A Guest Blog from FOCUS: A Day for Women at Penn Med to Network, Engage in Leadership Mentoring, and Enjoy the Company of Colleagues

By Corrinne Fahl

September is Women in Medicine Month, an annual reminder to pause and remember the multitude of contributions women have made to the advancement of medicine.

September is Women in Medicine Month, an annual reminder to pause and remember the multitude of contributions women have made to the advancement of medicine. Dr. Helen Octavia Dickens, the University of Pennsylvania's first African American female full professor in the Medical School, was also the first African American Woman admitted to the American College of Surgeons.  Dr. Virginia Apgar introduced the first test to assess the health of newborn babies in 1953. Dr. Gertrude Hunter was appointed the first national director of health services for Project Head Start in 1965, and helped create a national program to provide healthcare and immunizations for preschool-aged children that provided care for millions of children.  Dr. Ethel Weinberg was instrumental in establishing emergency medicine as a medical specialty with a standard training in acute care internship. The American Medical Association's page celebrating Women in Medicine with further information can be found here.

The Office of Inclusion and Diversity at the Perelman School of Medicine supports the work of FOCUS on Health & Leadership for Women, designed to improve the recruitment, retention, advancement and leadership of women faculty, and to promote education and research in women's health and leadership.

It's no secret that while women in medicine have made great strides over the decades, there remains a disproportionate number of men in senior ranks and leadership positions despite the near parity of men and women in medical schools for over 20 years.  Even in specialties with greater numbers of women than men in their residencies for many years (OBGYN residencies are now 83% women; Pediatrics are 71% women), the percentage of Chairs who are women is surprisingly low (22% for OBGYN; 20% for Pediatrics) (1).  Despite identifying, quantifying and regularly reporting on the gender gap, the environment of academic medicine still remains an uneven playing field for men and women.  The culture of academic medicine, and that of many professional careers, remains out of step with significant societal shifts that have brought enormous change to our families (dual career couples); our pocket books (two incomes often needed); our daily lives (technology) and medicine in general (the business model).  The causal factors are many and the need for creative solutions is great.

Fortunately, there is greater awareness and appreciation of the of the importance of re-aligning our career ladders, incentives and trajectories with the diverse talent in our pipeline so that academic medicine can succeed and health care in our country can improve.  The need for women leaders has never been greater.  The FOCUS Program grew out of this changing and challenging environment and today we are privileged to provide an infrastructure at PSOM that is inclusive of faculty, instructors, lecturers and trainees – with professional development and research initiatives – that welcome both men and women.  Once a year, however, we hold our signature conference and reserve it just for women.  

On Friday, October 28, 2016 we will hold our 19th daylong annual FOCUS Fall Conference, Successful Strategies for Women in Academic Medicine, again at Hall of Flags (Houston Hall), to gather a sizable portion of PSOM's women - MDs and PhDs- from all departments and divisions and from all ranks and levels of training to join together for leadership training and professional development and camaraderie.  Information on the format of the day and our three guest speakers are listed on our website where you may also register: http://www.med.upenn.edu/focus/RegistrationConference.shtml 

Should you have any questions/thoughts/ideas, please do not hesitate to contact Stephanie Abbuhl or Patricia Scott

Lautenberger DM, Dandar VM, Raezer CL, Sloane RA. The State of Women in Academic Medicine: The Pipeline and Pathways to Leadership. Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC, 2013-14.