May-June, 2013
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.
Table of Contents
President’s Column - An Update from the Annual Business Meeting
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Annual Luncheon Table Discussion - Slowing Down: Nearing Retirement
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Award Winners 2013
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Quick Tips: Working with your Boss
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Meet your Leadership - Bios & Goals for Executive & Committee Leaders
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
We are continuing to fund raise for financial support for the consensus conference. We appreciate any networking and assistance members can provide in helping us attain our $114,000 budget goal. See page 12 for details.
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AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
President’s Column
An Update from the Annual Business Meeting By Esther Choo, MD, MPH
Greetings! I am honored to step up to the role of AWAEM President this year. I hope I can make our academy as much a source of inspiration and encouragement for you as it has been for me over the past four years. I have been preceded by three amazing women: Kathleen Clem, who served as the founding president and established our committees and major activities; Stephanie Abbuhl, who expanded our networking and scholarly activities and recruited highly engaged committee chairs; and Gloria Kuhn, whose creativity led us to explore our ability to support women faculty in a wide variety of ways. Each with very distinct personalities, these three women also share many core qualities: they derive great joy in celebrating the talents and successes of women in academic EM; they are generous and thoughtful mentors and outspoken advocates of women faculty; and they love to nurture the creativity and energies of others. I thought I’d start off the year in direct imitation of these role models by celebrating our successes, emphasizing the mentorship and advocacy functions of AWAEM, and highlighting our latest crop of AWAEM leaders. Celebrating Some AWAEM Successes… AWAEM had a wonderful – and very full – program of events at SAEM in Atlanta last month. A few notables were: ✤ A rich didactic program. AWAEM members presented a mini-
mentorship session with faculty presenting a variety of topics related to academic success, including selecting a practice setting, effective networking, and building an educator’s portfolio. AWAEM also organized didactics related to gender-specific EM: videos of our didactics on methodologic approaches to genderspecific research and men’s health in EM are available online at http://www.saem.org/meetings/future-dates/2014. ✤ A new taskforce. One of the most exciting things to come out
of the meeting was a taskforce dedicated to the needs of senior faculty in academic emergency medicine. What started out as a lunchtime discussion group on “Slowing Down Your Career” (see Gloria Kuhn’s summary, page #3) generated a vibrant, fascinating conversation that made us realize that there was a great void in knowledge about shaping the senior stage of an academic career, particularly for women. Since all the participants of this group couldn’t stop talking anyway, we made it official and created a new Senior Faculty Taskforce, which will be chaired by Sandra Schneider. ✤ Momentum Awards. The over-the-top accomplishments and
dedication of several of our committee members were celebrated by an internal “Momentum Award.” Inaugural winners of this award were Kinjal Sethuraman (Awards Committee), Stacey Poznanski (Communications Committee), and Alyson McGregor (SAEM Meeting Initiatives Committee). See photos page 6.
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AWAEM gives back. It gives me the energy I need to do everything else. -Esther Choo President, AWAEM Focus on Mentorship and Advocacy You may recall that the AWAEM Member Survey was circulated through the list serve in March. About half of our membership participated. Highlights from the survey were presented at the AWAEM Business Meeting and are included in this newsletter (see page #6). From a menu of potential answers, most participants chose mentorship and advocacy for women in EM as the most important functions of AWAEM, with career advice a distant third choice. These responses have shaped our agenda for the upcoming year. We have placed a high priority on increasing mentorship opportunities and on advancing our function from facilitating discussion on how institutions can best support women to actively advocating for specific practices (see Committee Goals, pages #9-10). These goals feel like a good fit for AWAEM at this stage, but keep talking: we are listening and will continue soliciting feedback from members to ensure we are doing our best to support the academic careers of our members. Letting Creativity Run Rampant The best way to get you up to speed on AWAEM’s plans for the year, I believe, is to introduce the committee chairs and executive committee for the upcoming academic year and share their goals with you. This diverse group has an amazing enthusiasm for supporting and promoting women in academic EM. I consider my role to cheer them on and provide moral support as their creativity runs rampant. So – read on! And as you read, consider how you might get involved. Whether you are a medical student, resident, or faculty member, feel free to contact me or any of the committee chairs to join a committee or to provide fresh suggestions for AWAEM events or programs.
