December 26, 2012
I have noticed that many of my colleagues are not familiar with the mission of the MMS Committee on Women in Medicine. I want to reaffirm its importance here and ask those of you who work in women's health to support us in our mission and with its programs.
The committee was developed in 1981, and in the past decade its mission has been focused on two elements, Advocacy and Advocacy. Why "advocacy" twice in the same sentence? We advocate for women physicians and we advocate for women's health. Both of these efforts are achieved through educational lecture series, mentoring, and awareness programs. For these programs we select the most qualified speakers, who are experts in leadership, awareness of disparities, and are respected researchers. We have also developed innovative and collaborative programs, such as mentorship for young medical students in conjunction with their respective committees. Our committee's leadership knows that there is a need for programs such as these to prepare them for the future. These programs are annual and have been well received by both students and mentors. We want to expand our program to include peer-to-peer mentorship, which is already in development and has been enthusiastically embraced.
With respect to women's health, we are blessed with committee members from a variety of medical fields. Their participation allows our committee to promote diverse programs involving medical advances that are still in the development phase. We have had 36 such educational programs at the MMS archives, all steeped in women's health issues. Among them were, Go Red for Cardiac Health, osteoporosis controversies, breast cancer diagnosis and management, cervical cancer screening, women and alcohol addiction, sleep disorders, sexual function disorders, nutrition and obesity, risk management, and many more.
We also understand that stress can affect general health. To highlight that issue, we presented the first women physicians' play, which entertained over 100 attendees and was enthusiastically received. All of these programs have been developed by our committee, through research and involvement with various experts and supported by the MMS to advocate for improvements in the women physicians' workplace, as well women's health in general.
Sincerely,
Najmosama Nikrui
Chair, MMS Committee on Women in Medicine
