“I like action,” says Mary Jane Minkin, MD ’75. Minkin has been an energizing force—a doer—at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) throughout her 54 years on campus, since she matriculated as a student. Her drive, talent, appreciation for the bright people in her sphere, and lively sense of humor have no doubt contributed to her impressive institutional longevity.
Today, Minkin is a clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and co-director of Smilow Cancer Hospital’s Sexuality, Intimacy, and Menopause Program for cancer survivors. She also sees patients at her gynecology practice in Guilford, teaches, and conducts clinical research. While Minkin practiced obstetrics for 25 years, she now focuses more on gynecology, particularly menopause.
Navigating to OB/GYN
Good at playing with younger children when she was a child, Minkin thought she would become a pediatrician. In college, however, she leaned toward internal medicine. Minkin’s thinking shifted again, to OB/GYN, during medical school. Obstetrics drew her in the most: “Obstetrics was so great because you got two patients for the price of one, and sometimes more. You had to take care of the mom and the fetus at the same time, which was challenging.”
She notes that the early 1970s was an exciting time to pursue studies in OB/GYN at YSM. Electronic fetal monitoring had been invented recently at Yale, and a pioneer of obstetrical ultrasound was at YSM. Among Minkin’s teachers were the authors of the well-known book Clinical Gynecologic Endocrinology and Infertility. Minkin recalls, “We clearly had the best OB/GYN department in the United States.”
Enhancing the appeal of OB/GYN, the department exposed Minkin to interesting opportunities. John McLean Morris, MD, chief of gynecology, frequently invited her to join him in the operating room and one day guided Minkin, then a second-year student, through her first appendectomy. A subinternship at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados later sealed her decision to specialize in OB/GYN.
Addressing menopause and other health needs of women
Early in medical school, Minkin observed little emphasis on menopause training. Noting the irony, she says, “Not everybody has a baby, but God willing, all women are going to get old enough to go through menopause.”
She wondered why no one was taking care of the needs of menopausal women. Minkin says, “I realized these women really needed some interventions.”
After completing her internship and OB/GYN residency at YSM, Minkin opened a private practice across from Yale New Haven Hospital and concurrently taught and did clinical research. YSM residents came to her office to train with her. She says, “This was really the only place they saw menopausal patients.”
One resident, Elena Ratner, MD, MBA ’21, who was signed on to do a fellowship in gynecologic oncology, asked Minkin if she saw a lot of cancer survivors for menopausal and sexual health issues. Minkin responded, “Yes, I do. I’m really sorry they had cancer, but I’m really happy they’re surviving, and I think we owe them a quality of life.” Ratner articulated the need and her vision to address similar patient issues in the gynecologic oncology clinic at Smilow Cancer Hospital. Minkin agreed to help.
Together, they started Smilow’s Sexuality, Intimacy, and Menopause Program for gynecologic cancer survivors. Since its launch in 2008, the program has expanded by popular demand to also help medical oncology patients.
Minkin further extends her reach on women’s health via her Madame Ovary website, featuring interviews, including those with NPR, The New York Times, and The Megyn Kelly Show.
A fertile, collegial environment
Minkin’s gratitude for her mentors, colleagues, and students, as well as the opportunities and collegiality at YSM, fosters her ongoing connectedness, involvement, and enthusiasm.
“I had great colleagues in my class. I had terrific teachers from my house staff on up. My department was extraordinarily helpful in raising me,” says Minkin. She adds that many of the OB/GYN residents and attendings when she was on the rotation are good friends of hers to this day.
She also maintains connections by running the Yale Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (YOGS) and helping to coordinate her class reunions.
At her 50th reunion this year, the six women who attended (out of the 20 women in her class) sat together at lunch. Minkin says, “One of my goals is to get to know these wonderful people better.”
Mentor born of outstanding mentors
Minkin has learned from the best and now generously gives back. “I was really lucky,” she says. “I had great mentors, and I try to be a good mentor to my kiddies.”
She calls her students and mentees her “kiddies,” viewing herself as their “mom.” Like a proud mom, Minkin notes that many of her former students and mentees are now leaders in their field, including colleagues Ratner; Eric Winer, YC ’78, MD ’83; and Susan Baserga, YC ’80, MD-PhD ’88.
Her mentors, too, have included authorities, such as Morris; David Gershenson, MD, RES ’75, the resident who took Minkin through her first Kielland’s forceps rotation; and Barbara Moynihan, PhD, APRN, the emergency room nurse who mentored Minkin in rape crisis management.
“Barbara taught me how to do rape evaluations, collect forensic evidence, take care of rape victims, and go after a rape conviction,” says Minkin. “She started working with Dr. Henry Lee, and he used to come teach us.” Inspired, Minkin went on to serve as a medical advisor to Yale’s rape crisis services program for more than 40 years and to write a textbook chapter on the evaluation of rape victims.
Work to be done
While there is a greater focus on menopause today, Minkin says there is still much work to be done, particularly around the use of estrogen therapy, of which she is a proponent. She notes that additional clinical research is needed to determine the effects of estrogen on the heart and to optimize care for people with breast cancer who might be candidates for estrogen therapy. She and her colleagues are interested in exploring these areas.
She says, “The issue right now is the rehabilitation of estrogen therapy and the training of people to give it. There is a little bit of an art to taking care of menopausal women.”
Looking ahead, Minkin is enthusiastic about improving communications with former house staff and better integrating them with the YSM community. She says, “I hope that I can encourage more of them to become active and have a good time.”