Dean’s Message 

Women in Medicine and Science

With September being Women in Medicine month, we pause to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and strategize for the future. In the 19th century, early pioneers paved the way for future female physicians. Notably, Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States in 1849. The early 20th century saw incremental progress, with increased female enrollment in medical schools although often at women-only institutions, such as the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. A surge of females entering medical professions was ushered in by the civil rights and women's liberation movements as well as legislation such as Title IX. As of 2023, women are the majority of applicants, matriculants, and graduates at U.S. medical schools. Today, female physicians practice in diverse specialties and hold leadership roles across health systems. 

Women in medicine are essential. Not only do women drive growth in the physician workforce and their presence promotes a more accurate reflection of the population served, but female physicians are critical contributors to healthcare. Female physicians champion patient-centered communication, adherence to clinical guidelines and evidence-based practice, and robust psychosocial counseling. Despite the positive impact of female physicians on the healthcare system, challenges such as gender bias, pay gaps, and underrepresentation in certain specialties persist, necessitating ongoing efforts to achieve gender parity in medicine.

Supporting female physicians to stay in medicine requires a comprehensive approach that addresses components such as work-life integration, mentorship, and systemic support. Some estimates suggest ~40% of female physicians reduce work hours during their early career, often citing work-family conflict as a primary driver. The internal medicine department at VTCSOM responded to nation-wide observations of higher workforce attrition among female physicians with a pilot mentoring program that demonstrated female physicians became more confident in work-life integration, negotiations, and career advancement following completion of this year long pilot study. Efforts such as this highlight the positive impact that social and system-level support can have for female physicians.

The Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS) is an AAMC accredited affinity group whose mission is to support the inclusion, participation, and advancement of women in medicine and science. The VTCSOM chapter of GWIMS is supported by the generous endowment from Founding Dean Cynda Johnson’s mother, Dolores Stolte. The Cecil William Stolte and Dolores Ann Reith Stolte Fund for Women in Medicine and Science has supported programming for hundreds of female medical students, resident physicians, and faculty members. Recent programming highlights include speaker panels on microaggressions, fertility and family planning, as well as mental health and self-care. Additionally, GWIMS sponsored a build your brand workshop, a financial planning workshop, and a human trafficking training in partnership with The Lampstand, which is a local safe home for survivors of sexual exploitation.

Especially during Women in Medicine month, we acknowledge the role that female physicians play in the shared goal to deliver high-quality, sustainable, and equitable healthcare. Further, we express our deepest gratitude to Mrs. Stolte for her support of the VTCSOM chapter of GWIMS, and we hope that you will find time to join us for GWIMS events during the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year.

All the best,
Hannah Karp, Class of 2026
Tarin Schmidt-Dalton, M.D. and Rebecca R. Pauly, M.D., GWIMS Faculty Advisors
On behalf of VTCSOM’s chapter of GWIMS

For more information, please refer to the following sources:

  • Frank E, Zhao Z, Sen S, Guille C. Gender Disparities in Work and Parental Status Among Early Career Physicians. JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(8): e198340. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.8340
  • The State of Women in Academic Medicine 2023-2024: Progressing Toward Equity, AAMC.
  • “Virtual mentoring program shows positive effect, especially among women, in academic medicine,” Virginia Tech News, Dec 2023.
  • “Why women leave medicine,” AAMC News, Oct 2019.
  • “Women are changing the face of medicine American,” AAMC News, May 2024.

News Around Campus

Social Media

Events 

  • September 9-28 - National Library of Medicine Traveling Exhibition: Rise, Serve, Lead! America’s Women Physicians. Read more
  •  September 10, 12-1 p.m. - Inspiring Women Leaders in the Health Sciences Panel Discussion. Register
  • September 16 – Fall art show opens
  • September 19, 5:30 p.m. – Fall art show opening reception
  • September 26 – Flip the Fair
  • November 14, 12-1 p.m. – Developing Your Personal Brand

Humanism Notes 

Enjoy these remarkable photos from the annual Drone Photo Award Nominees. These entries give us remarkable views on human tragedy, joy. and relationships with nature

Publishing

Nicholas Rider, professor in the Department of Health Systems and Implementation Science, and collaborators, published “Applying Market Basket Analysis to Determine Complex Coassociations Among Food Allergens in Children With Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome (FPIES)” in Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology.

