APPNA Academy

The Long Practice Webinar Series is a 4-session CME online course by the APPNA Wellness Committee designed to help physicians build healthier, more sustainable careers. The course focuses on physician wellness, career longevity, burnout prevention, family and emotional balance, cultural boundaries, and sustainable service in medicine. Through self-paced recorded lectures released every two weeks on the portal, participants will learn practical strategies to maintain clinical excellence while protecting personal health, family life, and long-term professional fulfillment.

Key Learning Outcomes

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the physiological and metabolic consequences of chronic occupational stress on physician health,including cardiovascular and metabolic risk factors specific to high-demand clinical careers.
2. Identify early warning signs of burnout and career-ending regret patterns, and differentiate between sustainable effectiveness and self-destructive overwork.
3. Discuss practical, evidence-informed strategies for maintaining clinical excellence and patient service without compromising personal health, family relationships, or long-term career viability.
4. Explain the unique stressors faced by two-physician households, including role competition, chronic absence, and their cumulative impact on marital and family dynamics.
5. Analyze the long-term emotional and relational costs of prioritizing professional achievement over presence at home, and formulate at least one actionable strategy to realign priorities.
6. Examine culturally specific beliefs around obligation, service, and self-worth within South Asian/immigrant physician communities, and assess how these beliefs contribute to burnout.
7. Apply culturally sensitive communication techniques for setting boundaries and saying no, without triggering guilt or violating cultural expectations of duty and respect.
8. Develop a personal action plan integrating at least two strategies from the program to promote sustainable service, family presence, and long-term career resilience.

Webinar Schedule:

Session 1 - August 9, 2026
Cultural Boundaries & Saying No
Speaker: Dr. Sarah Chaudhary, PhD, LCSW
International Psychology, special focus on trauma, California

Session 2 - August 23, 2026
Building Health Resilience and Career Longevity
Speaker: Dr. Aisha Chaudhary, MD, MPH, dipABLM, FACOEM
Lifestyle Medicine Physician, Kaiser Permanente, California

Session 3 - September 6, 2026
Service Should Build You, Not Bury You
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Mahboob Siddiqui, MBBS, FRCR (UK), MBA (US), HCA (Canada)
Health and Wellness Coach and International Educator

Session 4 - September 20, 2026
Family & Identity
Speaker: Dr. Sumera Khan, MD, MS, dipABLM
Assistant Professor, Geisinger School of Medicine and Health Sciences; Senator for Committee on Equity, Pennsylvania

Moderator & Host: 

Sara Bughio, MD
Hospitalist & Medical Director
Legacy Post Acute
John Muir Medical Group, California

Wellness Committee 2026

Chair : Dr Arifa Malik 
Co-Chair: Dr Farha Abassi