Please join in recognizing National Women Physicians Day, all women physicians, and those in our department.
National Women Physicians Day is celebrated on the birthday of Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to graduate from a medical in the United States. Dr. Blackwell faced numerous challenges, obstacles, and discrimination. Despite this, she started the New York Infirmary for Women and Children–now the New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, and helped start medical schools in New York and in London. The London School of Medicine for Women she established became the current UCL Medical School.
Women physicians continue to face challenges and obstacles. We see this in Orthopaedics, which has the lowest proportion of women physicians of any specialty. The women physicians in our department are leaders in the field, thoughtful and compassionate caregivers, and dedicated doctors.
We celebrate the achievements of all women physicians, but especially those in our department. Please join me in being dedicated to improving equity and inclusion to ensure women physicians are recruited and retained, receive fair and equitable compensation, and are promoted into leadership positions in our department and in orthopaedics as a specialty.