VIDEO: ‘Many glass ceilings’ still need to be broken in the field of advanced endoscopy
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In a Healio video exclusive, Allison R. Schulman, MD, MPH, FASGE, winner of the 2022 Woman Disruptor of the Year Award, discusses her passion for advanced endoscopy and encourages other women to pursue a career in the specialty.
“I fell in love with the field of advanced endoscopy ever since I first had exposure,” Schulman, an interventional and bariatric endoscopist and chief of endoscopy at Michigan Medicine, said. “I was drawn in by the ability to intervene on complex diseases in a minimally invasive way, to innovate and to push the envelope day by day and even case by case.”
Schulman, who credits female role models who provided guidance and encouragement as she advanced her career, is motivated to help other women enter the field of advanced endoscopy. “There are many glass ceilings that still need to be broken,” she said. “I would love to be joined by people with new ideas, who think outside the box and who are not afraid to be uncomfortable.”
Schulman also emphasized the significance of diversity, equity and inclusion in patient care. “We should not be fooled into thinking that this field is not for women,” she said. “We all know that we take better care of patients with diverse teams, and while there may not be many of us in numbers, there is an incredible network of women who have persisted.”
In a recently published paper on gender disparities in advanced endoscopy, Schulman and colleagues reported that fellowship programs that include women as faculty and endoscopy chiefs were more likely to have female fellows and that increasing the number of female mentors and the visibility of women at national conferences could facilitate gender balance in the field.
“We really need to be seen, and we need to be heard,” Schulman said. “This award was among the most meaningful awards I have ever received. To be seen by others as someone disrupting the system is the ultimate honor. ... I cannot wait to see what the next generation of women do in our field.”
The 2023 Woman Disruptor of the Year Award winner will be announced in October during the Healio Disruptive Innovators ceremony at ACG 2023 in Vancouver, Canada.
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