AWAEM is meant to be an opportunity for women in academic EM to meet, support and inspire each other. Simply by joining and participating, you advance the academy’s mission and make it a better resource for your colleagues.
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.” Patti Digh
Annual Luncheon Table Discussion Summary Slowing Down: Nearing Retirement By Gloria Kuhn, DO
Esther Choo, President of AWAEM requested that members of AWAEM who have been involved in leadership positions in academics and leadership be assembled to discuss the topic of ‘slowing down’ towards the end of a successful career. Members of the group included Diane Birnbaumer, Michelle Biros, Michelle Blanda , Kathleen Clem, Gloria Kuhn (Moderator) , Libby Nestor (Recorder), Sandy Schneider, and Ellen Weber. In the discussion it became apparent that each of the members had been thinking about this issue and all had realized that this was uncharted territory with no guides, recommendations, or suggestions as to how to gracefully transition to a new reality. As Sandra Schneider noted, “we are the first cohort of women emergency physicians facing retirement. We will, whether we wish it or not, be the role
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models for women emergency physicians who will shortly be contemplating transitions in their careers, such as slowing down, changing careers or retiring. We must get this right. We must be the trailblazers for this new phase of career.” Rather than being daunting, this statement both focused the group to the challenge of providing thoughtful comments based on experience, surveying women emergency physicians facing the same issue, and reviewing the literature on this topic. It also energized these women, used to being high-achievers, to tackle a new challenge. This article will report the results of their discussion and plans for future activities by this group. Continued on next page...
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Annual Luncheon Table Discussion Summary: Slowing Down: Nearing Retirement, continued Uncertainty: Concerns and Questions Each of us, perhaps for the first time, is facing uncertainty regarding the future. Few fields are as structured as the career of medicine. College, medical school, and residency training are all highly structured. The uncertainty points of admission to medical school and choosing residency training fade away once acceptance has occurred; there are long periods of time where hard work focused on the desire to succeed supplant the need to examine the future. We realized that this might be the first time in our lives when we ask ourselves: ‘what do WE want to do? What are our goals? What will make us happy’ instead of, ‘What is possible, given the constraints of academic medicine?’ We felt that we were different than career-focused men whose identity is often tied to their careers and successes. But that may not be true. It’s a real paradigm shift for us - prior to this, job transitions meant moving UP from one position to the next, now we are contemplating ‘moving down or out’. Our practice and our involvement in academics continue to be very compelling to us. Are our jobs and personal identities inextricably intertwined? If that is so, how do we manage that unknown period of ‘after retirement’ or will retirement result in a loss of identity and a feeling of irrelevance? One member acknowledged that leaving clinical work and ‘leaving the white coat in the closet’ was a frightening prospect. For women, accepting the reality of being a doctor, of internalizing the identity of being a physician is often harder and takes longer than it does for men. At the beginning of our careers we were breaking into a male-dominated profession that even questioned our very right and capacity to become competent physicians; men did not face these questions. Yet, perhaps all physicians fear the white coat in the closet syndrome; certainly all of us at the table acknowledged discomfort at the thought of not practicing clinically. Not Just About Us For those of us with partners or spouses, their transition is equally fraught with uncertainty. It may also be more complicated as we try to mesh the change in our status/job with a change in location that will ‘mesh’ with what our spouse/ significant other is planning and needs in order to make the transition to this new reality a satisfying experience. And the
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transition for them and us depends a lot on financial planning that may or may not have begun many years ago. This led us to the acknowledgement that not all women physicians who will soon be retiring are equal financially. Not all are the Same Many of the discussants, but not all, came from institutions that had provided them with retirement plans that gave them financial options to fully retire if they chose that path. They also acknowledged that they were well known, allowing them to find new or different jobs in academics that might not be as stressful as what they were currently doing. Some, in fact most women in EM, don’t have a national reputation, nor the same range of options. Chairs may be looking to ease out the older, top dollar emergency physicians (in academic and non-academic settings) who are less and less interested in nights and may work at a slower pace. Many women and men EPs, lacking a paid faculty position in academics, (i.e. at a university or academic medical center) do not have defined pension benefits /health insurance options or benefits. The financial resources that will allow a comfortable lifestyle after retirement may be lacking or inadequate. It was pointed out that it is almost two separate problems: the older clinical female or male EP in a community setting with some academic responsibilities might be exchanging / reducing academic, administrative and outside activities, only to find herself, of necessity, in the more physically taxing job of shift work as a result of financial necessity. Alternatives We don’t want to give up all of our academic work and continue just working ED shifts, since we don’t want to be immediately irrelevant to the academic discussion. Indeed, we consider ourselves to be the ‘brain-trusts’ of our departments, not smarter but with longer institutional memory by virtue of being there longer. But how do our chairs afford to keep us on solely as teachers? Parenthetically, if we don’t work shifts will we be marginalized in teaching due to loss of credibility? We also agreed that Chairs should be encouraging/finding the new leaders among younger faculty. As painful as it might be, we need to make room for, and even welcome, new leaders who will replace us.
