by Alex Miner Two years ago, on my first day of medical school, I was touring the hospital with a group of classmates when our tour guide asked us if we knew which specialties we were interested in...
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Avoiding Bias in Letter Writing
By Dr. Chantal Reyna It has been shown that implicit bias exists within letters of recommendation written for medical students applying for residency. In regard to gender, female applicants were more...
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The Journey of a Female Surgeon – How do I Get This Right?
By Eanas Yassa Being a female surgeon - how do i get this right? Don’t be too happy, patients think you don’t understand the seriousness of their problem Don’t be too serious, patients think yo...
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One of these things (is not like the other)
Patricia Martinez Quinones Remember joyfully singing to the Sesame Street tune “one of these things is not like the others, [...] just doesn’t belong, can you tell which is not like the others ...
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Overcoming Bias
By Joyce Majure, MD, FACS The Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) has come a long way since its founding in 1981. Looking back, it is amazing to see not only how our organization has grown, but al...
Blog
Working Towards Equity in Surgery
By Patricia Martinez Quiñones As a nation, we are facing the reality that systematic racism exists at all levels, affecting the communities we live in, the institutions we train in, and the patien...
Blog
A Stealth Misconception
By Monica Farrulla Five years have elapsed since I took the Hippocratic oath and was bestowed the highly-coveted “MD” (Medical Doctorate) to follow my name. In these years of training I have e...
Blog
Remember: You’re Strong enough!
The AWS blog is thrilled to recognize the experience and accomplishments of women surgeons around the world. While women surgeons share many common experiences, we differ in our cultural norms,...
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Women in Surgery – How to Deal
There has been a lot of conversation about what is the role of women in the workplace and especially surgery with the #MeToo and #ILookLikeASurgeon campaigns and what are ways we can prepare ourselves...
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The Leadership Gap in Surgery
[caption id="attachment_16785" align="alignleft" width="300"] Figure 1- Thoracic Surgery Pipeline[/caption] As more women medical students choose general surgery and surgical subspecialties as a ca...