Shikha Jain, Director of Rural Transformation Initiatives at University of Illinois College of Medicine, shared on LinkedIn:
“In 2019, I launched the Women in Medicine Summit to address a gap I saw repeatedly across medicine: women were underrepresented at the podium, on the panel, and at the leadership table, even in fields where they make up a large share of the workforce.
Representation at conferences is not a cosmetic issue. Speaking invitations shape visibility, and visibility shapes who is considered for promotion, leadership, editorial boards, and national appointments. When the podium is narrow, the pipeline narrows with it.
We designed the Summit to do the opposite:
- 313 faculty across eight years
- 48% of them people of color
- Faculty selected deliberately for racial, ethnic, specialty, and career-stage diversity
None of that is an accident. It is the result of choices made at every stage of program design, and those choices are available to every conference organizer in medicine.
The outcomes I value most are harder to count: the collaborations, sponsorships, and career opportunities that start in the hallway between sessions, and the students and trainees who now attend alongside senior leaders.
The 8th annual Women in Medicine Summit takes place September 24-26 at The Drake in Chicago. If your institution is serious about retaining and advancing women in healthcare, I hope you’ll send your people.”
This also can be interesting:
By Women, for Women: The Untold Stories at the Roots of Oncology