Methods of ‘slowing down’ Some might limit new projects that can be completed in a shorter time frame. Others will give up intense and stressful administrative positions to concentrate on research, perhaps becoming the director of research or the director of education. This provides a defined job and duties but is less stressful than being responsible for leadership of the department as chair. Departmental Practices Some departments have begun to create alternative tracks for physicians as they age while others have not. • U. of New Mexico: retired people work 25% of the standard number of shifts, while getting paid 50% of their prior salary, indefinitely. • Wayne State University: At Wayne, a similar arrangement is made, but can go on for 2 years only and is limited to those with tenure. • UCSF: Many academic faculty have pensions and negotiated ways to reduce shift responsibility, but lose their ‘protected time’. At UCSF, for example, the standard shift load is 14/month; older academic EPs can work 8 shifts and get half-time salary and benefits, but very little ‘protected time’ for research, admin etc. • Brown: Some academic places (Brown, for example) have only 401-type plans and no defined method to step down. • LAC: At LA County, anything less than a 100% load = NO benefits Someone who retires from there can get full benefits indefinitely, encouraging retirement more than ‘slowing down’; some might choose retirement and then work shifts someplace else or take a completely different job in another academic department. That may be a loss to the original department. • SUMA/Akron: Some groups have anticipated the problem, and although during the first 4 years at SUMMA/Akron new faculty are paid less, after 4 years all receive the same salary, so the senior physician is not unduly disadvantaging the junior faculty. There was no discussion of how the department handles a retirement package, provision of benefits, or benefits post retirement. • Loma Linda: At Loma Linda, no full professors work nights, whatever their age. (That is the current agreement, though that group notes it is an arrangement that might not be feasible over time.) Completion of article on Page 8.
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Award Winners - 2013 Congratulations! Resident Award Laura Medford-Davis, MD
Early Career Award Resee Hsai, MD, MsC
Research Award Debra Houry, MD, MPH
Residency: Baylor College of Medicine
Assistant Clinical Professor III University of California San Francisco
Associate Professor Emory University
Future plans: Final year of residency, fellowship in health policy
“…Dr. Medford-Davis has demonstrated excellence as a respected leader in areas of academic EM including clinical care, emergency administration, research and patient advocacy…Because of her initiative and responsibility, the administration team entrusted her during her intern year with the large task of updating the entire emergency center operational procedures and guidelines for a level I trauma center…” - Angela Fisher, MD
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Primary Research Interest: Intimate Partner Violence “Among the many junior faculty members I have mentored over the years, she stands out in her dedication, intellect, and productivity. Dr. Hsia’s accomplishments are particularly exceptional given that she graduated from residency just five years ago.” – Michael Callaham, MD
“Dr. Houry has been the Principal Investigator on federally funded grants totaling over $7 million and has authored more than 70 peer-reviewed publications on injury prevention and violence prevention to date…Deb has been highly successful as a clinician, teacher and researcher. She has a remarkable ability to connect with people from various perspectives and backgrounds and encourage them to work together” – Kate Heilpern, MD
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Momentum Award Winners - 2013 Congratulations! Awards Kinjal Sethuraman, MD
Communications Stacey Poznanski, DO
SAEM Meeting Initiatives Alyson McGregor, MD
Member Survey Highlights ...and Raffle Winner!
AWAEM raffled off an Amazon.com gift card to those who participated in the Member Survey sent out in March. The winner was Faith Quenzer, a third year medical student at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. Faith has been a member of SAEM since the spring of 2011, when she served on the medical student Program Committee for the SAEM annual meeting in Boston. She is interested in EM research: she has already published a case report on a patient who presented with thyrotoxicosis and ventricular arrhythmias in American Journal of Emergency Medicine and is working on a review on bath salt toxicity and a paper on aortic stenosis. She is currently the Vice President for AAEM - Resident Student Association, Medical School Council.
