Discover how Dr. Piggott navigated the complexities of having three children at different stages of her medical career, from residency to staff.

Dr. Piggott, MD, MSc, FRCPC, is a staff geriatrician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and an Assistant Professor with the Institute of Health Policy, Management & Evaluation (IHPME). She completed her medical degree and completed subspecialty training in Geriatric Medicine at the University of Toronto. After completing her fellowship in 2018, Dr. Piggott pursued a Masters in Quality Improvement and Patient Safety with IHPME at the University of Toronto. She is now the director of Quality Improvement Methods in the QI Masters program at IHPME, the faculty co-lead for the Division of Geriatric Medicine Co-Learning Quality Improvement Training Program, and also co-built and teaches in the McMaster MacQIPS quality improvement certificate program.

Her story of resilience and balance offers valuable insights for anyone juggling family and professional aspirations.

In Episode 9, join Dr. Michael Ordon and Dr. Jamie Kroft as they share their unique journey through medical training, early career, and family planning. From meeting in medical school to welcoming their first child just six months into Jamie’s practice — while Michael was still completing his fellowship — they reflect on the challenges and rewards of growing their family alongside demanding medical careers. Their second child arrived when Jamie was still early in practice, and together they have navigated parenthood with three children in total.

They discuss timing, support systems, and the evolving landscape of parental leave in medicine, offering candid insights for other physicians considering when to start a family.

Dr. Kroft specializes in low-risk obstetrics and minimally invasive gynaecologic surgery, focusing on the treatment of endometriosis and fibroids. She is part of the fellowship training program at Sunnybrook, where she also supervises research. Dr. Ordon is a urologist specializing in kidney stones, minimally invasive surgery, and renal transplantation, with additional fellowship training in image-guided ablation for small kidney tumours.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation on balancing marriage, medicine, and parenthood — and what they’ve learned about thriving both personally and professionally.

Join us in this insightful episode as we sit down with Kat Butler, a final year anesthesia resident at the University of Toronto and incoming Pediatric Anesthesia fellow at SickKids. They are a white, non-binary trans and queer parent to a toddler, a qualitative researcher, and avid cyclist. Kat grew up in the territories of the Algonquin people and is now living and working on the traditional lands of the Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, and the Mississaugas of the Credit River.

They started a family during residency, taking 1 year off after the birth of their child between PGY3 and PGY4. Kat shares their experiences navigating medical training, family planning, and the challenges of being a non-binary trans parent.

Tune in to hear about their unique perspective on balancing a demanding career with personal life, and the systemic changes needed to support future medical professionals.