January-February 2011
AWAEMAWARENESS A bimonthly update to inform you of the current activities of our Academy in an effort to make this organization a strong advocate for women in academic emergency medicine. Stephanie Abbuhl Gloria Kuhn Alice Mitchell Stacey Poznanski
On Networking and Collaboration Table of Contents
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A Little Help From My Friends (An Update on the AWAEM Research Committee)
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Time to Meet, Greet & Eat! (An Update on AWAEM Networking Luncheons)
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AWAEM Beacon Award
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AWAEM Early Career Faculty Award
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News You Can Use (Sunset of the Solo Scientist)
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Available Committees
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AWAEM AWARENESS January-February 2011
A Little Help From My Friends... By Alice Mitchell, MD
Individually we are one drop. Togehter, we are an ocean. - Ryunosuke Satoro
Let’s face it ladies (and gents) we are busy, busy people who generally take on too much, play too many roles, have trouble saying no, and the list goes on. It’s time to start asking, “What’s in it for me?” Have you ever practiced saying that in the mirror? Well try it. It will almost sound foreign the first time. Now that you are getting over saying it out loud. How about expecting an answer to the question? Blasphemous? Well, no…AWAEM is in it for you! Once you’re on a roll, go ahead and ask the next question: “Where’s the beef ?” No worries. We have an answer for that too. In fact, keep reading... Each issue we plan to highlight an important topic and a committee working to provide those answers. This issue focuses on promoting women’s research and collaboration on research funding.
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The list is complete with grant descriptions, contact information, deadlines, etc. We fully expect you to be muttering the words, “Where has this been all my life?” We also can’t wait to see the obvious downstream effects: more of our members getting funding, more opportunities for collaboration among our members, more research done on these topics. The possibilities are endless…. Before, “you’ve come a long way baby” starts playing in the background and ruins the whole mood, we hope you use it. In fact, Did you know that you could we would love to know if you literally apply for more than a dozen apply for any of these. grants within the next 6 months? That is not the end. The But who has the time to search or AWAEM Research Committee has even knows where to start? Not to other things in mind. Just one more worry, AWAEM did the searching for reason to keep up with us! Stay you! tuned. We organized a group of experienced women to create a Want to know more about consolidated list of research funding collaboration in the 21st sources for research on women’s century? health and related topics. Members By Stephanie Abbuhl, MD of our AWAEM Research Like working in teams better than Committee (Amanda Garlen & solo? Well, your time has come, as Stephanie Abbuhl) complied a explained in a Wall Street Journal directory of RFAs and Program article “Sunset of the Solo Announcements that we can’t wait Scientist” by Jonah Lehrer. for you to check out. (http:// According to research being done at www.saem.org/saemdnn/ Northwestern University’s Kellogg AWAEMHomePage/tabid/1281/ School of Management, there has Default.aspx) been a great shift in how we are Examples of up coming solving our most challenging opportunities include: problems. Benjamin Jones and his (1) Foundation for Women’s Wellness colleagues were able to show that (2) The American Association of teamwork is a defining trend of University Women modern research. Check out the (3) NIH/ Office of Research on full article on page 6. Women’s Health (4) Industry Foundations and more….
AWAEM AWARENESS January-February 2011
Time to Meet, Greet & Eat! AWAEM Luncheon at CORD - March 4th AWAEM Luncheon at SAEM - June 4th By Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD, Alice Mitchell, MD & Stacey Poznanski, DO
CORD NETWORKING LUNCH Going to the CORD Academic Assembly in sunny San Diego? Join us for AWAEM’s networking lunch on March 4th. Tables will be set aside in the room where lunches are being provided. All are welcome to attend, just bring the lunch provided by CORD and join the group! Don’t miss the chance to meet new friends, and visit with familiar faces. There is no set agenda, but it will give us an opportunity to discuss research collaborations, suggestions for future AWAEM activities, and potential topics for our next luncheon...
To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. -Brandi Snyder
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ANNUAL AWAEM LUNCHEON During your registration for the upcoming SAEM Annual Meeting in Boston, (http:// www.saem.org/saemdnn/Meetings/ AnnualMeeting2011/tabid/1457/Default.aspx) be sure to sign up for the Annual AWAEM Luncheon on June 4th. The purpose of the luncheon is to network and to recognize the women who are receiving AWAEM awards (see Award Descriptions on pages 4 & 5). Table facilitators will be present to assist with networking and to initiate discussions on important academic topics.
