2015 Clinton Foundation's Health Matters Initiative

Follow/join/use the conversation hashtag #HealthMatters2015

2014 Health Matters Conference

Watch live or review:

The Health Matters conference is an annual event that showcases what the Clinton Foundation's strategic partners from across sectors – business, technology, sports and philanthropy – are doing to contribute to the health and wellness of people throughout the United States. 
Join the dialogue on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #HealthMatters2014.
- See more at: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/our-work/clinton-health-matters/conference#sthash.7xrDZrzh.dpuf

The Clinton Foundation's Health Matters conference convenes strategic partners for thought-leadership and action on health and wellness.  Follow and participate using the hashtag #HealthMatters2014

Online viewers can join the dialogue on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #HealthMatters2014. The Clinton Health Matters Initiative works to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States by activating individuals, communities, and organizations to make meaningful contributions to the health of others. - See more at: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/get-involved/take-action/attend-an-event/2014-health-matters-conference#sthash.fvJZ2kJE.dpufa

Online viewers can join the dialogue on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #HealthMatters2014. The Clinton Health Matters Initiative works to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States by activating individuals, communities, and organizations to make meaningful contributions to the health of others. - See more at: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/get-involved/take-action/attend-an-event/2014-health-matters-conference#sthash.fvJZ2kJE.dpuf

Online viewers can join the dialogue on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram using #HealthMatters2014. The Clinton Health Matters Initiative works to improve the health and well-being of people across the United States by activating individuals, communities, and organizations to make meaningful contributions to the health of others. - See more at: http://www.clintonfoundation.org/get-involved/take-action/attend-an-event/2014-health-matters-conference#sthash.fvJZ2kJE.dpuf

In Memoria: Do Justice

Last month, my beloved great Aunt passed away after battling illness with the same kind of  spirit she took on to address the challenges in her life applying tenacity, courage and a good sense of humor.  I had the honor and privilege of writing her obituary. It was a time of healing, reflection and contemplation. Memories, pictures and inquiries with family and friends helped me move through a century of American history to offer a vibrant narrative on her struggle and strength in living out a meaningful life.   

Remarkably, my Aunt was a leader in our family and community.  She was a critical thinker, agitator, strategist and organizer who kept a close view of the world and hand in our lives encouraging resiliency, progress and love.  

As a young woman, she and my maternal family escaped the threat of harm by moving from a small South Carolina town on the boarder of Georgia to New York City.  During the 1940s many black families were making the same travel plans because Jim Crow left many realizing that flight was a better response to their fears than a fight because so much blood had already been spilled. I believe as her eulogist suggested that untold horrific stories of her encounters with discrimination and racism moved my Aunt to work after work and family responsibilities in the civil rights movement. She taught me lessons about what it means “walk humbly, love mercy and do justice” in a world that doesn’t seem to favor the empowerment of people of color. In her eyes doing justice involved working actively in the community and beyond for the sake of humanity.

While the legislation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination against blacks and women, including racial segregation there was still work to be done for progress.  For example, prior to 1964 it was illegal for people of color to go to a hospital to receive medical care anywhere in the United States, very few places had colored hospitals. Many organizations continue the push for justice in education, employment, housing, health care as well take on the criminal justice system for the well-being of our society.  Since 1909, the National Association of Colored People (NAACP) has been pivotal in leading the way by addressing injustice. Today, the aim is to bring an end to the death penalty in the United States, you can join this cause at http://action.naacp.org/EndTheDP

“When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised on the promise that capital punishment would be administered with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.”

           
          —United States Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, 1990

I’ve come to understand professionally that lethal injections are not good medicine.  According to the Innocence Project, “seventeen people have been proven innocent and exonerated by DNA testing in the United States after serving time on death row.” I agree with the National Urban League statement “disparities and problems cast a long shadow of doubt over our criminal justice system.”

The state of Georgia shamefully executed Troy Davis on September 21, 2011 despite serious doubts about his guilt. But our fight to abolish the death penalty lives on.”

