Where Are the Women in Cardiology?

This post was authored by Payal Kohli, MD, fellow-in-training at the University of California San Francisco. Despite a growth in female physicians, there are as few female cardiologists as ever. Statistics from ACC membership as well as nationwide censuses has shown that the percentage of women in cardiology has unchangingly remained within the 10-15 percent range over the last several years, dashing our hopes that this number may be slowly creeping upwards. So what seems to be the problem? Why are women continuing to go into fields like pediatrics and dermatology, while turning their backs on exciting fields like cardiology and surgery?  And, there are fewer women cardiologists going into academics than men. Don’t we need more estrogen to balance out all that testosterone? There is the obvious challenge that female cardiologists face: achieving a work-life balance that remains compatible with societal (and sometimes marital) expectations.  It is quite impossible to be doing stat echoes on call and taking STEMI call while being seven months pregnant (although I do have some amazing colleagues who somehow manage to pull it off), who also get home in time to put dinner on the table every evening. And the ever-growing length of cardiology fellowship, compared with other disciplines even within internal medicine, is not helping matters.  Granted, a fellowship doesn’t last forever, but it still continues to pose a significant stumbling block for ma...
Source: ACC in Touch Blog - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Membership Special Topics Source Type: blogs