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AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
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Quick Tips Working with your Chair By Esther Choo, MD, MPH
I attended a “Career Success” panel at Brown University that included a "working with your chair" session. Below are a few tips I learned, in no particular order: • There is no "typical" path to academic success -- make an individualized plan for yourself. • "Lean in" / "step up"- consider leadership roles and how they can be modified to fit your life - don't assume that home responsibilities, etc., make you ineligible. • Take advantage of leadership training & skills development programs so when leadership opportunities arise, you are ready. • Clarify with your supervisor: What are the metrics of success? (that determine promotion, raise, bonus, etc.) • Come into a negotiation with as much objective data as possible, and with common goals; frame your goals around shared goals. • Make your boss / your mentor your collaborator in your success. • Do not feel guilty about taking advantage of benefits available to you (paid leave, etc.) - they are there for you. • Have the courage to call out bias when you see it (can be tough when you are the only one of your subgroup). • Use your usual personality style to approach topics needing change - collaboration, humor, etc. Stay positive and constructive. Aggressive techniques may backfire. • Have a well crafted, short answer prepared for the question "What are your career goals?" • Learn how to say no EARLY so you don't disappoint by not following through, but if you make a commitment, honor it. • Note upcoming "silver tsunamis" at your institution - a good opportunity to consider what leadership roles may work for you. • DON'T WAIT until there's a CRISIS to meet with your chair; they will start to dread when you set up a meeting. Have a regular, productive, SHORT meeting that is just a check-in. • Don't assume your chair knows what's going on with you. Keep them updated so that you can come to mind when opportunities arise. • Arrive prepared: consider bringing handouts or a list of todo items. • Make sure your chair knows about your accomplishments, but be sure to make your needs clear as well. • Things you can ask for: title, money, space, time (title is the easiest). • When asking for money, be specific. Lay out aims and determine metrics for successful use of the money; set times for reevaluation and re-funding rather than whole lump sum at once. Evaluate where your salary is compared to what your activities are. Recognize that everybody is asking for more money.
• Think of your space needs early. This requires planning. For grants, space should be commensurate with indirects, otherwise, be flexible and consider creative solutions. • Time: The way you spend your time and distribute your effort may change incrementally over time. Always think of this balance, and work on it. Do NOT feel guilty about discharging roles that you picked up early on that no longer fit with your interests and goals. Transition these to junior faculty. • The chair/vice chair's perspective: Is this a selfish request or does it serve the department's needs? Will the resources benefit the individual only or the whole group? What proportion of total resources will this request take up? Has this faculty member delivered in the past? • Be mindful that resources are limited. Be realistic and acknowledge the constraints. • Go in with one main agenda item - you can't negotiate the kitchen sink. • Be prepared to negotiate. Know what is ideal and what you can jettison. Be transparent about this; don't make requests all or nothing and don't give up if the first answer is no. • DON'T WHINE -- have a plan, not just a problem. • DON’T WHINE – this was said multiple times in many ways. Seems to be a pet peeve of division heads and chairs. • Express appreciation when you do get what you want. • Follow up meetings with a brief email summarizing action items. • Follow up with your successes, how you have followed through. • As a department - think of how resources are distributed fairly. • What does the department need from its faculty? Be a partner in the success of the department. Be a risk taker, an early adopter. Come with solution or options, be a problem solver. Know how you are supposed to be productive and demonstrate productivity in that realm. • Don't internalize the "no"s - it's not about you! It's usually about other constraints. Be resilient. Think of it like a journal or grant rejection, consider it a no for NOW, maybe a yes later. • If your chair is aware of your goals and responsibilities, it is easier to have a conversation about not accepting additional / irrelevant commitments.
