In their own words: UPMC doctors share their stories during Women in Medicine Month

The Spark

Women in Medicine Month is celebrated to honor the contributions of women in the medical field. For Dr. Sheela Vivekanandan, she knew she wanted to practice medicine at the age of six years old.

“My sister was a brain cancer survivor, is a brain cancer survivor, and she was diagnosed at age nine. So, I was six. So that's what really drove me into medicine because we were always in and out of the hospital. And I really, I liked her neurosurgeon the best because he was the most encouraging, “said Dr. Vivekanandan.

From there, Sheela decided she was going to become a neurosurgeon. For Dr. Kit Lu, she also had a personal connection to becoming a doctor.

“My grandmother, unfortunately, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer when I was in high school, and she ultimately passed from her breast cancer because, you know, she unfortunately didn't really get a lot of screening upfront. And so, by the time she was diagnosed, she was diagnosed with stage four cancer. So just kind of seeing her journey and her battle with breast cancer really prompted me to become a breast medical oncologist as well, because, you know, there's definitely a human side of medicine communicating with not just the patient, but also the family and really understanding kind of, you know, cancer doesn't hit just one person, but it hits the whole community and the whole family, “said Dr. Lu.

Kit Lu, MD completed her fellowship program at National Institutes of Health, medical school at Florida State University, and a residency program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Sheela Vivekanandan, MD earned her medical degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine and completed her neurological surgery residency at Geisinger Medical Center, followed by a neurosurgery fellowship at the University of Utah.

Women in the medical field can face many challenges including breaking stigmas associated with women in the medical field. Something both Kit and Sheela experienced.

“There has been such a stigma that women have not been represented, represented in medicine. And even as I was starting to get into the field, it seemed like there were more females that were joined just like slightly more, maybe like 52% more, something more females that were joining medicine versus males. But certainly still within the subspecialties, there's still quite a stigma of women like, for example, like in neurosurgery, like there's not that many women neurosurgeons. There's very few and less by neurosurgeons who are women. So, there's there's quite a bit of stigma associated with women in neurosurgery. And I think even now, probably Dr. Kate will attest to this, like, you know, it doesn't happen as much anymore now that I'm an attending and patients actually recognize me. But sometimes if I'm seeing someone in console in the hospital, they'll say, you know, my nurses here or so you know, like you're Rite Aid is here. They don't recognize that females are also doctors. It's just so ingrained in people's heads that it's this white male with this type of scope in a jacket. And it's it is at times kind of disheartening, and you just have to shake it off, “said Vivekanandan.

“I think in medicine it was predominantly male centric and also heavy male leadership role in in in medicine. So, a lot of males go into medicine and then they also take on to a lot of leadership or kind of like the kind of more prominent academic roles. I think more and more that has changed. I think a lot of institutions are very well aware of the gender gaps and they're trying to close the gender gap, which is great. But I think a lot of times, you know, as a female, we go into medicine and sometimes we are seen as nurses by the patients. And also, you know, I think sometimes in in our roles and some people may see us as, okay, well, we're going to take care of patients, but then we may be only working part time or we're not committed to medicine because then we have to go home and take care of family. But, you know, I like to you know, I would like kind of the community and also, you know, our women who are listening to this program to really understand that we need to start breaking down these gender stereotypes. And, you know, many of us are empowered to do more than just one thing, right? We can be a good physician, give great quality care, and we can also be leaders, and we also can be good mothers. You know, so I think it's powerful for us as the women. We can do it all well. So, and I really think that, you know, programs like this can empower young, younger women to know that, you know, is not sacrificing one versus another. I think, you know, we just have to give more women more opportunities to lead in medicine, “said Lu.

Both women spoke about why representation is so important to inspire the next generation of female doctors.

“As a woman and also as a minority, I come from a Chinese background. I think it's important to have good representation for women in general and also for different diversity in our feel. I think coming from a different background and being a woman, we're just more sensitive to kind of the different values of patience. You know, again, every patient had their own story, their own values, their own beliefs. So being attuned to the differences in terms of representation, in terms of their cultural beliefs and and gender belief would be important as we take care of the patients because their values and their belief could be different than mine. I also think that, you know, in research, women and also minorities are historically underrepresented in research. And so, a lot of the outcomes and what we know about diseases could be different across different backgrounds. So, it is important to increase that diversity and to increase the gender representation in research so that we can advance medicine, “said Lu.

“Making sure that women are represented because like you said, I've had patients come to me and say, you know, like females in particular, they're like, well, I could never talk to this, talk about this X, Y, Z problem with a male physician. So just having more people involved in the medical field who basically look like you are relatable. It really helps foster that relationship because the more you trust to your physician, the more you’re the better your care is going to be, quite frankly. But yeah, and you know, there's quite a lot, especially in women's health, that does go under researched. Like I think we all might have heard about, like how CDC was talking about mandating like pain control for IUD insertion and things like that that have historically been just overlooked for so long. So, I think having more women in the field, I guess, gives all of us better care, better quality care and more opportunities for growth, “said Vivekanandan.

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