32: More Than Your White Coat: How Expanding Your Identity Creates Freedom with Dr. Erica Bove
What happens when the career you've spent your entire life building no longer fits the life you want to live?
In this episode of Navigating Possibility, I sit down with reproductive endocrinologist and physician coach Dr. Erica Bove to discuss what it really looks like to redefine success without walking away from medicine entirely. Erica shares her deeply personal journey through infertility medicine, divorce, single motherhood, and burnout—and how those experiences ultimately led her to build a coaching practice that complements, rather than replaces, her clinical career.
Together, we explore one of my favorite concepts: the portfolio career—the idea that physicians don't have to choose between practicing medicine and pursuing other meaningful work. We talk about identity, coaching, possibility, and why creating options gives physicians back something many of us have lost: agency.
Whether you're questioning your current role, feeling trapped by your career path, or simply wondering if there might be another way, this conversation is an invitation to expand what's possible.
In This Episode, We Discuss
- Why physician identity often becomes intertwined with self-worth
- The limitations of the traditional healthcare model—and what patients often need beyond a 15-minute appointment
- How coaching transformed Erica's approach to fertility care
- The surprising connection between nervous system regulation and fertility
- Why burnout narrows our ability to imagine new possibilities
- Building a portfolio career that combines clinical medicine with meaningful non-clinical work
- The mindset shifts required to step outside the "all-or-nothing" physician identity
- Why having options creates better boundaries and stronger negotiating power
- How coaching helps physicians reconnect with their values and make career decisions from clarity instead of fear
About Dr. Erica Bove
Erica Bove, MD, is a double board-certified OB-GYN and Reproductive Endocrinologist (REI) physician at the University of Vermont. She is also the CEO and founder of Love and Science: Thriving Through Infertility, where she helps women physicians and professionals optimize both the science and the emotional side of fertility so they can maximize their opportunities for family building.
Dr. Bove has a keen interest in marrying an evidence-based approach with intuitive knowing in the context of a trusting relationship. Her mission is to heal and support the healers and to create a legacy she is proud of.
Connect with Dr. Bove
Website: loveandsciencefertility.com
Podcast: loveandsciencefertility.com/podcast
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/erica-bove-0701a0173
Instagram: @loveandsciencefertility
Facebook: Love and Science Fertility
If This Episode Resonated...
If you've ever found yourself asking:
- Can I keep doing this?
- Is medicine still right for me?
- What if there were another way?
You're not alone.
One of the biggest lies burnout tells us is that we're trapped. The truth is that you have more options than you realize—you just may need the space and support to see them.
If you're navigating career uncertainty, burnout, or wondering whether it's time to stay, negotiate, pivot, or leave, I'd love to help.
Join my free Should I Stay or Should I Go? career workshop on 7/29/26 or schedule a coaching consultation to begin exploring what's possible for your career. You can sign up at this link.
🤝 Work With Me
If this episode resonates, I'd love to talk about how we can work together.
I work 1:1 with women physicians who are:
- Burned out and questioning their future in medicine
- Navigating contract non-renewal or job loss
- Planning an intentional exit from clinical practice
- Exploring advocacy, leadership, or nonclinical career paths
✨ Schedule a free coaching consultation to explore what’s next.
About the Podcast Navigating Possibility — A Podcast for Women Physicians Ready to Reclaim Their Power
Navigating Possibility is the podcast for women physicians experiencing burnout, career dissatisfaction, or major transitions in medicine.
If you're a woman doctor considering leaving clinical practice, exploring nonclinical careers, or seeking a more sustainable and aligned path, this podcast is for you.
I’m Dr. Christina Adams—OB-GYN, physician coach, and former burned-out doctor. I help women physicians move from survival mode to self-trust, clarity, and empowered career decisions.
Each episode includes:
- Physician burnout recovery tools
- Nervous system regulation strategies for high-achieving women
- Conversations about leaving medicine or redesigning your role
- Coaching insight for intentional career transitions
- Advocacy conversations about systemic change in healthcare
- Real stories from women physicians redefining success
This is your space to breathe, reflect, and remember who you are beneath the white coat. You are not alone. There is a growing movement of women physicians reclaiming autonomy, identity, and possibility.
✨ Subscribe, share with a colleague, and help reshape the future of medicine.
📬 Stay Connected • Join the weekly newsletter for burnout recovery tools and career transition insight
Connect on social media:
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-adams-md-5b7642175/
Keywords
- physician burnout
- physician coaching
- women physicians
- OBGYN career
- reproductive endocrinology
- fertility coaching
- physician identity
- portfolio career
- career transition for physicians
- life after burnout
- nervous system regulation
- physician wellness
- work-life integration
- women in medicine
- Navigating Possibility podcast