The most difficult thing in any negotiation, almost, is making sure that you strip it of the emotion and deal with the facts. Howard Baker
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Annual Luncheon: Slowing Down, cont’d Some departments are modifying types of work/shifts: Some groups modify the shifts that senior physicians do while others are beginning to question how or if work should be modified: • Senior physicians are, for example, the most experienced people to have at Triage, to decide on ‘sick/not sick’, in a blink. • Should departments stop senior physicians from doing certain shifts that have higher acuity or volume? Should they be prevented from doing certain procedures i.e. inserting central lines? How does this impact the physician who resents this curtailment of practice and is this even legal? • Are senior doctors those we should utilize for our OBS shifts? The senior physician might be the perfect doctor to finish a prolonged work-up, arrange transition to other settings or continue to treat the asthma/COPD until discharge home. This would free up Urgent Area beds by placing those patients needing short term care into our 24/7 intensive treatment area. • Are they the doctors to do follow up visits in a hospital area for the patient with no doctor, or the patient whose doctor can’t see them on the weekends?
new career may be difficult. How difficult is it to become a consultant or a job coach? Should a senior physician consider employing a job coach/ headhunter to aid in their own transition to retirement or new job/career? A new job may not be the answer. In another institution, you need to ‘prove yourself’ all over again and how eager are doctors at the new shop to welcome an older EP who may be slower due to new systems and age, not to mention the question of Staying or Leaving working a fair share of nights. How The advantage of staying in one’s own institution is that the territory is ‘known’, eager would another department be to create a position for an aging physician? the system is familiar and available What is fair? For example, do we make niches have been explored and entered. the newly retired Chair who loses Colleagues have become friends. Our academic funding, do 14-15 shifts/ practice is very compelling to us, and in month? Can they do this even if they EM we tend to have more interaction with colleagues working at the same time want to in order to retain their job? - it is a practice characterized by Looking at the Future camaraderie, and may be more difficult As we neared the end of our discussion to leave than an office-based practice. we questioned just how different is our There are also down sides to leaving. In situation from men and women in many fields facing the nearing of retirement. order to leave, one needs the energy involved in updating or restricting a CV, Perhaps we are just the newest constituency to begin to voice our imagining the possible options for new careers, learning new skills, and perhaps concerns/needs/opportunities regarding a facing rejection or failure. Starting a
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“We must get this right. We must be the trailblazers for this new phase of career.” Sandra Schneider
meaningful change in career related to retirement. At the end of our discussion time, which ended all too soon, we agreed to form a taskforce to look at these issues. It really does not matter if many before us have faced these or similar questions and decisions. Nor does it matter if gender is not as much of an issue as we thought at the beginning of the discussion. What does matter is that all members of AWAEM will be involved in this decision making process at some point in their career. Esther Choo has supported our desire to form a taskforce with Sandra Schneider as leader. For us, just talking about the issues, realizing that we all had similar questions and uncertainties, and knowing that we will be facing them together is both invigorating and comforting. *Article approved by members of the discussion group.
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
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Meet the Leadership
Executive Committee & Committee Chairs 2013-2014 President: Esther Choo, MD MPH Brown University (esther_choo@brown.edu, Twitter @choo_ek) Brief intro: I’m research faculty studying substance abuse, partner violence, and gender differences. I help run the Brown EM Division of Women’s Health in Emergency Care. I have a 5-year old son and 1 year-old twins: don’t mention work-life balance right now. Goals: To nurture and grow the accomplishments of our committees and taskforces. To improve the range and depth of networking and mentorship available within AWAEM and work to establish recommended institutional “best practices” to support and nurture the careers of women in academic EM. To support the success of the 2014 Consensus Conference on Gender-specific Research in Emergency Medicine.
Secretary: Kinjal Sethuraman, MD MPH, University of Maryland (kinjal.sethuraman@gmail.com) Brief intro: I’m faculty at UMD and associate director of the Hyperbaric medicine program at R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. I have two adorable kids: Avi is 6 and Shanthi is 4. My husband is EM faculty at UMD as well. I relax by sewing and cooking. Goals: Serve as Secretary on the AWAEM executive committee; provide support to the Awards program, which I chaired for the past 2 years.
