Dr. Amar Rewari on Rethinking Physician Retirement in MDLinx

Dr. Amar Rewari, chief of radiation oncology at Luminis Health and adjunct assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was featured in MDLinx on October 5, 2026. The article, “The ‘one more year’ trap: When continuing to practice stops improving the plan,” looks at why so many physicians keep putting off retirement and how they can approach the decision more intentionally.

Dr. Rewari said physicians may benefit from thinking about retirement differently. The goal doesn’t have to be to stop working. It can be about gaining more control over how they spend their time. For some, that could mean leaving medicine entirely. For others, it might mean seeing patients one day a week, teaching residents, mentoring younger colleagues, or serving on a nonprofit board. As he put it, “Retirement does not have to be an all-or-nothing decision.”

He also explained why this transition can be especially hard in medicine. Being a physician often becomes part of a person’s identity, and after decades of being needed by patients and colleagues, stepping away can be hard. He believes the healthiest transitions happen when physicians build their identity in other areas first, such as teaching, volunteering, consulting, hobbies, travel, and family. A gradual step-down, rather than an abrupt stop, gives them time to discover what they truly value about medicine.

For physicians weighing “one more year,” Dr. Rewari suggests asking what that year will actually accomplish. A specific financial goal, a leadership commitment, or mentoring a successor are all good reasons. But if you can’t say what will be different at the end of the year, you may simply be postponing a difficult decision. He encourages physicians to bring the same evidence-based intentionality they use in practice to planning their next chapter.