November-December, 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.
Table of Contents Oh, How Times Have Changed - A Personal Account of Women’s Growth in Medicine
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Today, We Will Make A Difference - Christiana Care Women’s Group
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AWAEM Awards - It’s Time for Nominations!
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Featured Women in Academic EM - Dara Kass, MD
Available Committees
What’s Your New Year’s Resolution?? Please send your professional or personal New Year’s Resolution to AWAEMNews@gmail.com. We will post them in the next Newsletter! We are making continued efforts on improving our communication to you during the downtime necessary for improvements to the SAEM and Academy websites. (We promise that we are getting closer!)
Any questions or feedback sent to this address will be forwarded to your leaders for a quick response.
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AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
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"It is not easy to be a pioneer, but oh, it is fascinating! I would not trade one moment, even the worst moment, for all the riches in the world.” -Elizabeth Blackwell
Oh, How Times Have Changed
A Personal Account of Women’s Growth in Medicine By Gloria Kuhn, DO
It was a time when men went to work or college to become doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, or architects. Women stayed home to have babies, raise children, do laundry, and clean house. Television advertisements showed women in shirtwaist dresses and high heels mopping floors but looking unhappy because the floor did not look as clean or shiny as they wished. When the advertisement told them of a new product to make the floor look bright and shiny they then used the new detergent and a happy smile came to their faces. If women did go to college it was to obtain a husband and get what was facetiously known as the “MRS.” Degree. They became teachers or nurses with the expectation that they would work after graduation to support their new husbands as they finished their training and started exciting careers. After that, the woman would stay home and have babies, raise children, do laundry, and clean house. At the age of 13, I announced that I wanted to be a doctor. I was lucky; my family did not tell me I couldn’t become a doctor because I was a girl who should become a nurse or teacher and then get married and have babies etc . Instead, they thought that was a great idea. At the age of 15, I knew that I didn’t want to be Mrs. X, wife of Mr. X and mother of 2.5 children named X. I wanted to me, whoever that was. At the age of 22, I was married to someone who thought it was great that I wanted to be a doctor. He even bragged about it to his friends. There were four women in my class and about 80 men who were angry because four women had kept four men out of medical school. After we all got to know each other, I actually made friends with some of the men although they continued to feel sorry for my husband who had the misfortune to be married to a medical student. Ironically, none of them felt sorry for their wives who were married to medical students. They told me that most women, who went to medical school either dropped out because it was too much work or married a medical student, never did an internship or residency and stayed home to have babies, raise children, do laundry, and hire someone to clean a big house. I wanted to be respected for my knowledge and abilities to care for patients, perhaps as a reaction to the low expectations all of the male medical students had for “us girls”. Over the next years, the four of us did win an acknowledgement from the men that we could indeed learn medicine and I was told by several one
day, “I could be a doctor and really practice medicine because two of the attending physicians were women. One was even a highly respected teacher of pediatrics., This was, of course, balanced by Dr. Y, (a woman), a psychiatrist, and an “idiot.” Therefore, there was no guarantee that I, or any of the other women, would be good doctors. There was never any doubt that all the men would be “knowledgeable, competent, and wonderful doctors saving humanity from many ills.“ I never found out if they continued to mourn over the tragedy of the four men who lost their chance to be “knowledgeable, competent and wonderful doctors saving humanity from many ills” because we took their places in medical school. I did graduate from medical school and because I was already married and didn’t need to quit to stay home happily married, I applied for an internship. I met Dr. Harvey Orth, through a mutual friend. He was a truly wonderful man who didn’t seem to mind my being a woman and may not have even noticed. He talked me into applying to the hospital in which he practiced obstetrics and I was accepted. I later found out that there was an argument among the members of the training committee because I was a girl and there were no locker rooms or sleeping quarters for women. They hired me any way (possibly because only eight men applied and they wanted nine interns). There were nine of us interns or as one intern put it, “eight interns and one woman.” The nurses gave me a locker in their locker room. I solved the issue of the sleeping quarters by using the men’s sleeping room and putting the sheet over my head if some man came in to change into scrubs while I was in bed. I never mentioned my solution so all of us were happy. After internship, I worked briefly as a family physician but my real love was emergency medicine. I was accepted into one of the first emergency medicine residency programs in Detroit, Michigan. Brooks Bock, who was program director, offered me a position and I was thrilled. Both he and the Chair, Ron Krome didn’t care if I was a woman. They really did seem to be “gender-blind.” That was not true of my senior resident on my surgery rotation. He was furious that he had a woman, “a contract doc” as emergency medicine doctors were known, and to cap off the fiasco, I was an osteopath. Could things get any worse? See remainder of article on page 6.
AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
Today, We Will Make a Difference.
Christiana Care Women’s Group - Newark, DE By Leila Getto, MD
This recurring section highlights programs around the country dedicated to making a difference to women in their communities. If you know of such a program, please contact Stacey Poznanski, DO or Leila Getto, MD and we will proudly share your stories and efforts with others.
Despite the many available opportunities for career growth and leadership in Emergency Medicine, women are still a minority in upper level positions. All too often, women fail to realize their own full potential or lack adequate guidance to promote their strengths. In addition, women’s many roles outside of the ED are inherently different from those of males, often creating a proverbial “juggling act” of balancing work, career goals, family and other commitments. As the percentage of women EM residents grows to almost 50%, there is still little or no formal education or guidance within these academic programs to help women learn how to balance the many possible roles of the female Emergency Medicine physician. The Christiana Care EM Women’s Group consists of EM faculty, residents and physician assistants dedicated to that very task. The group meets approximately four times per year in a comfortable setting, often at an attending’s home, to discuss specific career management techniques, hear guest speakers cover relevant topics promoting career growth and leadership, and
provide mentorship to female residents supplementing the formal mentorship within the EM program. Past guest speakers include Linda Lawrence, Mary Jo Wagner and Michelle Biros, who all led outstanding discussions about how they have simultaneously succeeded in their high impact careers and balanced their lives outside of work. The group has also reached out locally to other departments at Christiana Care by inviting the female chair of our Internal Medicine department to share her experiences. Another fascinating session was one held by Sharon Hake, the founder of “Great Dames,” an organization that provides services and opportunities for women to enhance their personal and professional leadership abilities. Since the group’s inception in 2005, there has been a positive and noticeable difference in the number of democratically elected female chief residents, an increase in the number of female residents who are hired as faculty at Christiana, and a stronger bond between female attendings and female residents. As a result, the residency program has recognized the value of the group and now provides funding for the meetings. If you are interested in learning more about this Women in Medicine group, or how to apply some of these ideas at your program, feel free to email Heather Farley, MD, Associate Chair, Department of EM at hfarley@christianacare.org.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” ~Anne Frank
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AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
AWAEM Awards
It’s Time for Nominations! By Kinjal Sethuraman, MD
AWAEM Research Award Description: Recognizes a faculty member whose outstanding efforts and achievements have promoted the research in women’s health in Emergency Medicine. Efforts to be recognized are: advancement of women’s health and women’s issues through research. The accomplishments of the winner of this award should have had significant impact on advancing knowledge about women’s health issues as they relate to emergency medicine. Eligibility criteria: 1) Female Emergency Medicine physician 2) Faculty in a U.S. academic Emergency Medicine department 3) Current SAEM Membership Selection criteria: Nominees should have: 1) Demonstrated dedication to EM research and women’s health. 2) Multiple publications and lectures on women’s health issues. Required Documentation: 1)Nominee’s CV 2)Nomination letter explaining why the candidate merits the award. Nomination letter may be submitted by former or current colleagues, mentees, or employers. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. 3)Letter of recommendation from department chair or research director. If nominator is the chair or research director one letter addressing #2 & 3 may suffice. Other supporting documentation, such as additional letters of support from mentees, is optional and will be reviewed by the awards committee on a time-available basis.
AWAEM Early Career Faculty Award Description: To honor an early career female faculty who has 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 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)
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These annual awards will be presented at the AWAEM Luncheon held during the 2012 Annual SAEM Meeting in Chicago. Recipients are not required to be present to accept their award.
