--- title: Doctor Writes Letter to Herself on Imposter Syndrome description: Read the poignant and powerful letter one doctor wrote to her younger self about dealing with imposter syndrome. canonical: https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/ author: Samantha Cooney article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-26T16:10:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:40.880Z og:title: Read the Poignant Letter This Doctor Wrote About Self-Doubt og:description: 'I’ve been haunted at every step of my career by the fear that I am a fraud' og:url: https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e2accbfc7ceece9/6988cf278e0601cd8746a8d4/female-doctor-imposter-syndrome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5044 og:image:height: 2837 og:image:alt: Confident surgeon by colleague operating patient og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read the Poignant Letter This Doctor Wrote About Self-Doubt twitter:description: 'I’ve been haunted at every step of my career by the fear that I am a fraud' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e2accbfc7ceece9/6988cf278e0601cd8746a8d4/female-doctor-imposter-syndrome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read the Poignant Letter This Doctor Wrote About Self-Doubt > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 26, 2017 4:10 PM UTC  Portrait of confident female surgeon standing by colleague operating patient in hospital Portrait of confident female surgeon standing by colleague operating patient in hospital Portra—Getty Images  by [Samantha Cooney](https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/)  ## Samantha Cooney May 26, 2017 4:10 PM UTC A doctor wrote a poignant letter to her younger self about overcoming [impostor syndrome.](http://motto.time.com/4260364/imposter-syndrome-youre-not-crazy/) [Suzanne Koven](http://suzannekoven.com/), a writer and [physician](http://www.massgeneral.org/HUBweek/Biographies/koven-profile.aspx) and writer at Massachusetts General Hospital, published the [letter](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1702010#t=article) in the New England _Journal of Medicine_. She said that she was inspired to write after attending an orientation where new medical interns were tasked with writing a note to their future selves. “I wanted so much to tell them, particularly the women — more than half the group, I was pleased to note — what I wished I’d known,” Koven wrote. “Even more, I yearned to tell my younger self [what I wished I’d known](http://motto.time.com/4347144/arianna-huffington-twenty/).” Her resulting letter is a touching reflection on confronting [sexism](http://motto.time.com/4637680/republican-women-donald-trump-sexism/) in a largely [male-dominated](http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/physicians-by-gender/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D) industry. Koven said that she was told that she should draft a maternity leave policy because one didn’t already exist and described being asked which doctor she was calling in prescriptions for when she reached out to pharmacies. And, she noted, female doctors earn [less pay](http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/26/pf/gender-pay-gap-doctors/) than their male counterparts and often [experience](http://time.com/4337372/30-of-female-doctors-have-been-sexually-harassed/) sexual harassment. [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ But, for Koven, her own [self-doubt](http://motto.time.com/4386351/how-to-stop-doubt/) proved to be a bigger challenge. “I’ve been haunted at every step of my career by the fear that I am a fraud,” she wrote. “I believe that women’s fear of fraudulence is similar to men’s, but with an added feature: not only do we tend to perseverate over our inadequacies, we also often denigrate our strengths.” Koven wrote that she ultimately wasted too much time in her career fearing that she wasn’t good enough. So, she shared the words she should have told herself then: “My dear young colleague, you are not a fraud. You are a flawed and unique human being,” she wrote. “Your training and sense of purpose will serve you well. Your humanity will serve your patients even better.” Read Koven’s [full letter](http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1702010#t=article) on the New England _Journal of Medicine_. \[H/T [Refinery29](http://www.refinery29.com/2017/05/156308/female-doctor-workplace-sexism-letter)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/"},"headline":"Read the Poignant Letter This Doctor Wrote About Self-Doubt","datePublished":"2017-05-26T16:10:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:40.880Z","description":"'I’ve been haunted at every step of my career by the fear that I am a fraud'","url":"https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e2accbfc7ceece9/6988cf278e0601cd8746a8d4/female-doctor-imposter-syndrome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Cooney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-cooney/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4e2accbfc7ceece9/6988cf278e0601cd8746a8d4/female-doctor-imposter-syndrome.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Confident surgeon by colleague operating patient","caption":"Confident surgeon by colleague operating patient","creditText":"Portra—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4795789/doctor-self-doubt-letter/","name":"Read the Poignant Letter This Doctor Wrote About Self-Doubt"}}]}] ```