UB DoctHERS Event Encourages Women to Pursue Medical Education, Careers

A symposium sponsored by UB DoctHERS, a networking group whose goal is advancing women in medical or scientific education and careers, is being held Saturday morning. The event is sponsored by UB DoctHERS, a networking group whose goal is to advance women in medical education, medicine and science.

The symposium will feature Roswell Park Cancer Institute CEO Candace Johnson, who was the only woman in her doctoral program in the 1970s, as the keynote speaker.

Rose Berkun is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and one of the symposium moderators. She told WBFO that while women graduate from medical school at close to the same rate as men, those numbers do not mean equal career opportunities.

“The percentages of women in highly competitive specialties are miserable," Berkun said. "Orthopedic surgery: 5.6 percent—this is as of 2010 or 2012—were women. Neurology: 8.7 percent. Vascular surgery: 12 percent. EMTs: 17 percent. General surgery: Twenty-one percent. And it keeps going on and on.”

Berkun said she believes women are conditioned not to fight for better careers post-graduation.

“Psychologically, women are raised, I guess, to wait to be asked. We’re asked on a date, we’ll wait to be asked to go to prom, and just naturally, we go through life waiting. So we feel that if we’re doing a good job, we will be promoted, we won’t have to ask for it. And I think that’s a big negative,” Berkun said.

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