FEATURE planning committees , and other groups .” Because the first step to effect change is to raise awareness that the issue exists , she encouraged “ academic medical centers and all organizations should be aware of these gender inequality issues within their own institutions .”
The American College of Physicians ( ACP ) has also taken a proactive role in correcting imbalances : In April 2018 , the society published a position paper highlighting the unique challenges faced by female physicians – including discrimination , gender bias , and a culture that does not prioritize work-life balance – as well as recommendations to help close the gender wage gap and promote women ’ s career advancement in medicine . 4 In an accompanying editorial , Dr . Carnes noted that despite 50 years of federal laws mandating that men and women receive equal pay for equal work , physician pay inequalities persist . 5 The position paper , she wrote , “ validates the lived experiences of women physicians and legitimizes equity efforts .”
“ I wrote the editorial because I didn ’ t want people to think that [ the ACP report ] was going to solve anything on its own ,” Dr . Carnes explained . She drew an analogy between the position paper and the Surgeon General ’ s report and announcement in 1964 that smoking was harmful to health . “ There already was a lot of evidence then that smoking was bad , and the statement was just a pole stuck in the sand that legitimized the real effort and culture transformation that needed to happen for us to shift to a non-smoking norm ,” she said . “ In the same way , this ACP statement legitimizes the important , scholarly research into gender inequality .” them tools that work to break the bias habit , you can see changes in behavior .”
In a follow-up study in 2017 , Dr . Carnes and her colleagues found that this intervention had long-lasting effects : The proportion of women hired within departments that attended the intervention increased by about 18 percent , while the proportion of women hired in departments that did not have representatives attending the workshop remained the same . 7
“ Our work suggests that , to have an effective cultural change , we need interventions for senior leadership and
all levels below . Just as we finally had enough experts who eventually advocated for no-smoking policies , leaders in academic medicine have to create a sense of urgency ,” she said . “ And we can change the culture !”
Dr . Burns agreed that the positive cultural shift to promote female academic faculty into leadership roles must be embraced and promoted by existing leadership . “ This needs to come from the highest levels – not only division or department heads , but from medical school deans and university presidents ,” she noted .
Correcting Course
Dr . Carnes , for her part , has contributed to the research on gender inequality with one of the first studies in this area . 6 At the University of Wisconsin-Madison , Dr . Carnes and researchers offered more than 2,000 faculty members from 92 departments a “ gender-bias-habit – changing intervention ” in the form of a 2.5- hour workshop .
Based on pre- and post-workshop responses to surveys that measured gender bias awareness and expectations about gender equity action , the researchers found that the intervention could help break conscious and unconscious biases against women . Participants also self-reported a greater perceived value of their own research and better communication with colleagues .
“ We gave the participating faculty members specific , research-derived , cognitive behavioral strategies to help them break the bias habit ,” she explained . “ We found that if you take a motivated group of people and give
Our understanding of multiple myeloma is evolving . Learn how new techniques are helping to fight relapse .
MULTIPLE MYELOMA : KEY STATISTICS
Second most common blood cancer , with a global yearly incidence of almost 114,000 cases 1 , 2
RELAPSE AND HETEROGENEITY
Although outcomes have improved , most patients with multiple myeloma inevitably relapse 3
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THE ROLE OF THE PROTEASOME
In multiple myeloma , normal function of the proteasome likely contributes to survival and proliferation of malignant cells 4 , 5
Discover more at MyelomaRevealed . com
BONE DISEASE
A common complication , bone disease develops in up to 90 % of patients over the course of the disease 6
References : 1 . American Cancer Society . Cancer Facts and Figures 2017 . https :// www . cancer . org / content / dam / cancer-org / research / cancer-facts-and-statistics / annual -cancer-facts-and-figures / 2017 / cancer-facts-and-figures-2017 . pdf . Accessed December 21 , 2017 . 2 . International Agency for Research on Cancer . GLOBOCAN 2012 : estimated cancer incidence , mortality and prevalence worldwide in 2012 . http :// globocan . iarc . fr / Pages / fact _ sheets _ population . aspx . Accessed December 8 , 2017 . 3 . Paiva B , van Dongen JJM , Orfao A . Blood . 2015 ; 125:3059-3068 . 4 . Crawford LJ , Walker B , Irvine AE . J Cell Commun Signal . 2011 ; 5:101-110 . 5 . Fribley A , Wang CY . Cancer Biol Ther . 2006 ; 5:745-748 . 6 . Terpos E , Moulopoulos LA , Dimopoulos MA . J Clin Oncol . 2011 ; 29:1907-1915 .
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