Dear Cindy,

I'm a 30-year-old medical doctor with scleroderma. I was advised to retire based on the grounds of ill health. I don't want my medical skills to go to waste.  Do you have any suggestions on where I can seek help?

Thanks, Tom

Dear Tom,

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. For those not familiar, scleroderma is a relatively rare chronic autoimmune disease that affects connective tissue. One of the manifestations is hardening of the skin. It affects an estimated 300,000 people in the United States, according to the Scleroderma Foundation http://www.scleroderma.org.

You may not be able to practice medicine any longer, but you may have an opportunity to reinvent yourself. You certainly have marketable skills and you can put them to good use even with the disease. On the Web site of the foundation I came across a career counselor, Rosalind Joffe, who counsels people with chronic illness. Her Web site is http://www.common-goals.com and her company is cicoach.com. Her advice is inspirational. In an article on the site, she advises don't let your illness define who you are: "Many of us have found new strength and confidence—qualities we never knew we had—as a result of our illnesses," she wrote. "We have used this newfound power to face other life challenges. It need not all be about the bad news."

Ms. Joffe's advice to anyone facing a similar situation is to take stock of your skills and abilities – see what you can do and can't do. You might not be able to use your hands, but perhaps you could use voice recognition software to work at a computer. Then, be strategic about where you might be able to work. Some professions come immediately to mind: a law firm, reviewing medical cases; a nonprofit organization in the healthcare field; a medical consultancy; an insurance company; medical director in a medical device company.

This Web site of Trusted MD lists a few organizations that could provide further information about alternative careers such as pharmaceutical investigator or healthcare executive.

Also check out our HealtheCareers.com Web site that contains a section for administrative and executive physician careers. Another company I've heard mentioned that trains physicians to be expert witnesses is seak.com

The Physician Renaissance Network is a member site for physicians pursuing nonclinical careers.  Like Ms. Joffe's site, it also sells a career change handbook.