Published Work
The framework behind Attending to Self — contingent versus trustworthy belonging, identity strain, professional identity formation across the career arc — isn't a coaching model borrowed from elsewhere. It comes out of doctoral research and a body of peer-reviewed publication built over the last several years.
My doctoral work sat with physicians one conversation at a time, tracing the arc from early training through the long middle of a career to the identity work of eventually leaving it. The publications below are where that research has been tested, reviewed, and put into the literature.
Peer-Reviewed Publications
How Shame Shaped Me: Exploring the Impact of Shame on Professional Identity Formation in Medical Trainees. →
Haischer-Rollo G, Meyer H, McMains KC, Varpio L, Bynum WE 4th. Academic Medicine. 2025 Jul 1;100(7):801–809.
doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000006048 · PMID: 40137955 · named a Must Read by the journal
Controlled Burn: Managing the “Forest Fire” of Leaving a Professional Identity in Medical Education. →
McMains KC, Durning SJ, Meyer HS. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. 2025 Apr 1;45(2):78–84.
doi.org/10.1097/CEH.0000000000000576 · PMID: 39283597
Do All Roads Lead to Full Participation? Examining Trajectories of Clinical Educators in Graduate Medical Education through Situated Learning Theory. →
McMains KC, Konopasky A, Durning SJ, Meyer HS. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. 2024 Oct–Dec;36(5):613–623.
doi.org/10.1080/10401334.2023.2230188 · PMID: 37547996
A Common Trajectory Toward a Professional Identity as a Faculty Developer. →
Kiesow CW, Mount GR, Bunin J, McMains KC, McFate T, Hartzell J, Servey JT. Family Medicine. 2024 Feb;56(2):108–114.
doi.org/10.22454/FamMed.2024.953164 · PMID: 38335938 · PMCID: PMC10932559
The Power of Belonging — ‘Arriving’ as a Core Member of a Clinician Educator Community of Practice. →
McMains K, Durning S, Holmboe E, Meyer H. MedEdPublish. 2025;15:6.
mededpublish.org/articles/15-6 · open, post-publication peer review (AMEE)
The Making of an Educator: Professional Identity Formation Among Graduate Medical Education Faculty Through Situated Learning Theory. →
McMains KC, Durning SJ, Norton C, Meyer HS. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. 2023 Oct 1;43(4):254–260.
doi.org/10.1097/CEH.0000000000000491 · PMID: 37201556
Doctoral Research
My doctoral dissertation, “The Next Journey: The Arc of Professional Identity Formation Among Faculty in Graduate Medical Education” (Uniformed Services University, May 2025), is the qualitative foundation the Belonging-Becoming framework and the broader instrument suite build on — tracing professional identity formation across the physician career arc through direct conversation with physicians at every career stage.
Public Scholarship & Media
Op-eds and podcast appearances, written for a general physician audience rather than peer review.
The Hero's Journey: Understanding Professional Identity Formation in Graduate Medical Education →
KevinMD, September 25, 2024.
Professional Identity: A New Narrative for Medical Education (Podcast) →
KevinMD Podcast, June 10, 2025 — a conversation built around the Hero's Journey piece above.