Welcome to FOCUS

FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women is a dean-funded program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine designed to improve the recruitment, retention, advancement and leadership of women faculty, and to promote women’s health research.

FOCUS collaborates with other medical schools, universities, national committees, and Women in Medicine (WIM) programs in order to explore institutional change that fosters a more diverse faculty in the community of academic medicine.

FOCUS initiatives include:

Benchmarks: Gender Statistics
A comprehensive annual report on the gender distribution of Penn medical faculty by track, rank, department and leadership position since 1999. Data on faculty appointments, promotions and attrition rates are also included and compared with national statistics.

Lunchtime Seminar Series
Seminars that explore a broad range of topics, including current medical issues and controversies, women’s health research, and faculty development. The Series runs throughout the academic year and is open to all Penn medical faculty, fellows and instructors.

Annual Leadership Mentoring Conference
Successful Strategies for Women in Academic Medicine is a day-long fall conference featuring nationally recognized guest speakers and workshops focusing on the professional needs of women in academic medicine.

Annual Conference for Senior Women in Academic Medicine
A half-day conference, held during the spring, which targets mid-career issues specific to women associate and full professors in academic medicine at Penn.

Junior Faculty Investigator Award
An extramurally supported initiative that offers annual competitive seed grants to junior faculty investigators for pilot research related to women’s health.

Medical Student Fellowship in Women’s Health
An extramurally supported program that offers six-month stipends to medical students for full-time faculty-mentored research in women’s health.

Award for the Advancement of Women in Medicine
This annual FOCUS award recognizes a full-time female or male faculty member whose efforts and achievements have advanced the professional success, health care and/or overall quality of life for women at Penn Medicine.