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January 23, 2013

Women Physicians Lead the Way—Meetings Designed for and By Women Physicians

Three Great Conferences for Women Coming Your Way, Spring 2013

Leadership “development” is a hot topic today in business, in education, and in medicine. With women physicians still occupying only 12% of the deans, chairs, board members and journal editors, women physicians seemed have been left behind. But don’t tell the women who organize and attend these three great conferences. They are not being left behind; they are leading the charge.

American Medical Women’s Association’s 98th Annual Meeting

March 15-17, 2013 in New York City at the New York Palace Hotel. This meeting is known the “leading strategic career and personal development conference for women physicians, medical students and residents.”

This year’s program boasts speakers Nancy Andrews, MD PhD, Dean of Duke University School of Medicine speaking about work-life balance, and Julie Freischlag, MD, Chair of Surgey at Johns Hopkins, speaking about advances in vascular surgery. From NYC, Catherin Manno, Chair of Pediatrics at NYU will speak on bleeding disorders and Marianne Legato, MD, from Columbia University will speak on gender-specific medicine.


Can Women Physicians Be Feminine and Still Wield Power? Two big concepts: feminine and power. Juxtaposed they seem at odds. And they are at odds as long as women physicians allow them to be. This juxtaposition may seem dissonant. And it is. And it has a name: gender stereotyping (GS)–behaving out of expected societal “norms.” GS needn’t get in the way.
7 Key Power Principles for Women Physicians to Create Work-Life Integration Principles for women physicians to gain the energy (i.e. power) needed to create the situation where work and life are not in constant conflict.
Self-Publishing Creates New Avenues for Women-Physician Entrepreneurs Dr. Julie Wei’s book teaches not only about how patients can live in a healthier way, but also how women physicians can have their voices heard using non-traditional models of communication.
Able, Affable and Available: Are you a AAA-Rated Physician? Wise words from NYU Medical Center Chair of Surgery, Dr. Frank Spencer, heart surgeon and personality extraordinaire.
Is the Term Woman Physician Really Necessary? Two readers have alerted me to how offensive the qualifier “woman” might be in front of a variety of other descriptors for “professional women” such as doctor, lawyer or even Indian Chief.

Tip of the Month

Leadership is something that you start to learn through participation. First, you watch really good leaders. Then you find out their secrets. Once learned, start small. Volunteer for a project or a committee. As you grow, so will your skills, and you will be ready to take on more responsible roles. Everyone has leadership potential, so learn how to develop yours.

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Who makes better leaders? Men? Women? Or is it really just about the individual?

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Headlines for Women in Medicine

In keeping with our “leadership” theme this month, we have added a new category to our “Read and Get Up to Speed” free resource at WMDR. These two articles are important reads for anyone who is interested in women in leadership roles in medicine:

Westring A., Speck R. et al., A Culture Conducive to Women’s Academic Success: Development of a Measure. Academic Medicine 87:11 (2012) 1622-21..

Using a literature search, focus groups and expert consultants, these authors came up with four distinct cultural elements for women in the healthcare workplace: equal access, work-life balance, freedom from bias and supportive leadership.

Schueller-Weidekamm C., Kautzky A., et al., Challenges of Work-Life Balance for Women Physicians/Mothers Working in Leadership Positions. Gender Medicine. 9:4 (2012) 244-50.

This study done in Austria, found many of the same themes we have for women physicians in the US: “The sporadic focus on career advancement, time-consuming child care, responsibility for family life, and a woman’s tendency toward understatement were barriers to career development.”

If this whet your appetite, visit our website for the top articles (and other resources) on Women in Medicine in 2012.