As a Pediatric Hospitalist at EMMC, I admit patients to the inpatient Pediatrics Ward, which is a 20 bed unit on a floor within an adult hospital. I also have the pleasure of teaching Family Practice residents and 3rd year medical students who rotate through the unit.

I think it’s important for men to be allies for women in medicine in a number of different ways. First, one of the most important ways is to educate ourselves on the gross inequity that exists and the history of that disparity - through reading books and articles on the topic and also through having meaningful conversations with our female colleagues. Second, men can advocate for/sponsor women, whether that be for a position within the department or for a seat at the table on a committee or for an invitation to present at Grand Rounds. Third, men can speak up when they see microaggressions taking place in the workplace – for example, a female colleague makes a suggestion during a faculty meeting. Her male colleague makes the same comment and takes the credit for the suggestion. As a male ally, speak up and say I appreciate your comment, but our female colleague just made that point. There are many more ways for men to be allies than can be captured in this small space, but one last important way is to recruit as many men to be allies as we can because that is how we spread this message more efficiently and achieve equity more quickly.

In this last year, I was selected to be Chief of Pediatrics at my institution. In this role, one of my responsibilities is that I am in charge of recruiting speakers for our Grand Rounds series. Because it is so important that ensuring the female colleagues with whom I work know they are respected, supported, and valued as equal in this department, I reached out to a national leader driving efforts to achieve gender equity in PHM to give a Grand Rounds this spring. I want to establish the importance I place on this topic early in my time in leadership.

IPA