Transformational Times
Words of Hope, Character & Resilience from our Virtual Community
Friday, September 17, 2021
In This Special IWill Campaign Issue:
Guest Director's Corner

Perspective/ Opinion

Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship (KICS) Journal Club

Take 3

Poetry Corner
Your Turn


Announcements & Resources
  • Submit a speaker proposal to the Kern Institute Event Advisory Committee
  • Kern Institute Connection Café: "You Are Fine, How Am I?!" Practical Strategies for Recognizing and Responding to Mental Health Issues Within Yourself and Others
  • Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club
  • Med Moth Fall Event
  • Kern Grand Rounds - Value-Added Medical Education: Reimagining Learner Roles
  • Kern National Network News & Events
Guest Director's Corner
Brilliance Bias and Gender in Academic Medicine


By Libby Ellinas, MD

The Center for the Advancement of Women in Science and Medicine (AWSM) encourages everyone to examine common biases and work to acknowledge and mitigate them. In her Guest Director’s Corner, Dr. Ellinas shares an experience with one of her own biases: brilliance bias. She encourages the members of the MCW community to OPT IN to AWSM’s IWill 2.0 campaign, which offers individual actions to create a culture in which all genders thrive...



AWSM works to illuminate and diminish unconscious bias through its IWill initiatives – encouraging individual actions that promote gender equity and create a culture in which all genders thrive.
 
Have you ever been surprised by someone’s brilliance?

IWill MCW 2.0 Begins Monday, September 20th


By Libby Ellinas, MD


You must Opt In to participate!

In the fall of 2019, MCW launched its first campaign to raise awareness of gender equity in medicine, with the goal to promote meaningful dialogue to create shared language, understanding, and positive action. IWill MCW 1.0 was a call to action through which the MCW community created personal public pledges, with the goal of creating multiple single actions that together lead to big changes.
Now, two years and a pandemic later, the need to promote gender equity and support our women faculty is ever clearer, and we must continue to work together to ensure MCW is a place where all genders thrive. Collectively and individually, we must commit to doing our part.

Join the MCW community to create a nurturing environment for everyone! IWill MCW encourages faculty, staff, and students to take positive action for gender equity, and particularly for women in science and medicine. Pledge to participate in our 10-day campaign and amplify your personal commitment to gender equity. The resource campaign will begin on Monday, September 20 with daily communications including a microlesson, an action step and resources to dig deeper. IWill 2.0’s one-and-only pledge is to participate in the 10-day campaign. Unlike IWill 1.0, you will not receive the campaign unless you opt in.


For more information see the IWill MCW page on Infoscope! For questions, please email IWill@mcw.edu
Perspective/Opinion





WeWill Stop Gender Harassment in our Basic Science Departments


By Michelle Riehle, PhD; Teresa Patitucci, PhD; Sandra Pfister, PhD; Rachel Fehrman and Fatima Saravia

In the 2018 NASEM report, 34.9% of US women in the Basic Sciences experienced at least one incident of harassment in the previous 12 months. Per MCW’s spring 2020 StandPoint survey, over 20% of women in our basic science departments had heard a sexist joke, and 31% had been put down due to their gender in the past year.
 
In October 2020, MCW’s Basic Science departments hosted a showing of Picture a Scientist, which chronicles the experiences of women in science. The follow-up panel (with a large group of faculty, chairs and learners) frankly discussed experiences of women and those underrepresented at MCW. Since then, they agreed to pilot a gender-harassment-based WeWill MCW. The leaders of the pilot share some thoughts ...


The “Picture a Scientist” event energized the Basic Science community at MCW. Below are some written reactions by participants:
 
Michelle Riehle, PhD: I felt empowered and encouraged that the need for greater gender equity was widely appreciated. Witnessing individuals across ranks and roles at MCW discuss this important topic and listen to one another was powerful.
 
Fatima Saravia: I realized that I was not aware of the extent of gender harassment and the various subtle forms that it could take. This event demonstrated to me that one action or discussion can begin a chain of events for greater progress.
Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship (KICS) Journal Club





Strengthening Teachers’ Professional Identities: A Kern Journal Club Reflection

By Michael T. Braun, PhD; Amy Farkas, MD, MS; and Kristina Kaljo, PhD


The inaugural meeting of the Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship (KICS) Medical Education Journal Club was held on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, with speaker Dr. Patricia O'Sullivan from the University of California-San Francisco. Dr. O'Sullivan discussed her article (with co-authors Yvonne Steinert and David M. Irby) "Strengthening Teachers' Professional Identities Through Faculty Development" published in Academic Medicine in 2019. In this reflection from the event, Drs. Michael T. Braun, Amy Farkas, and Kristina Kaljo consider professional identity, its importance for medical school faculty members, and the role of the Kern Institute in fostering this development.