AWAEM AWARENESS January-February, 2011
AWAEM Beacon Award for Leadership and Mentorship of Women in Academic Emergency Medicine By Esther Choo, MD
Description: The Beacon Award recognizes a faculty member whose outstanding efforts and achievements have promoted the careers of women in academic emergency medicine. Efforts to be recognized are: leadership and influential mentorship through administration, research, program development or advocacy that has advanced women faculty and trainees and improved the likelihood and/or climate for success. The accomplishments of the winner of this award should have had significant impact on advancing women faculty and/or trainees in academic emergency medicine either on a national level or as an outstanding example of a local model of innovative leadership that has broadly influenced others.
Selection criteria: Nominees should have: 1) Demonstrated dedication to the recruitment, support, retention, and promotion of women in Emergency Medicine; 2) Served as a role model and Deadline: Tuesday, March 15, mentor for women in academic 2011, 5 pm EST Emergency Medicine through career achievements in one or Eligibility criteria: more of the following areas: 1) Female Emergency Medicine research, education, advocacy/ physician health policy, clinical practice, 2) Faculty in a U.S. academic or administration. Emergency Medicine department 3) Served in a leadership position 3) Current SAEM membership that helped impact the growth of women in academic *Nomination letter may be submitted by Emergency Medicine at former or current colleagues, mentees, or regional or national level. employers. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. †If nominator is the chair or dean, one letter addressing #2 & 3 may suffice.
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You do build in darkness if you have faith. When the light returns you have made of yourself a fortress which is impregnable to certain kinds of trouble; you may even find yourself needed and sought by others as a beacon in their dark. - Olga Rosmanith
Nomination process: 1) Nominee’s CV 2) Nomination letter* explaining why the candidate merits the award. 3) Letter of recommendation from department chair OR medical school dean† attesting to the nominee’s leadership and mentorship achievements and influence. Other supporting documentation, such as additional letters of support from mentees, is optional and will be reviewed by the awards committee on a timeavailable basis. Submit all materials electronically to esther_choo@brown.edu.
AWAEM AWARENESS January-February, 2011
AWAEM Early Career Faculty Award By Esther Choo, MD
Description: To honor early career female faculty who have shown promise for significant career achievements in Emergency Medicine, whether through research, education, advocacy, or administration, and/or who have worked to promote the role of women in academic emergency medicine Deadline: Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 5 pm EST Eligibility: 1) Female EM physician 2) Faculty member in a U.S. academic EM department 3) Graduation from residency within 10 years (as of June 2001) 4) Current SAEM membership Selection criteria: 1) Evidence of achievements, innovation, and dedication in academic Emergency Medicine, whether through education, research, advocacy, or administration. 2) Involvement on a national level (e.g., through SAEM committees, research consortiums, or advocacy groups) 3) Activities demonstrating commitment to advancing the role of women in academic Emergency Medicine
“Dedication
is not what others expect of you, it is what you can give to others.” -Unknown
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"I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Nomination process: Nominee’s CV Nomination letter* Letter of support from chair or mentor† Other supporting documentation, such as additional letters of support from mentors, is optional and will be reviewed by the awards committee on a time-available basis. Submit all materials electronically to esther_choo@brown.edu. *Nomination letter may be submitted by former or current colleagues, mentors, mentees, or employers. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. †If nominator is the chair or dean, one letter addressing #2 & 3 may suffice.
