February 3, 2022 marked the fifth annual Women Physicians Day and 201st birthday of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, a pioneer of medical and feminist history who became the first woman to earn a medical degree (M.D.) from an American medical school in 1849. It is the day we celebrate the accomplishments of women physicians everywhere and honor the path they have paved and continue to pave for the next generation of aspiring female physicians.
In the Department of Medicine, we strive to create an administration, faculty and staff that accurately depicts the diversity of the population of Baltimore and beyond. Over the past few years, we have made a conscious effort to increase the number of women in leadership roles throughout the DOM. Today, half (10 out of 20) of our vice chairs are women, and many of our divisions are directed by women physicians (7 out of 19). This is in addition to the female administrative leaders, section chiefs, principal investigators, master clinicians, educators and role-models who keep this department running. In many cases, women have proven to be some of our most prolific leaders, clinicians and physician scientists.
One day doesn’t seem enough to celebrate the innumerable contributions from women physicians throughout history. Instead, we take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude for the women physicians in the Department of Medicine and commit to creating an environment in which women can succeed and flourish all year round.
To learn more about our initiatives to promote gender equity around salary, promotion rates, leadership appointments, and raise awareness about family friendly work practices and more, check out our DOM Task Force on Women’s Academic Careers in Medicine led by Dr. Garima Sharma.
