This Blog post represents a partnership between the Women in Medicine Summit and Healio Women in Oncology. An excerpt appears blow, and please find the full length piece at Healio’s Women in Oncology Blog Inspire. Empower. Celebrate! These words are the slogan for the 126th running of the Boston Marathon, which will recognize and honor the 50th anniversary of the 1972 race, which featured the first women’s division in race history. In 1972, eight women met the qualifying standard and were made official entrants to the marathon. Five of those original women will be celebrating in Boston on rac ..read more

This Blog post represents a partnership between the Women in Medicine Summit and Healio Women in Oncology. An excerpt appears blow, and please find the full length piece at Healio’s Women in Oncology Blog Significant disparities exist in pay, promotion and perks between the sexes in every field (not just in medicine), and this has been the case for centuries. It’s unfair and it’s not right, but sadly that knowledge alone is not sufficient to change the status quo. Simply pointing out the disparities is very much analogous to the experiment in which Capuchin monkeys who, seeing their counterpa ..read more

Author: Eric Weng Keywords: gender equity, ally, allyship, HeforShe If I had to make a disruptive prediction, I would say that men continually find themselves in disbelief when told that they aren’t doing enough for #heforshe allies. On September 25th I sat with my jaws touching the floor beneath me listening to Drs. Brad Johnson and David Smith presentation titled, “Cultivating HeForShe Allies: How to Find and Develop Productive Profession Relationships with Male Allies.” As I listen, I begin to ask myself, “How could I have been so oblivious?” As an undergraduate student in the pursuit of ev ..read more

Author: Darilyn Moyer, MD Keywords: diversity, equity, inclusion, sponsorship, gender bias, structural racism Let’s get loud, because those we need, cannot be what they cannot see. The imperative has never been greater, the data never more compelling, and the solutions never more daunting. As Covid-19 descended on our population, it amplified the deep and dark underbelly of health inequities, systemic racism, and exacerbation of the unacceptable status quo. How and why do all the stakeholders in healthcare work together with our patients and communities to correct these inequities for our pat ..read more

Author: Teva Brender Keywords: advocacy, professional societies, legislative process, structural determinants of health His handcuffs were heavier than I thought they would be. And colder too. In that moment I realized that I had never felt a real pair of handcuffs before; I certainly didn’t expect the first time to be in a hospital room. After checking Mr. B’s pulse I knelt down and asked how I could help make him more comfortable. As I stepped past the correctional officer in the hallway I paused, collecting my emotions – shock, anger, sadness – before continuing on to the nutrition room to ..read more

Author: Browning Haynes Keywords: advocacy, service, social determinants of health The guilt and shame I felt watching the family’s case spiral out of control has persisted to this day. The patient was an 8-year-old boy with a neurologic disorder and complex behavioral problems whose family had recently moved to Portland. Initially, my role was to help him, and his family navigate the healthcare system as they began to establish medical care in Portland. However, it soon became clear that this family needed more than just navigation assistance, especially given the challenges brought on by the ..read more

Author: Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, SFHM, MACP Keywords: diversity, inclusion, language concordance, advocacy In 2017 I had the privilege of working with two medical students whose first languages were different from my own; I was raised in an English speaking home (and only speak English), whereas one of them was raised in a Spanish-speaking home and the other was raised in a Navajo- and English-speaking home. We spoke about what a gift it is to speak several languages, and how important it is to feel like we belong. Having recently read an article about a medical school planning to say the Hipp ..read more

Author: Aishwarya Thapliyal, MD Keywords: resiliency, burnout, wellness, medicine, mental health, women doctors, advocacy ‘The Best Way to Find Yourself Is To Lose Yourself In The Service Of Others’ -Mahatma Gandhi. The healthcare industry around the globe is committed to providing quality medical facilities to its citizens, and the executors of these facilities make this possible. The context of the conversation is the healthcare providers who dedicate their lives for the sole purpose of helping others. The day you decide that medicine is your career of choice, the journey of perseverance be ..read more

This Blog post represents a partnership between the Women in Medicine Summit and Healio Women in Oncology. An excerpt appears blow, and please find the full length piece at Healio’s Women in Oncology Blog Author: Amy Comander, MD Last night, my husband and I did something we have not done in quite some time: We went out for dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant in Brookline, Massachusetts. We had not been there since early 2020! It felt great to have a night out (alone — our children were occupied), enjoy our dinner and reclaim a sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, it was only a sense of norma ..read more

Author: Tanya M Wildes, MD, MSCI Keywords: Gender bias, academic medicine, medical marriage, Great Resignation For 20 years, I have been living in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a sample size of 2. The independent variable by which my co-participant and I were randomized in the mid 1970s is the presence of a second X chromosome vs the privilege of a Y chromosome.* The dependent variables observed have included both qualitative and quantitative measures related to being physicians in academic medicine, ranging from leadership opportunities and academic promotion to salary. The primary ..read more