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MUSC Excellence at the College of
Medicine/UMA
Dear Colleagues,
As you all know, one of our pillar goals is quality and one of many
ways to achieve quality is through diversity. Though diversity means
different things to different people, I am confident that where one
finds under-representation of a group that the group suffers from this
lack of reflection of the larger population. Considering the fact that
now roughly half of all graduating medical students are female, one
would like to see a significant representation of our fellow female
physicians in all specialties. Balancing the gender make-up of our
faculty would be welcomed by our patients, the society we serve, and
the overall quality of medicine would be improved.
Historically, women have had a marginal presence in the field of
surgery as opposed to many other fields of medicine. As shown in Table
1 below, based on data from the year 2000, there is a persistent
disparity between the number of women in medicine and those within the
surgical specialties. This gender inequity remains a real diversity
issue for our profession as a whole.
However, academic surgery has recently entered into a period of
positive dynamic change. One aspect of this change is the increasing
presence of women completing surgical residencies. The MUSC Department
of Surgery is on the forefront of this change with national leadership
(Carolyn Reed, first female chair of the American Board of Thoracic
Surgery) and national caliber mentoring from our newest senior faculty
member (Ginny Herrmann). I am especially excited by our recent
recruitment of a group of talented young women surgeons (see below)
including Denise Carniero (Endocrine Surgery), Kerry Hammond
(Colorectal Surgery), Mary Lester (Plastic Surgery), Katie Morgan
(General Surgery), and Megan Baker (Surgical Oncology).
Number of Women Surgeons in Each
Specialty
Specialty # of
Women # in Specialty
% of Women
Urology
295
10,168
2.9% Orthopaedic Surgery
791
23,178
3.4%
Thoracic Surgery
20
443
4.5% Neurological Surgery
225
4,964
4.5% Colon-Rectal
66
1,049
6.3% Otolaryngology
769
9,255
8.3%
Plastic Surgery
546
6,095
9.0%
General Surgery
3,833
40,448
9.5% Ophthalmology
2,476
18,035
13.7% OBGYN
12,885 39,512
32.6%
Total
21,906 153,147
14.3%
Numbers
obtained from AMA Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the US,
2000 Edition
MUSC Department of Surgery Women
Faculty
Megan Baker, M.D., assistant professor, since July 2005; Denise
Carneiro-Pla, M.D., assistant professor, since July 2007; Kerry
Hammond, M.D., assistant professor, since July 2007; Virginia Herrmann,
M.D., professor, since July 2007; Mary Lester, M.D., instructor, since
July 2007 ; Katherine Morgan, M.D., assistant professor, since July
2003; and Carolyn Reed, M.D., professor, since July 1985
Statistically, we are now double the national average in terms of
female faculty members within the Department of Surgery. This
phenomenal accomplishment reflects a consistent effort on the part of
the department’s leadership to establish diversity and gender equity
goals. I anticipate that this cadre of women faculty, along with all of
our talented female students and house officers, will effect a culture
change that will enable us to be a more complete and comprehensive
College of Medicine. We are already seeing more of our gifted female
students choosing surgical specialties in response to this outstanding
group of role models, and this is a wonderful foundation for our
ongoing success.
Please join me in congratulating the Department of Surgery for their
outstanding efforts to ensure that women are at the forefront of this
critically important specialty. It is my hope that their success will
help motivate all of our departments to make diversity and gender
equity top priorities in our ongoing drive for MUSC Excellence.
Sincerely,
Jerry
Reves, MD
Dean,
College of Medicine
Friday, Nov. 23, 2007
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