Parental Leave in Graduate Medical Education: Recommendations for Reform

Becoming a new parent during residency or fellowship training is challenging and may adversely affect attainment of professional goals or even guide career specialty choice based on perceived work-life balance.1 The increase of female medical students in US medical schools to approximately 50% of graduates parallels the increase in pregnancies among females during graduate medical education (GME) training.2 In one university-based surgery training program, for example, 7% of women gave birth in 1977-1979 and 35% gave birth in 2009.