A report from Courtney Chau, AMWA’s young representative to the United Nations Department of Global Communication On March 22, 2024, the United Nations (UN) Academic Impact organized a session titled “Strengthening Gender Equality in Generative AI” as part of the 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women – the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women empowerment. Goal #5 of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Since the development of the 2030 SDGs in 2015, the AI market has grown subs ..read more

Joyce Elaine Braak d. December 26, 2023 By Eden S. Braun (reprinted with permission from https://obits.levinefuneral.com/joyce-braak) View the video gallery  View more photos Mom is an amazing woman who lived a remarkable life, marked by both hardship and triumph. Joyce Elaine Braak was born March 15, 1935 to Susan (Verkaik) and Albert P. Braak in Hammond, IN.  She was the younger sister of Harvey. She left her undergraduate studies to care for her mother Susan when she was struck with a brain tumor.  Mom persisted in her studies and was one of only a handful of women in her ..read more

by Eliza Lo Chin, MD, MPH This year, in observance of Sleep Awareness Week, an initiative of the National Sleep Foundation, AMWA curated a series of resources in collaboration with several of our members. One particular resource, authored by Paulina Awauh, delves into the repercussions of sleep disorders on social interactions. Awauh highlights, “Poor sleep quality is associated with neurological changes that diminish the desire to engage socially, leading to discomfort in social settings.” The long-term effects include a sense of loneliness. Loneliness has garnered significant attention late ..read more

by Marion McCrary, MD FACP, Duke Signature Care and AMWA Leader Consider the following questions: Where you are on the path to a thriving life and satisfying practice Would you like to create a career in medicine that resonates with your passions and purpose, here each day brings fulfillment and challenges worth embracing Forge connections with peers, mentors, and patients that enrich both your professional and personal life, fostering a sense of belonging and support within the medical community Cultivate a work-life balance that prioritizes self-care and allows you to thrive in your role a ..read more

By Dr. Bisi Alli You may know that sleep affects mental and physical health as well as performance, but did you know sleep is linked to belonging too? Most simply, belonging includes feelings of connection and love through humanity, and is tied to human survival. Sleep and belonging can impact one another. By comparison, belonging may seem less important compared to sleep, but both sleep and belonging can mitigate risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, anxiety, dementia, and death. A few studies have explored the relationship between sleep, stress, and belonging in collegiate student athl ..read more

AMWA was saddened to learn about the sudden and unexpected passing of healthcare trailblazer and civil rights pioneer Edith P. Mitchell, MD, MACP, FCCP, FRCP (London). Dr. Mitchell was an esteemed speaker at AMWA’s 108th Anniversary Meeting – Thriving, Leading, Transforming in 2023. Dr. Mitchell served as the Enterprise Vice President for Cancer Disparities at Jefferson Health’s Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, as well as Director of the Center to Eliminate Cancer Disparities, and Professor of Medicine and Medical Oncology at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelp ..read more

This month, as we honor Black History Month, learn about these pioneering women physicians: Dr. Patricia Bath – A pioneering ophthalmologist, inventor, and educator, Dr. Bath became the first African American female physician to complete a residency in ophthalmology in 1973. She also invented the Laserphaco Probe for cataract treatment in 1986, becoming the first African American female doctor to receive a medical patent. Dr. Regina Benjamin – Dr. Benjamin served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States from 2009 to 2013. Before her appointment, she founded the Bayou La Batre Rural H ..read more

by Barbara Edelheit, MD, AMWA Mentorship Chair Photo by Joel Muniz @ Unsplash January is National Mentoring Month, so I’d like to share my mentorship journey. During medical school, I was fortunate to connect to my first mentor, Dr. Ruth Hart, who was the leader of one of my second-year courses and who introduced me to the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). Dr. Hart was an emergency medicine physician and an incredible mentor even though her specialty was not in my chosen field; I learned so much from her. This experience taught me that mentorship is best when it comes from divers ..read more

By Maria Todd, PhD, MHA Preview from 2024 AMWA Annual Meeting Plenary Speaker As a consulting doctor of health administration with 47 years of experience working side by side with physicians in the USA and 120+ countries, one issue that always comes up is the resentment about managed care coverage for services that the physician wants to perform or prescribe for his/her patient but feels that they “can’t”. The narrative and mindset needs to change and this article addresses this issue in a little bit of detail to adjust your perspective. It may surprise you that managed care is a system of he ..read more

By Traci Kurtzer, MD In honor of Human Trafficking Awareness month, I wanted to review the important work that AMWA’s Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans (PATH) has done over these past 10 years in various anti-trafficking efforts in healthcare by speaking to some of the people who have been involved in the organization. In 2012, AMWA President Gayatri Devi, identified sex trafficking as an important issue for AMWA to address. This led to the development of the Human Trafficking Committee by co-chairs Dr. Suzanne Harrison and Dr. Holly Atkinson, which authored AMWA’s initial pos ..read more