At the Department of Surgery's Grand Rounds on Friday, June 15, Melissa F. Perkal, MD, HS ’89, Associate Professor of Surgery (Trauma), recounted how up until her residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 1985, female predecessors were expected to use the nurses’ locker room—the doctors’ locker room was reserved for men.
Hosted by Nita Ahuja, MD, MBA, chair of the Department of Surgery, this Grand Rounds commemorated the role of women in surgery at Yale while looking forward to future diversity and inclusion efforts, with talks delivered by Perkal; Kimberly Davis, MD, MBA, Professor of surgery (Trauma); Walter E Longo, MD, MBA, HS90, Professor of Surgery (Gastrointestinal); and Brigid Killelea, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery (Oncology).
For women, the world of medicine has progressed markedly, “but it’s still a tough world and slow to change,” Perkal said. For example, women are still less likely than their male colleagues to advance to full professorships and earn less than their male counterparts, reported Killelea in her talk.
I think that as we move ahead into the future…we want to make a culture where everyone feels like they have a voice.
Brigid Killelea
The talks expanded to include the obstacles in front of not only women, but all underrepresented minorities in medicine. “I think that as we move ahead into the future…we want to make a culture where everyone feels like they have a voice,” said Killelea.