                                                               —Amnesty International

In fifteen minutes, execution by lethal injection ended the life of Troy Davis with too much doubt. 

 

On the Rise: Women in Leadership

We are living a new era where the progress for the civil rights of women is undeniable, yet Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg points out in her compelling TED presentation:

“We still live in a world where some women don’t have [civil rights]. But all that aside, we still have … a real problem … women are not making it to the top of any profession anywhere in the world.

The fault line is in the family and life balancing act women must do to survive in the workplace.  To be clear this is true for men too. Women are more likely to face challenges when long work hours, travel and the business of professional networking keep them away from families.

Furthermore, the profession of medicine requires a commitment to patient care, education and research, but the climb to the top has additional milestones. While many put in extra time and sweat their persistence still places them outside the closed doors of  hospital board rooms, department chair offers, academic medicine positions or physician-leader roles.  Data and research are scant on measures for progress.  I always look at the pictures on the walls in medical center hallways and conference rooms, it’s rare to see anyone who resembles me in those pictures. I do see women moving through up the ranks who are awesome role models.

For the last 10 years medical school classes have held equal portions of men and women, but those who teach medical students and lead institutions are predominately men.  Recent research published by Dr. Borges and others indicate that “women physicians choose their careers because of the perceived quality of life, earnings potential, and organizational reward. They are less likely than men to identify role models for professional–personal balance.”

Women do need to seek out role models early in their careers, but it’s not enough. More significant is the understanding that if there’s no institutional, top-down approach to addressing the complexity of these issues, meritocracy alone will not break down barriers nor will change occur.

Dr. Karen Sibert’s recent op-ed in the New York Times inspires my blog post along with other offline discussions, including the talk with Michele Martin on NPR’s Tell Me More, which aimed to further the conversation about part-time career choices women are making in the face of doctor shortages, decreasing health care budgets and a moral obligation. Dr. Sibert and others make it clear about the sacrifices for both men and women when it comes with a commitment to patient care, but Dr. Au and others make the case for our right to choose, wisely and carefully.

I follow the career paths by reading the literature as well as over the years books written by women in medicine, here are just a few from my bookshelf:

Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor by Perri Klass

Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire

Final Exam: A Surgeon’s  Reflections on Mortality by Pauline Chen

Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside by Katrina S. Firlik

Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri

Almost Home: Stories of Hope and the Human Spirit in the Neonatal ICU by Christine Gleason

The Country Doctor Revisited: A Twenty-First Century Reader edited by Therese Zink

Stories of Illness and Healing: Women Write Their Bodies edited by Marsha Hurst and Sayantani DasGupta

On a historical note Dr. Virginia Apgar’s story is endearing as she was set on becoming a surgeon, but gender discrimination led her to a career in anesthesiology after training she went on to head a new division of anesthesiology where she developed the Apgar score. As the medical school’s first female division head, she built a residency program and, in 1949, became the first woman appointed to a full professorship at the Columbia University College of Physician & Surgeons.  No, I’m not interested in a career anesthesiology, I am looking for opportunities where innovative ideas are supported regardless of gender, race or ethnicity.

A few pointers, I’ve heard from those listed above and elsewhere:

• Relationships and family matter, try to avoid undermining your anchors to move ahead, you may find short-term success and long-term misery with the loss of your family and friends and a more demanding job.
• Don’t turn your head or look way when you see real harm done to women especially if it’s you in the hot seat, choose battles worth fighting.
• Read and review the policy handbook at your institution. Knowledge is power.
• Honor and respect women physician-leaders in their roles and get to know their stories.
• Tell your own stories so that others might know of your success and/or be warned of your pitfalls.
• “Lift as you climb” so that you enable collective success in the profession.
• The road is long so make good friends for the distance.

U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and First Lady Michelle Obama are at the helm efforts to improve health and health care in America and these women are all phenomenal. We should continue our look up stream and push for policies and practices that allow for a more balanced profession for men and women, which in my view enables better patient care and improves quality of life for both patient and physician. There should debate, divergent points of view as well as common ground to stay focused on more progress.

7/12/2011 blog cross-post on KevinMD.com