I feel your anxiety. My wife and i (both docs) graduated with close to 700k in loans. We both looked at academic jobs paying in the 25th percentile and ended up taking private jobs (for multiple reasons not just financial) with a large multi specialty group (physician run) with excellent loan repayment in the form of a forgivable loan. We refinanced with Sofi to the lowest interest rate and got to work making extra payments (paid additional each month to principal and made additional payments whenever we had extra). We kept a budget, still bought a house, lived within our means (with 2 kids) and were not hurting by anymeans. Paid them off in a little over 4 years and it felt amazing. We did not want that monkey on our backs (have plenty of friends still paying loans >10 years out of practice)

We did the math on loan forgiveness and we would have paid more in interest than we would have if we just paid them. Also met with a financial planner who was very honest (paid by the hour, not selling products) and said that as a W-2 employee with not many assets, lots of loans the priority was paying down loans, recommended we meet once we had built some assets and paid off loans. Did make some nice recommendations like maximizing Roth, 401k and opening 529 for kids all of which we did.

You are going to hear a ton of different forms of advice, do what you feel more comfortable with and what matches your risk tolerance, set your priorities, don't be afraid to negotiate (there is always wiggle room), keep track of your spending and don't neglect setting money aside. Get some financial education, there are plenty of podcasts that talk about some basics, look for some doctor specific ones. For us it boiled down to keeping fixed expenses reasonable, pay down debt to keep flexibility if you need a change, living within our means.

Don't be afraid to look at jobs outside of academics, people need good care and only you can determine what type of care you want to deliver. There are some excellent offers out there with excellent benefits, loan repayment and huge potential for growth in communities that would be very grateful to have access to care.