Member-at-Large: Jeannette Wolfe, MD, Baystate Medical Center (jeannettewolfe@yahoo.com) Brief intro: I am core faculty at Baystate with a President-Elect: Sue Watts, PhD, Texas Tech focus on gender differences in communication, University Health Sciences Center conflict resolution and leadership development. I (susan.watts@ttuhsc.edu) have a 15-year old son and 12 year daughter and Brief intro: I am the Research Director for the love chocolate and martial arts (everyone needs a safe place to Department of EM, supporting and facilitating the kick and scream!) scholarly activities of both residents and attendings. Goals: Continue to develop strong programming and expand My doctorate is in Ecology and Evolution, so I have different AWAEM’s reach to better meet the needs of women in academic perspective on the world than most EM faculty. I have 3 grown emergency medicine children and 1 grandchild. Goals: I want to keep the AWAEM momentum growing. We Chair: Stacey Poznanski, DO have built something special over the last 4 years and we can Wright State University make it even better. (stacey.poznanski@gmail.com; Twitter @StaceyPoz) Immediate Past-President: Gloria Kuhn, DO, Brief intro: I am the UME Director for EM with a PhD strong interest in presentation design and Wayne State University, Detroit, MI curriculum reform. I have an 18 month old daughter and very (gkuhn@med.wayne.edu) supportive husband who make each day brighter than the last. Brief intro: I am Professor of Emergency Goals: See Communications Committee, next page Medicine at Wayne State University. My professional interests include faculty development, improving AAEM-RSA Resident Member-at-Large: Meaghan Mercer, MD, teaching of medical students and residents, and promoting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (mercer.meaghan@gmail.com) position of women in emergency medicine. Brief intro: I am an emergency medicine resident in Las Vegas Goals: To support the new President in continuing and growing and the current president of the American Academy of AWAEM’s mission. Emergency Medicine Resident and Student Association. I love adrenaline-inducing activities and my goal of residency is to not Treasurer: Dara Kass, MD end up in my own trauma bay! Staten Island University Hospital Goals: I will continue to promote the development of women in (darakass@gmail.com, Twitter @darakass) our profession and foster the relationship between AWAEM and Brief intro: I am an Assistant Residency AAEM/RSA. Director at SIUH with academic interests in EMRA Resident Member-at-Large: Ije Akunyili, work life balance and retention policies related MD, The University of Texas Health Science to life events. In my own life, I have 3 kids, 5, 3 and 1, who are Center at Houston (iakunyili@gmail.com) totally awesome and adorable and a husband who is most Brief intro: I am a graduating EM Resident at definitely not a physician. UTHealth and also the Vice-Speaker of the Goals: To work on an active collaboration with the other EM EMRA council. Between my residency and advocacy schedules I professional womens’ groups (AAWEP, EMRA) to develop am mum to an 8 year old daughter and 5 year old son. industry recommendations on wellness policies for EM doctors. Goals: To serve as a liaison with the EMRA Board.
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Meet the Leadership
Executive Board & Committee Chairs 2013-2014 Awards Chair: Jennifer Saltzberg, MD University of Maryland (jenny_moyna@yahoo.com) Goals: Nurture our established awards program so that it continues to recognize the top physicians in our field; develop new awards that will recognize the varied accomplishments of women in academic EM. Communications Chair: Stacey Poznanski, DO Contact info and Intro (see previous page) Goals: Continue to provide diverse and quality content for the newsletter; explore the best means of staying in close communication with our entire membership, including growth of our web/social media presence. International EM Taskforce Chair: Bhakti Hansoti, MD Johns Hopkins University (Bhakti.Hansoti@gmail.com; Twitter @bhaktihansoti) Brief intro: I am an International Emergency Medicine Fellow at Johns Hopkins. I recently received a Fogarty award and will be working in South Africa evaluating the implementation of a modified pediatric triage tool in acute care environments in low resource settings. I am early in my career and want to learn about the balance needed to gain success in life and academics. Goals: Expand and strengthen AWAEM’s social media platform. Create and grow an academic home for women interested in a career in global health. Membership Co-Chair: Judy Linden, MD, Boston Medical Center (jlinden@bu.edu) Brief intro: I am Vice Chair for Education at Boston Medical Center. My research interests include sexual violence, violence against women and resident education. I have 3 children, aged 7 to 13 and 1 dog. Goals: Increase the number of programs participating in AWAEM, as well as the number of total members. We are hoping that each member can engage at least 1 or 2 friends to join this year. Medical Student and Resident Initiatives Chair: Michelle Lall, MD, Emory (michelledlall@gmail.com) Goals: To identify and expand needed programs for student and resident members of AWAEM; to encourage students and residents to join and be more involved in AWAEM.
