109. How to Build a Peer Support System With Associate Professor and Research Scientist Johna Register-Mihalik

Madam Athlete Podcast episode 109 Cover Art - Image of Dr. Johna Register-Mihalik

Introducing Johna Register-Mihalik

Today I’m talking to Associate Professor and Research Scientist Dr. Johna Register-Mihalik about how to build a peer support system because you don’t have to go it alone in your career.

Her Career Journey

Johna grew up in a rural small town in Alabama where an injury introduced her to the field of athletic training. Having a girl in her high school go to the University of Alabama for athletic training showed Johna that she could do it too. 

While in undergrad, Johna cold-emailed Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, a preeminent concussion researcher, and ended up creating an internship experience at UNC-Chapel Hill that changed her career path. After graduating from the University of Alabama, she went to the University of Chapel Hill for a Masters in Exercise and Sport Science and Athletic Training, a PhD in Human Movement Science, and then a Postdoc in Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury. 

Johna stepped outside of academia for her first job as a Senior Research Associate in Emergency Services Institute at WakeMed Health and Hospitals before returning to UNC-Chapel Hill where she has worked ever since. Currently, Johna works at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an Associate Professor of Athletic Training and a Research Scientist studying mild traumatic brain injury.

In addition to her academic work, Johna has served on the Brain Injury Association of North Carolina’s Board and USA Baseball’s Medical and Safety Advisory Committee, as well as pursuing active professional service in national organizations like the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the American College of Sports Medicine.

How to Build a Peer Support System

As a woman in sports and academia, Johna benefited from the mentorship of women who were more senior in their careers. But she also found significant value in the peer mentorship of other women who were at the same stage she was and going through it all together. This might mean reaching out to women a year or two above and below you in your PhD track (like Johna did), or connecting with other women through national conferences and organizations. Having peer support is invaluable and there’s scientific evidence showing that women do even better in their career journeys when they have a close group of women in their network. We talk all about how to build a peer support system and how to be a part of this peer support system in the episode.

Inside this episode:

    • We discuss the importance of exposure, representation, and seeing women pave the way to see that certain career paths exist and are possible.
    • Johna shares the experiences that introduced her to the field of athletic training and how she found her way within the field.
    • The general badassery of Johna’s cold-emailing a respected researcher, putting herself out there, and making a connection that would change the course of her career forever.
    • We talk about the importance of getting different perspectives and why she chose for her first job, to leave UNC and academia to try something new.
    • It is completely ok to take finances into consideration when looking at work and jobs! (And I may briefly step on a tiny soap box while we’re talking about this!)
    • Johna happens to work at the same university, in the same department, in the same research field of traumatic brain injuries and sports medicine injuries… with her husband! She talks about maintaining personal and professional boundaries. And she shares keys on how she makes sure that she and her colleagues know that she is her own person and not half of one faculty member/spousal team.
    • Yes, mentorship is important, but so is having strong peer support from a community of awesome women going through it with you. We also talk about how to build that peer support system when you’re one of the only women in your field at your institution.
    • Being part of your national organizations, like the American College of Sports Medicine, provides networking, professional development, and learning opportunities. Johna talks about some of the many ways she takes advantage of being part of national organizations like ACSM and the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.
    • We talk about how to handle feedback and how to give feedback in a positive and beneficial manner rather than being cutting or cruel.
    • Accepting failure and feedback as part of the process doesn’t mean that you personally are a failure. It’s important to separate failures from how you feel about yourself as a human being and your own self-worth.
    • Johna’s career advice is that you do not have to do it alone. Look for ways to build a system and peer support so you aren’t going through it alone.

Resources

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