The newly established Yale Women’s Housestaff Organization (YWHO), co-founded by three women residents, will work to improve the well-being and advancement of women residents and fellows across specialties.
Stefanie Gillson, MD, and Sofia Noori, MD, MPH, both second-year residents in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, and emergency medicine resident Caitlin Ryus, MD, MPH, are the founders of YWHO. A conversation between friends sparked the idea and a call to action when the doctors realized they were experiencing similar obstacles as female residents.
Noori recognized the need for such an organization after “bearing witness to multiple issues that affect women residents across specialties, including harassment by patients, hearing from my co-residents about the difficulties of motherhood in residency, and bias in evaluations. We decided that we needed to form a housestaff-wide group because these experiences are common to women in medicine in general.”
Ryus, who has a background in women’s health research and advocacy, believes the group will “address disparities and work toward inclusion in medical training” for women.
Current priorities for the organization include helping Yale New Haven Hospital achieve compliance with new ACGME requirements supporting motherhood in residency, deploying a needs assessment for women housestaff to identify the organization’s goals, and highlighting the experience of women of color and intersectionality in medicine.
YWHO is supported and will be under the umbrella of the Yale New Haven Hospital Graduate Medical Education (GME) Office. YWHO plans to work closely with other organizations including the Minority Housestaff Organization (MHO), the Resident Senate, and the Status of Women in Medicine (SWIM) to enact change for women housestaff. The YWHO also hopes to create a community for housestaff to speak openly about their experiences as self-identifying women physicians.
In keeping with its mission and values, the organization intends to support women and minority-owned businesses with its community events. Its kickoff celebration will be held at Te Amo Tequila, a bar run by Chef Sonia Salazar, on Monday March 4 from 6:00-8:00 pm. The celebration will feature a Latin-inspired dinner and complimentary handcrafted cocktails.
All women housestaff and allies are welcome to attend the kickoff, but must RSVP with this link. For more information or to get involved, please contact email yalewomenshousestaff@gmail.com.
Visit the YWHO Facebook page here.