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Co-Chair: Neha Raukar, MD, Brown University (nraukar@gmail.com) Brief intro: I am Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Sports Medicine at Brown; my academic interests are the consequences of concussion in the studentathlete, concussion in the trauma patient and gender differences in orthopedic and sports medicine. I serve on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Concussion in Youth Sports. Goals: To increase membership by 50%. Regional Mentorship Chair: Angela Fisher, MD, Baylor College of Medicine (afishermd@gmail.com) Brief intro: I am Associate Chief for Operations and Public Affairs at Baylor’s Emergency Center. Goals: 1. Increase visibility and awareness of AWAEM, 2. Increase membership recruitment and organizational engagement in AWAEM, 3. Provide direct involvement in organizational leadership on local, state and national levels and 4. Provide mentorship connections and networking for all members. Research Chair: Basmah Safdar, MD, Yale University (basmah.safdar@yale.edu) Brief intro: Gender-specific researcher in cardiovascular disease with focus on chest pain and microvascular disease. I co-Chair the Yale Heart and Vascular Chest Pain Center. Goals: In partnership with AWAEM, to see the 2014 AEM Consensus Conference on Gender-Specific Research become successful in creating a new research agenda for our field. To help generate scholarship and to open avenues for networking and mentorship. SAEM Meeting Initiatives Chair: Tracy Madsen, Brown University (Tracy_Madsen@brown.edu) Brief intro: I'm completing a research fellowship in the Division of Women's Health in Emergency Care at Brown, studying gender differences in both stroke and sepsis. I'm also working clinically as an ED attending at Brown and completing a Master's Degree in Clinical and Translational Research. Goals: To design didactics that meet the wide range of needs and interests of women in academic EM. To facilitate and promote mentorship between residents/fellows/junior faculty and our experienced academic faculty. Continued on next page.
AWAEM AWARENESS May-June, 2013
Meet the Leadership
Executive Board & Committee Chairs 2013-2014 Senior Faculty Taskforce Chair: Sandra Schneider, MD University of Rochester Goals: To define the needs of female faculty at the end of their careers; to propose AWAEM resources to support senior faculty; to work with the AWAEM Meeting Initiatives Committee to create SAEM programs for senior faculty.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
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Wellness & Best Practices Co-Chairs: Dara Kass, MD, Staten Island University Hospital (darakass@gmail.com, Twitter @darakass), Wendy Wooley, DO, Albany Medical College (woollew@mail.amc.edu), Lisa Moreno-Walton, MD, Louisiana State University (lwalto@lsuhsc.edu) Goals: To work with a broad spectrum of stakeholders to identify priority areas in which to establish “best practice� recommendations for organizations to help them recruit, retain and promote women in academic emergency medicine.
2014 SAEM Consensus Conference: Gender-Specific Emergency Medicine How YOU can get INVOLVED? Are you a medical student, resident or new SAEM member interested in learning how gender affectsthe patients you see in the Emergency Department? Are you planning on attending the SAEM Annual Meeting 2014 in Dallas, Texas? The 2014 SAEM Consensus Conference is a great opportunity to get involved! Prior to SAEM, national leaders in Gender Emergency Medicine will be convening at the annual SAEM conference to review the current literature in Gender-‐Specific Emergency Care in order to address and answer important research questions and to establish the field’s future research priorities. The main subgroups at this conference include: 1. Cardiovascular /Resuscitation 2. Cerebrovascular 3. Trauma/Injury/Sports 4. Substance abuse 5. Trauma 6. Mental Health 7. Diagnostic Imaging How you can get involved? There will be multiple roles for medical students, residents and junior faculty in the running of both the overall consensus conference and the breakout sessions. Some examples include being a scribe for the consensus process, organizing the tele-‐ conferences for the team leaders, doing extensive literature search on the assigned topic etc. The experience will allow you to participate in the conference, work closely with some of the leading experts in our field and help build your CV. Volunteers will have a formal role on the conference planning committee and receive a certificate of appreciation from Academic Emergency Medicine. For those who will participate more actively in manuscript preparation, there may be an opportunity for authorship.
SO….what are you waiting for? Choose one of the subgroups and Join in TODAY. For further information, contact Tracy Madsen at WHEC@lifespan.org or visit our website.
Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, 2340 S. River Road, Suite 208, Des Plaines, Illinois 60018 Ph: 847 813-‐9823 x. 203 Fax to 847-‐813-‐5450. Visit us at Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/GenderEM) or Follow us at Twitter #GenderEM http://www.saem.org/meetings/future-‐dates/2014