AWAEM AWARENESS January-February, 2011
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News You Can Use Sunset of the Solo Scientist In recent weeks, President Barack Obama has focused on the importance of innovation for "winning the future." It's our new ideas, he says, that will solve our energy problems, increase exports and create high-paying jobs. "This is our generation's Sputnik moment," he said in the State of the Union speech. "We need to out-innovate the world." A brilliant researcher, barely out of his teens and working alone? Scratch that: Today's ideal scientist is close to 40 and working on a team. The question, of course, is where these new ideas will come from. For centuries, the Western model of innovation has been simple: We've relied on young geniuses. From Da Vinci to Einstein, from Newton to Darwin, our most revolutionary breakthroughs have typically emerged from individuals, working by themselves. But that model appears to be as old-fashioned as the manual typewriter. In recent years, it's become increasingly clear that our best ideas no longer come from solitary researchers. (Here's a quick test: Name a current scientist as influential as Einstein or an inventor as famous as Edison.) If America is going to "out-innovate" the world, it's not because we have more youthful geniuses, toiling away alone in a lab. The age of the great scientific thinker is over. Why have individual geniuses become less important? Mostly because the nature of our hardest scientific problems has changed. One sign of this comes from data on the "peak age" of creativity, which has been increasing for the last 500 years. Newton may have benefited from tackling the problems of calculus and gravity in his 20s, but the ideal age for most scientists is now closer to 40. Benjamin Jones, a professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, has looked at this shift in detail. He's found, for instance, that the mean age of "great achievement" among Nobel laureates has risen by nearly eight years over the course of the 20th century. (Similar trends also apply to inventors.) The reason is straightforward: Before we can transform a field, we need to master it, to learn the details of the domain. And there's more to learn than ever before. The complexity of our 21st-century problems has also profoundly influenced the nature of the scientific process. If the old model of innovation revolved around the individual— Einstein had no co-authors on his most important papers and Darwin prized his isolation—modern research is now defined by its collaborations. Mr. Jones has found, for instance, that scientific teams have become a far more important part of intellectual production. By analyzing 19.9 million peer-reviewed papers and 2.1 million patents, Mr. Jones and his colleagues at Northwestern were able to show that teamwork is a defining trend of modern research. Over the last 50 years, more than 99% of scientific subfields, from computer science to biochemistry, have experienced
By Jonah Lehrer, February 5, 2011
increased levels of teamwork, with the size of the average team increasing by about 20% per decade. This shift is even more pronounced among influential papers. While the most cited studies in a field used to be the product of lone geniuses, Mr. Jones has shown that the best research now emerges from groups. It doesn't matter if the scientists are studying particle physics or human genetics. Papers by multiple authors receive more than twice as many citations as those with one author. This trend is even more apparent when it comes to "home run papers"—those publications with at least 1,000 citations—which are more than six times as likely to come from a team. What's driving this shift toward group problem-solving? Mr. Jones blames it, in part, on the "death of the Renaissance man." Unlike Da Vinci, who made important contributions to such disparate fields as medicine, civil engineering and geology, today's scientists must spend years in graduate school developing an extremely narrow expertise. As a result, they depend on teams to make the crosscutting connections that end up changing the world. All of us are smarter than one of us. In his State of the Union speech, President Obama listed just a few of the transformative innovations that he hopes to see, from hydrogen fuel cells to a cure for cancer. If we're going to find answers to our hardest questions, we need to begin by rethinking our old assumptions about where these answers will come from. Collaboration is no longer an option—it's a necessity. Write to Jonah Lehrer at Jonah.Lehrer@wsj.com Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page C12 Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved
“News You Can Use” features interesting and useful articles or books recommended by one of our members. This issue’s selection was provided by Stephanie Abbuhl, MD. Thanks Stephanie!
AWAEM AWARENESS January-February 2011
Available Committees... time to get involved! By Gloria Kuhn, DO, PhD
If you are interested in helping with any of these initiatives please e-mail the chair so you can be included. If you do not hear from the chair within a week please contact me as sometimes messages do get lost in the cyberspace of e-mail land. gkuhn@med.wayne.edu We need people like you to keep AWAEM a success!! AWAEM Research Committee Marna Greenberg: mrgdo@ptd.net
Committee for Medical School Liaison Preeti Jose-Bilowich preetijois@ufl.edu Creation of database of med schools with programs supporting women faculty Keme Carter kemecarter@yahoo.com Book Club Kathryn Dong kathryni@ualberta.ca E-Newsletter Alice Mitchell Alice.Mitchell@carolinashealthcare.org
AAMC/SAEM Data Collection Kerry Broderick Kerry.Broderick@dhha.org
CORD/AWAEM video concept Stephanie Abbuhl Stephane.Abbuhl@uphs.upenn.edu
Didactic Proposal for SAEM National Meeting Sarah Stahmer sarah.stahmer@duke.edu
Annual AWAEM Luncheon Gloria Kuhn gkuhn@med.wayne.edu
Regional Advisory Committee Linda Druelinger ldruelin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Bio & AWAEM Committee Interest Forms Tracy Sanson Oaks61596@aol.com
Creation and maintenance of database of women interested in leadership positions Tracy Sanson Oaks61596@aol.com
AWAEM Awards Committee Esther Choo esther_choo@brown.edu
“I’m a woman of very few words, but lots of action.” Mae West
Many Photos found via Google Images. For a list of Photo Credits, please contact Stacey Poznanski, DO at stacey.poznanski@gmail.com
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