Mary Wesley, senior instructor in the Department of Health Systems & Implementation Science (HSIS); Helena Carvalho, associate professor in the Department of Basic Science Education (BSE); Emily Holt, assistant dean of student affairs, director of academic counseling and enrichment, and assistant professor in BSE; Serkan Toy, associate professor in BSE and HSIS; Courtney Powell, director of community engagement; David Trinkle, associate dean of community engagement and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine; Kris Rau, assistant professor in BSE, along with Kim Butterfield from Carilion, published “Bodies and Bites: a medical school program that teaches anatomy, physiology, and nutrition to elementary school kids” in Frontiers in Public Health.

Serkan Toy and colleagues in Washington, DC and India, published “Violence in the emergency department: a quantitative survey study of healthcare providers in India” in the International Journal of Emergency Medicine.

Andrew Strohman, a member of the M.D./Ph.D. program, and Alexander In, Class of 2025, published “Low-intensity focused ultrasound to the posterior insula reduces temporal summation of pain” in Brain Stimulation as part of their research domain project. Co-authors include their mentor, Wynn Legon, assistant professor of neurosurgery and assistant professor in the School of Neuroscience and at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech (FBRI), and Brighton Payne, also of FBRI.

As part of their research domain project, Haseeb Goheer, Class of 2025, and mentor, Jonathan Carmouche, vice chair and professor of orthopaedic surgery, published “Advanced chronic kidney disease increases complications in anterior cervical discectomies with fusions: An analysis of 75,508 patients” in the North American Spine Society Journal, along with Carilion Clinic Orthopaedic Surgery physician Christopher Hendrix and former fellow Alden Newcomb.

As part of their research domain projects, Martin Barylak and Stephanie Carpentier (née Hamlin), both Class of 2024, mentor and VT faculty Robin Queen, and VT faculty member Sara Arena, published “Gait asymmetry persists following unilateral and bilateral total ankle arthroplasty,” in the Journal of Orthopaedic Rsearch.

Caroline Mebane, Class of 2024, and mentor Wendy Chung of Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, published “Heterogeneity of comprehensive clinical phenotype and longitudinal adaptive function and correlation with computational predictions of severity of missense genotypes in KIF1A-associated neurological disorder,” in Genetics in Medicine as part of their research domain project. Co-authors included several colleagues from Harvard Medical School, Columbia University Medical Center and Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Phramongkutklao College of Medicine in Bangkok, Thailand.

Evan Sandefur, Class of 2025, and their mentor Peter Apel, associate professor of orthopaedic surgery and Carilion physician, along with Carilion colleagues Jadon Beck and Andrea Yu-Shan, and Natalie Vaughn, assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery, published, “What is a Surgical Site Infection After Carpal Tunnel Release?” in The Journal of Hand Surgery, as part of Sanderfur’s research domain project.

As part of her research domain project, Kelly Ingram, Class of 2024, published “Metagenomic assessment of the bacterial breastfeeding microbiome in mature milk across lactation,” in Frontiers in Pediatrics, along with mentor Brittany Howell, assistant professor of pediatrics and associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science and at FBRI; Gregg Collin, formerly of FBRI; Allison Tegge, associate professor in BSE, the Department of Statistics, and at FBRI; and other colleagues from the University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

  Welcome New Faculty

  • Orthopaedic Surgery - Mikhail Bekarev and Hayden Holbrook
  • Internal Medicine – Kiley Fagan
  • Pediatrics – Melissa Fussell
  • Surgery – Guy Katz and Theodore Morgan
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology – Elizabeth Martin
  • Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine - Ashley Powell

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Update 

September is:
Hispanic Heritage Month (observed from September 15 to October 15)
Intergenerational Month

Below are September holidays and celebrations:
2:  Labor Day
7:  Ganesh Chaturthi 
Second Week in September: National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week
11:  Ethiopian New Year
14:  Elevation of the Life Giving Cross (Holy Cross)
15-16:  Mawlid Al-Nabi
18:  International Equal Pay Day
21: Mabon, first day of fall and celebration of the vernal equinox 
23: International Day of Sign Languages
27:  Native American Day
27:  Meskel (Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox) 
29:  Michaelmas

Alumni Updates

Anthony “Tony” Anzivino, class of 2023, married Karla (Levering) Anzivino on May 13, 2023. The wedding was held at St Andrews Basilica in Roanoke, VA. Anthony and Karla welcomed their first daughter, Kathryn Joy Anzivino on March 30, 2024. Anthony is a resident physician at MetroHealth System and is a second year Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation resident.