Submit all materials electronically to Kinjal Sethuraman at ksethuraman@umm.edu Deadline for all Nominations: February 15, 2012, 5 pm EST 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 Required Documentation: 1) Nominee’s CV 2) Nomination letter. Nomination letter may be submitted by former or current colleagues, mentors, mentees, or employers. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. 3) Letter of support from chair or mentor. If nominator is the chair, one letter addressing #2 & 3 may suffice. 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.
AWAEM Resident Award Description: To honor a female resident who has 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. Eligibility: 1) Female EM resident in good standing at an ACGMEaccredited or AOA-approved residency program Selection criteria: 1) Evidence of achievements, innovation, and dedication in academic Emergency Medicine, whether through education, research, advocacy, or administration. Required Documentation: 1) Nominee’s CV 2) Nomination letter. Nomination letter may be submitted by former or current colleagues, mentors, mentees, or employers. Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged. 3) Letter of support from residency director. If nominator is the residency director one letter addressing #2 & 3 may suffice. 4) Letter of support from another resident(s). 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.
AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
Featured Women in Academic EM Dara Kass, MD By Esther Choo, MD
In each issue of the AWAEM newsletter this year, we will profile women in academic emergency medicine who inspire us, whether through scholarly work, leadership, mentorship and support of other women, modeling of work-life balance, or service in SAEM and other national EM organizations.
Dr. Dara Kass is an Assistant Professor and Assistant Residency Director at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH). Since graduating from SUNY Downstate/Kings County Hospital emergency medicine residency program in 2007, Dr. Kass served as site director for the rotating Kings County EM residents and as Associate Medical Director of the Physician Assistant Program at Wagner College. When SIUH sought to establish a new residency in EM, in 2008, Dr. Kass served on the residency program steering committee; in this role, she has been described as “instrumental” and “critical,” particularly through her contribution of medical education scholarship and curriculum development. In 2009, Dr. Kass was asked to assume the position of Assistant Residency Director at SIUH. Her academic work has also included medical education research and national involvement in CORD, SAEM, and ACEP. Dr. Kass has distinguished herself as an outspoken supporter of women in academic emergency medicine. She advocated for expanded maternity leave for women faculty in the department, arranged for private space for nursing mothers, and ensured that SIUH would have an environment welcoming to female residents. She also designed a curriculum to allow female residents to have safe pregnancies and to take adequate maternity leave. According to the SIUH Program Director, Moshe Weizberg, Dr. Kass has “set the tone for a culture of empathy and understanding for pregnant and nursing women.” Dr. Kass lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two children, Hannah (4 years) and Charlie (2 years).
residents who have “grown up.” This really adds a depth to the job that might not be there if I worked in a community hospital with no residents. I also enjoy the daily and weekly interaction with the residents (whether during a shift or at conference), where I always realize how much more I have to learn.
AWAEM’s questions for Dr. Kass:
What do you do in your downtime? In my downtime I try to be the best wife and mom I can be. Not all that exciting. I don't hike mountains or skydive, I just hang out with my kids, go to bake sales and try and make the most out of random Tuesday afternoons we have together.
What do you like best about your career in academic emergency medicine? The thing I enjoy about academic EM is that it gives my job an annual cycle and a vibrant life separate from the shift work. I know that come July new residents will come, we get to know and work with them, then we start thinking about interviewing, matching our new class and ultimately saying good-bye to
What is your advice for women medical students or residents considering a career in academic emergency medicine? Remember that you can't give 100% of yourself to everything all the time, and it is okay to alternate who (or what) gets that 100% depending on what stage of life you are in. You can try to be the best clinician, not such a great researcher and an okay wife or daughter during your internship and then shift things around as residency progresses. As you become an attending it is okay to give your personal life (marriage, children, hobbies) priority and enjoy the chance to control your own fate for a while. Once you figure out your own balance (and it is different for everyone) realize what you need to make YOU happy and how can you best accomplish that MOST days. Also, try and identify what resources you have that can make it possible to accomplish your goals. For me, those resources include bosses who are supportive of me in particular and women in general, a husband who believes I am happier when I am able to engage in both work and my children, and a nanny who takes great care of my kids and understands that EM docs have crazy lives and schedules. Together we all make this work.
