secure are you in your current position? What do you think is the future of your field?
(job security)
Um, I am pretty secure in my position, meaning I think that they will want me here for years and years to
come. Um, I guess the benefit of this field is that theres many job opportunities, you can move anywhere and as
long as there is a hospital, you have a job. So, since I do many different things I could work in a hospital as an
anesthesiologist or I could open up my own clinic as a pain physician. Um, so I do have lots of opportunities.

5. What is a typical (average or lowest to highest) salary of someone working in your field?
(salary)
Um, the typical salary is a little bit lower for academics, but still again, is not bad. Id say the average is
about $250,000-$350,000. Um, private anesthesiologists tend to earn a little bit more, maybe $300,000-$400,000.
And pain physicians earn even more like $500,000 and up.

6. What potential for growth is there in your field?

(growth potential)
Um, I feel that theres a lot of potential for growth. Theres a lot of things about pain that we dont know,
and so I am studying neuropathic pain. That is the type of pain produced by nerves, um, and I think its very
exciting in that there is a lot more that we can learn in order to treat peoples pain better.

***Questions 7-10 will be created by the ISM student.

7.

Why did you choose this particular setting compared to others available?
I choose to work with UTMB because um, it gave me more time off because of my experience. I choose
not to have my own clinic because it takes a lot of work to get it running and a lot of hours out of the week.

8. How long have you worked in the health care setting?

I decided I wanted to become an anesthesiologist once in college at Berkeley. I was in school for a very
long time, but have been working since 2009

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9. Do you thoroughly enjoy what you do?

Yes, I mean there is a lot of time and stress that goes along with this job, but because of how rewarding it
is, it makes it all worth it.

10. Is this the job youve always wanted to do?

I had no clue what I wanted to do, but once I figured it out in college and began the research over
anesthesia and pain, I loved it and all the possibilities there was to come. Once I began the job, I knew its what I
was meant to do.

Interview Summary
What information from this interview will you select for your page typed,
bulleted list of research informationto be used in your presentation?

Revised Fall 2013