Go Hokies!! Come out and join us at the Virginia Tech Homecoming Tailgate on Saturday, October 26th! The tailgate is open to students, alumni, community members, families and friends. You may register for the tailgate at the following link: https://www.alumni.vt.edu/events/2024/10/homecoming-tailgate.html

Interested in returning to Roanoke or the surrounding areas to work and play? Carilion Clinic has outstanding employment opportunities available in many specialties. Visit Carilionclinic.org, scroll to Careers and then Physician Careers for more information. You may also reach out to Andrea Henson, director of physician recruitment & onboarding (ahenson@carilionclinic.org) or 540-224-5241

Community Corner

Fall Art Show

Altered Art: Making Art Your Own

Local artists and collaboration groups join with VTC students, faculty, and staff to present their visions of creativity with discarded art by altering existing pieces to tell new stories. 

  • September 16 – December 13, 2024

Artist’s Reception and Gallery Opening:

  • Thursday, September 19, 5:30 p.m.

VTCSOM was busy out in the community last month.

Swing It To End It 

VTCSOM’s David Ogburn, Zachary Johnson, Calvin Harris, Brock Mutcheson, James Stupin, Andrew Stieb, Drew Hartley, and Luke Ignell participated in this charity golf tournament sponsored by South Roanoke Nursing and Rehabilitation. The annual event supports Alzheimer's research, education, and caregiver support in the Roanoke Valley.

The Big Kahuna

Alexis Dowiak, Daniel Creighton, Drew Hartley, and James Stupin participated in this annual community event that serves as the primary fundraiser for Tudor House and their Louis Tudor Memorial Scholarship. Tudor House provides mental health resources and suicide education to Roanoke and the surrounding communities.

Noke Fair

The Virginia Tech Health Sciences and Technology Campus sponsored the Noke Fair last month. This annual event helps our new graduate, undergraduate, and medical students become more familiar with services and activities here in the Roanoke Valley. 

Take Note

Administrative Excellence Award

Don't forget to nominate a VTCSOM employee who consistently goes above and beyond their job duties, supports our school and students, and embodies the spirit of VTCSOM. Nominations for the Dr. Daniel P. Harrington Award for Administrative Excellence will be accepted until September 13. The 2024 recipient will be announced September 28.

Nomination Form

National Library of Medicine Traveling Exhibition

  • “Rise, Serve, Lead! America’s Women Physicians”
  • VTCSOM Library
  • Through September 28, 2024

Stop by the VTCSOM Library and check out the NLM's exhibit focusing on how women physicians have made a difference through their medical practice and research, their work as activists, their service as administrators, and their mentorship to the next generation of physicians. Learn more about the exhibit.

Inspiring Women Leaders in the Health Sciences Panel Discussion

  • September 10, 12-1 p.m.
  • 4 Riverside G101

Leadership in the health sciences takes many forms. The Health Sciences Libraries and VT Roanoke Women's Connect are hosting a panel discussion with six esteemed women leaders working at Virginia Tech to hear their stories of the challenges, opportunities, and rewards they have had in their leadership roles in academia.  Register.

Flip the Fair

  • September 26, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Flip the Fair is an annual event hosted by HS&T’s student outreach program and held in collaboration with the Roanoke Public Libraries and Roanoke City Public Schools. This lively event allows graduate students, medical students, and others to present their research to fifth-grade judges. It's a great science professional development opportunity that engages kids with science. For more information, contact Gates Palissery at gatespalissery@vt.edu

The Last Note

Cheers to the Class of 2028! It was great to get to know each of you a little better at our annual Welcome event. We’re so glad you’re here.

welcome pictures