What are we to make of this observation that leads Dr. O'Sullivan's article?

"While [faculty members'] identities as physicians and researchers tend to be well prescribed and supported by universities and hospitals, their identities as teachers are not. As a result, clinical and basic science teachers often feel that institutions and colleagues do not value or support their roles as teachers" (p. 963).

As an institute focused on transforming medical education, we are all too familiar with this reality. Use whatever metaphor you want for the role of teachers in this transformative work—teachers are on the frontlines; they're the “starting five”; the lead singers; the hands of destiny—and you find teachers as a necessary and fundamental component of our work.
Three Questions for Jennifer Apps, PhD



Combatting Maternal Bias




Dr. Apps’ IWill 1.0 pledge was: “I Will be aware of maternal bias and work to diminish it.”



Dr. Apps Answers the following questions:

  • Why did you choose your pledge?
  • Please share an example of how your pledge impacted you, a colleague or MCW as a whole?
  • How should MCW move forward into the future regarding gender equity?
Three Questions for Dušanka Djorić


Pledging to Speak Up for Myself and Others




Dr. Djorić’s IWill 1.0 pledge was: “I will strive to become a positive role model for other women by speaking up in meetings, working on apologizing less, and acknowledging my own accomplishments.”



Dr. Djorić answers the following questions:

  • Why did you choose your pledge?
  • Please share an example of how your pledge impacted you, a colleague or MCW as a whole?
  • How should MCW move forward into the future regarding gender equity?
Three Questions for Valerie Flanary, MD



Diversifying Work Groups and Presentation Panels




Dr. Flanary’s IWill 1.0 pledge was: “I Will actively seek collaborators that are not like me for projects, studies, panels, or other work groups.”


Dr. Flanary answers the following questions:

  • Why did you choose your pledge?
  • Please share an example of how your pledge impacted you, a colleague or MCW as a whole?
  • How should MCW move forward into the future regarding gender equity?
Three Questions for Jess Olson, PhD, MPH



Recognizing and Responding to Gender Microaggressions



Dr. Olson’s IWill 1.0 pledge was: “I will learn to recognize microaggressions and adjust my approach to the people with whom I work.”


Dr. Olson answers the following questions:

  • Why did you choose your pledge?
  • Please share an example of how your pledge impacted you, a colleague or MCW as a whole?
  • How should MCW move forward into the future regarding gender equity?
Three Questions for Gregory Wesley, JD



Walking the Walk





Mr. Wesley’s IWill 1.0 pledge was: “I Will actively seek collaborators that are not like me for projects, studies, panels, or other work groups.”



Mr. Wesley answers the following questions:

  • Why did you choose your pledge?
  • Please share an example of how your pledge impacted you, a colleague or MCW as a whole?
  • How should MCW move forward into the future regarding gender equity?
By Jessica Valdez

my mother is a doctor
my mother was born
of mexican dirt
clutching only her name
a fierceness
a softness
and a dream
“do you have any other doctors in your family?”
a question that you hear a lot within medical training
yes, i say. my mother.
not the kind you are thinking of.

you see,
my mother never graduated from medical school
family never had enough money or desire to put a woman through elementary school
so mama took matters into her own hands
got caught twice by immigration
before they let her in
to her home in california

my mother is a doctor

her voice sings stories
of the time when she was my age
of how much she loves her job
working as a house keeper
a home keeper
home healer
home doctor
doctor
my mother is a doctor

and i’ll tell you why
because a house is a home
and a home is a body
it is a place
not only physical
that houses
organs
a belly or a kitchen
a bedroom or a brain
a living room or a heart
what difference does it make?

my mother knows houses like the inside of her heart
she knows that clutter
disorganization
uncleanliness
and dysregulation
are disease
to this house, body
and knows exactly how to clean it
how to heal it

my mother is a doctor

that when disease actually hit my father’s body
my mother knew
before any doctor did
she knew
how to heal his soul
how to let him go
when his body
could not hold on
even a house
does not live forever
but the energy
the vibrance
can be felt

now at age 66
she still cleans
every body, home
still in awe of the breaking
of the healing
of the rising
of the human spirit
and the precious life that connects us all

this is the physician i aspire to be
The path to motherhood changed my perspective and thoughts on gender equity.

