Women in Vascular Surgery Symposium

"As a residency and fellowship program director, I am committed to recruiting and developing the best future surgical residents, fellows, and vascular surgery leaders." - Dawn Coleman, MD

Vascular Surgery at Michigan Medicine

In the span of just one busy week, I have had the distinct privilege of caring for a variety of unique patients ranging in age from 5 to 93 years across a spectrum of pathology. In this single week, I have saved life and limb, palliated end stage disease and medically managed a variety of cardiovascular comorbidities with open surgical, advanced endovascular and medical skills. I have stented arteries, coiled embolized aneurysms, visualized the inside of a dissected aorta with ultrasound, surgically repaired renal arteries, and amputated legs. I have held my patients hand in the OR, cried with their families, and celebrated successful outcomes. I have done all of this with my vascular surgery ‘family’ – an amazing team of super humans at the University of Michigan committed to our patients. Ours is a great job; this is a great life.

As a vascular surgeon, I am committed to growing our vascular surgery ‘family’. The clinical and academic opportunities are nearly endless at Michigan Medicine. As a residency and fellowship program director, I am committed to recruiting and developing the best future surgical residents, fellows, and vascular surgery leaders.

Women in Vascular Surgery

Previous vascular surgery efforts with targeted mentoring alongside the creation of an integrated training paradigm have aimed to increase the proportion of women in vascular surgery. Despite these efforts, women presently comprise only 10% of active Society for Vascular Surgery members and approximately one-third of current vascular surgery trainees. In the state of Michigan, women comprise only 8% of the vascular surgery workforce. Additional disparities in employment and leadership persist beyond recruitment in that women are less likely than men to have a faculty position at an academic center, and be full professors or deans.

Importantly, if we as a specialty aim to recruit and retain ‘the best and the brightest’, women must be intentionally targeted. In likeness to the Perry Initiative, a non-profit organization focused on recruiting and retaining women into Orthopedic Surgery (a specialty in which women comprise 14% of practicing surgeons¹), the University of Michigan will host a one-day event, the Women in Vascular Surgery Symposium, targeting early medical students from across Southeast Michigan and Northwest Ohio interested in learning more about Vascular Surgery. A panel of vascular surgery experts from geographically diverse vascular surgical programs and from various stages of training and faculty ranks will moderate a program that highlights:

1. The scope of vascular surgery practice and options for practice environment
2. Available training paradigms and how to competitively apply
3. Perceived issues and challenges confronting women in the field of vascular surgery
4. Strategies for personal and professional development
5. Hands-on exposure by way of both open surgical and endovascular simulation

This symposium is generously supported by the Society for Vascular Surgery and Michigan Medicine, with additional simulation support from our industry sponsors (GORE and Medtronic). We look forward to seeing everyone in Ann Arbor this May! RSVP for the Women in Vascular Surgery Symposium on our Eventbrite page →

Women in Vascular Surgery Symposium: For Women Medical Students Considering the Specialty of Vascular Surgery
Danto Auditorium at Frankel Cardiovascular Center
8:00 am to 1:30 pm on Saturday, May 11, 2019

References

1. Lattanza LL, Meszaros-Dearolf L, O'Connor MI, et al. The Perry Initiative's Medical Student Outreach Program Recruits Women Into Orthopaedic Residency. Clin Orthop Relat Res. Sep 2016;474(9):1962-1966.

Article by Dawn Coleman, MD