Association of Women Surgeons

Call for 2010 ACS Claude Organ Traveling Fellowship

The ACS Organ Traveling Fellowship is awarded to an outstanding young surgeon so he or she can attend an educational meeting or make an extended visit to an institution of his or her choice, tailored to his or her research interests. Applications are due no later than September 1, 2010. Click here for more information.

AAMC Statistics

The most recent report from AAMC shows that women residents in surgery have reached a critical mass at 32%. Faculty are still lagging behind at 19% overall, with 8% of full professors being women.

The full report is available on the AAMC Website: http://www.aamc.org/members/gwims/statistics/stats09/start.htm

Medical Student and Resident Poster Competition

The 2009 Medical Student winner was Stephanie Chang. Click here for a copy of the winning poster. 
The 2009 Resident Winner was Dr. Jennifer Steiman. Click here to view the winning poster.

Click here for more information on this competition.

Mentorship of Women in Academic Surgery

Click here for a copy of the recent article: "Mentorship program designed to advance women in academic surgery" (Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons - October 2009; Vol 94, Num 10)

Congratulations to 2010 Fellowship Grant Winners

The 2010 AWSF/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. and AWSF/Genomic Health Fellowship Grant Winners have been announced.

Since 1996, the AWSF/Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. Fellowship has supported a number of women surgeons by funding original research in topics of flexible GI endoscopy, laparoscopy, minimal access techniques or related emerging technology. The 2010 winner is Jacqueline S. Jeruss, MD, PhD, of Northwestern University, whose chosen research topic is “Novel Cell Array to Determine Impact of CDK Inhibition on SMAD Signaling in Cyclin Overexpressing Breast Cancer.”

A $25,000 Fellowship grant from Genomic Health was established in 2007. The fellowship is awarded for topics in the area of cancer-related research. Nanette R. Reed, MD, of Mayo Clinic, received the 2010 Fellowship. Her research topic is an “Analysis of Local Genomic Alterations in Bronchioloalveolar Carcinoma and Implications for the Adenocarcinoma Progression Model.”

Congratulations to both winners and thanks to the generous corporate sponsorship of Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. and Genomic Health for their continuing support of women surgeons and such important research.

The call for 2011 Fellowships will be posted in March 2010. Click here for a list of past winners.

General Surgery News Special Report

A Special Report was published in the October 2008 issue of General Surgery News. Supported by a grant from Covidien, the report has some interesting statistics on the role of women in surgery.

Download a copy here: Critical Mass - With the Stakes High, Women May Assume Crucial Role in Surgery's Future

Closing the Gender Gap

The World Economic Forum recently released a report with some interesting data on closing the Gender Gap. Most European countries are way above the USA (#26).


Click here for a copy: The Global Gender Gap Report

Physician Spouse Network and Resources from AWS

Research shows that physicians consider their most toxic stressor is the struggle with work/family balance and its effect on home life. In fact, research shows that even in dual-doctor families, female physicians are still more likely to make sacrifices in their career for family. The AMA Alliance is a nationwide network of physician spouses and physicians, resident physicians, medical students and their spouses that recognizes this additional need for resources and provides this advantage for members.

Alliance members help each other obtain the opportunities they want for the physician(s) in their family, reach work/life balance in their medical family, connect with each other when transitioning through practice changes and moving to a new state or community. Together, they comprise a link between medical families, a resource for finding work/life balance at every stage of the medical career, which is so crucial to physician well-being.

Many physician spouses have busy careers of their own, whether in health care, education, business or the law and yet want to do what they can to support the practice in their family. The Alliance offers a convenient avenue for involvement at a time and pace suited to each member, their interests and their community’s needs, including ways to be actively involved from the comfort of an Internet connection and resources that can be downloaded and easily shared.

Alliance members advocate for physicians, working toward shared objectives for fair reimbursement from publicly funded health care programs, tort reform caps in the state and access to care. They act together to promote Internet safety for children, violence prevention in our schools, healthy eating and exercise and health education resources. They raise funds for medical scholarships, free clinics and disaster response.

Members of the AWS are encouraged to invite their spouses to join the Alliance and take advantage of its resources.

We are providing a link to this organization on the AWS site to give all AWS members easy access to the resources provided by the AMA Alliance for spouses, community action, public health information and advocacy. We have secured an affordable introductory first-time membership for AWS members and spouses: $25 to join, $40 for physician and spouse together. Visit the Alliance and join.  www.amaalliance.org

AAHPM Announces Selection of Training Sites

The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine announces selection of the eight training sites that will host its Clinical Scholars Program beginning in 2008. The program provides physicians one week of participation with a clinical team, under the supervision of physician faculty at the training site. The sites were chosen based on their outstanding reputation, superior service, and well regarded expertise in the field.

For further information on this program, visit www.aahpm.org/education/clinicaltraining.html.

Women Surgeons - Cutting New Paths

On November 13, 2006 a group of AWS members participated in a panel presentation at Radcliffe Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The topic - "Women Surgeons - Cutting New Paths."

The panel included Myriam Curet, MD, FACS, Julie Freischlag, MD, FACS, Verna Gibbs, MD, FACS, Margaret Kemeny, MD, FACS and Patricia Numann, MD, FACS.

If you would like to hear the presentation follow this link to the Radcliffe Institute Website.
http://www.radcliffe.edu/events/paneldiscussions/2006_surgeons.php 

Gaining Force

The Association of American Medical Colleges published an analysis of women in academic medicine, reporting that for 2005-06, women represented:

50% of applicants to medical school
48% of first-year students
49% of medical students
49% of graduating medical students
42% of residents and fellows
32% of medical faculty members
38% of assistant professors
28% of associate professors
16% of full professors
19% of division/section chiefs
10% of department chairs
43% of assistant deans
31% of associate and senior associate/vice deans
11% of medical school deans