Women in motherhood have systemic barriers for success compared to men. With my first child, I remember one of my male colleagues saying, "Have a great vacation and your time off." Motherhood is one of the most life-altering events - physically, socially and psychologically.

Upon my return, I had the busiest schedule - 20 minutes 5 times per day was designated to provide milk for my child. I remember one of my colleagues saying, "You aren't as available anymore," and the lack of privacy with colleagues forgetting to knock before opening my door. I was on 3 hours of sleep and feeling overwhelmed with no time for myself.

What I would ask is to be flexible. Know that mothers are trying the best they can each day. Ask, "How are YOU doing?" Empower and support mothers to share their story with you... the good, the bad, the ugly, the celebrations, the losses, the struggles and the wins. 

—Kajua Lor, PharmD, BCACP, Faculty
For this week's reflection prompt, please answer the following:


What is your personal theme song?



The Kern Institute Event Advisory Committee invites you to
Submit a Speaker Proposal



The Kern Institute is working to transform medical education to better align with the needs of the public on the basis of character, competence, and caring. 

Please complete the form below if you have a speaker you would like to propose.
 
The Event Advisory Committee will review all proposals based on the following criteria: 

  • The speaker's qualifications
  • Timeliness of the topic
  • Relevance to the mission

If chosen, a committee member will extend the invitation to the speaker and open the line of communication. 

*Please Note: While we greatly appreciate your enthusiasm, please do not initiate correspondence with the speaker directly. This will ensure that expectations are clear and confusion or misunderstandings are averted.


Please Join Us
Kern Institute Connection Café:
"You Are Fine, How Am I?!" Practical Strategies for Recognizing and Responding to Mental Health Issues Within Yourself and Others
 

Presented by Himanshu Agrawal, MD, Sara Brady, MD, Cassie Ferguson, MD, and AODA Counselor Ms. Hilary Pick.
 
“How do two shrinks greet each other? You are fine, how am I?”

There is significant research that recognizes the low prevalence of self-care, and the high prevalence of ill health amongst health care professionals. Studies point to the potential contributory and protective factors related to resiliency and vulnerability, burnout and ‘thrivingness’, and anxiety as well as depression.

This Connection Café event will provide a safe, intimate setting for participants to engage with the panelists. Drawing from their individual experience and journeys, Dr. Agrawal will engage the panelists and audience members alike, to traverse biological, psychological, social, and existential realms with the overarching goal to identify practical strategies for recognizing and responding to mental health issues within oneself and others, as if one’s life depends on it. Because it does.
October 13, 2021
Live via Zoom
4:00 - 5:00 pm CT
Kern Institute Collaboration for Scholarship Journal Club


The KICS Journal Club for Medical Education meets monthly on the second Wednesday of the month via Zoom, 12:15–1:00 PM Central. The next meeting will feature Carla Spagnoletti, MD, MS, from the University of Pittsburg.


Interested individuals can join the meeting via Zoom using the link below, or email Michael Braun to be added to the meeting invite.

  
Meeting ID: 921 1154 0031 
Passcode: KICSJoClub 
October 13, 2021
Zoom Presentation
12:15 - 1:00 pm CT

Save the Date for the Next Med Moth Event


Med Moth is designed to create a space for people to share their stories about their experiences in medicine and reflect on their purpose and meaning in pursuing this profession.
Save The Date to Attend the Event
October 14, 2021
More Info Coming Soon


2021 Professionalism Week
Kern Institute Grand Rounds
Value-Added Medical Education: Reimagining Learner Roles
 


While traditional clinical teaching activities such as taking a history, performing a physical exam, writing notes, and giving oral case presentations are clearly effective educational tools, they often lead to inefficiency and duplication of work. Meanwhile, gaps persist between current state and optimal state for patient care and learning outcomes.

This session will include a panel discussion of opportunities to creatively reimagine student roles on patient care teams and participant reflection on how key concepts might be implemented in their sphere of influence.

Panelists include:

Marty Muntz, MD (Lead)
Erica Chou, MD
Christopher Davis, MD
Catherine Ferguson, MD
John Hayes, DO
Lana Minshew, PhD
October 20, 2021
Live Virtual Panel Presentation
12:00 - 1:00 pm CT
The Transformational Times publishes weekly, delivering stories of hope, character and resilience to our virtual community.
Not getting our newsletters? Sign-up today!