“Dara is very cognizant of her responsibility as a young female ED physician in an academic program. She is a mentor to many of our young female residents, and it is a role that she not only accepts but cherishes.” - Brahim Ardolic, MD Chairman, Department of Emergency Medicine, SIUH
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AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
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Oh, How Times Have Changed By Gloria Kuhn, DO
Continued from page 2. I was really at sea as I began my residency training as I had not trained in a large hospital during my internship and had no idea of what was expected of me in a large trauma center. I told Dr. Krome that I was failing, based on how the senior resident was treating me. Dr. Krome, in my presence, called the senior to ask how I was doing. Interestingly enough, my senior resident told my Chair that “I was doing just fine.” At that point, the worm turned and the senior and I fought our way into a partnership of sorts to take care of the patients on the service. I worked and I learned and the senior resident and I finally came to an understanding. That didn’t mean we were friends but we did develop mutual respect. He finally trusted me enough to let me take call while he went home to sleep. This might have been because I told him if he didn’t leave I would go home to go to sleep, as there was no reason for both of us to be up all night. I also informed the team of residents that if they took one of “my” patients to surgery without me I wouldn’t accept the patient back after surgery. No patient of mine went anywhere without me. I fought my way into a position on the team. I took my turn as SICU resident and as supervisor of the medical students on our service. I knew I had arrived when the Chief of Surgery asked me to switch out of emergency medicine into surgery. For me, it was indeed a high point to be asked. As the years passed, more and more women entered medical school. They demonstrated the ability to gain the knowledge and skills needed to be really good doctors. They entered all of the medical specialties and many became very prominent. Today, there is no question about whether women can be superb physicians; it is an accepted fact. There is still work to be done because women lag behind men in promotions at medical schools despite being teachers who have received teaching awards, performed research, obtained grants, and published in peer reviewed journals. I believe that in the future, women academicians will receive the same degree of acceptance in medical schools that I and other women have received as doctors. They need to keep fighting for the recognition that is owed to them as a result of their activities and accomplishments. They also need to remember that many men are gender-blind and that others, even if not gender-blind, will treat them fairly and will support and help them to attain their aspirations and dreams. Some men will always be biased and unfair but that is true of some women. Looking back on my career, I encountered gender bias but I also encountered gender-blindness. I was given the opportunity to do it all. Over the years, I did become “me” and I discovered that “me” is a physician, a wife, a teacher, a mother, a mentor, and the recipient of wonderful friendships with bright, dedicated, women and men who practice medicine. Indeed, times are changing.
From our family to yours...
AWAEM AWARENESS November-December, 2011
Available Committees for 2011-2012 Time to get involved! If you are interested in helping with any of these committees, as a member or possibly leadership role, please e-mail the Chair so you can be included. If you do not hear from the Chair within a week (or no Chair is listed) please contact Stephanie Abbuhl (stephane.abbuhl@uphs.upenn.edu) as sometimes messages do get lost in the cyberspace of e-mail land. Membership Chair: Neha Raukar nraukar@gmail.com Co-Chair: Tracy Sanson
AWAEM Guidelines & Policies Chair: Gloria Kuhn gkuhn@med.wayne.edu Co-Chairs: Esther Choo, Sue Watts Awards Chair: Kinjal Sethuraman kinjal.sethuraman@gmail.com Mentor: Michelle Biros E-Communications Chair: Stacey Poznanski stacey.poznanski@gmail.com Co-Chair: Leila Getto Mentor: Gloria Kuhn Medical School Initiatives Chair: Preeti Jois preetijois@ufl.edu Co-Chair: Keme Carter Mentor: Bob Hockberger
Regional Mentoring Chair: Linda Druelinger ldruelin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu Mentor: Kerry Broderick Research Chair: Marna Greenberg: mrgdo@ptd.net Co-Chairs: Esther Choo, Julie Welch
SAEM Meeting Initiatives Chair: Alyson McGregor amcgregormd@gmail.com Co-Chairs: Esther Choo, Preeti Jois, Basmah Safdar, Julie Welch, Jeannette Wolfe AWAEM Development Chair: Maybe You?
“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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