Charged: Stories from the Women Leading Health Care

Since 1990, the number of people in Massachusetts experiencing homelessness has more than doubled. One of the medical barriers to patients who experience homelessness is the lack of dermatological care. In this episode, Dr. Jennifer Tan discusses the dermatological challenges that someone facing homelessness may experience and her work with Boston’s Healthcare for the Homeless program to make this care available. 

The holidays can be stressful, not matter what. But if you or a loved one is facing a serious illness, this time of year can be even more difficult. Our team has been thinking a lot about an episode from our first season with Dr. Vicki Jackson, a palliative care specialist at Mass General. Her work focuses on helping her patients live well, no matter their circumstances, and this advice can be especially helpful in the midst of holiday stress. Happy Thanksgiving from our team at Mass General in Boston!

Pregnant women have historically been excluded from clinical research due to an abundance of caution for the safety of them and their babies. But consequently, these women are often left out of medical advances. Endocrinologist Dr. Camille Powe is passionate about changing that for women with maternal diabetes. In this episode, she discusses her work to better understand diabetes and pregnancy, as well as how she hopes to develop more personalized treatments for these patients.

Human activity is changing the planet at a rate “unprecedented in human history.” For many of us, the massive scale of this problem makes finding solutions feel daunting—if not impossible. But for pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Tina Duhaime, it’s not hard to explain our struggle with climate change when you consider how the human brain works. In this episode, Dr. Duhaime discusses her work studying how the brain’s reward system might relate to our drive toward increasing consumption.

As a med student, the last thing Dr. Cristina Ferrone thought she would ever become was a surgeon, as the male-dominated specialty forced the few women in it to make hard lifestyle choices. But when she entered her surgical rotation, she was surprised to discover how much she loved it. She is now a leader in pancreatic cancer and bile duct cancer. By focusing on work that excites her and honing in on a unique niche, she has built a balanced career in a field that is still largely male.

September is National Recovery Month. This month has two goals: to increase awareness and understanding of mental and substance use disorders. And to celebrate the people in recovery.  In honor of the month, we are bringing back this episode from season one with Dr. Sarah Wakeman, an addiction medicine specialist and the medical director of the Substance Use Disorders Initiative at Mass General. She discusses her commitment to changing both how addiction is treated and how it is understood

Physicians put in a tremendous amount of work into providing quality care for their patients, but sometimes the challenges that physicians face go unnoticed. Many physicians experience burnout, which leaves them feeling stress, exhaustion and less enjoyment in their work. More women than men report feelings of burnout. In this episode, we hope to spark discussion about the challenges that the women at Mass General face.

For transgender people, finding health care providers knowledgeable about their needs can be challenging. One essential component of care for many is hormone replacement therapy which helps the body align more closely with their gender identity. Dr. Frances Hayes has provided this care to transgender patients for many years, and she is helping helm the Transgender Health Program at Mass General.

Kelly McInnis, DO, is a lifelong sports lover. After residency, the former Division 1 soccer player launched a new sports medicine training pathway that allowed her to spend time with orthopedic surgeons and non-operative sports specialists. At Mass General's Sports Medicine Center, she has demonstrated how her background in non-surgical care can complement the work of orthopedic surgeons. She discusses her passion for helping athletes recover and return to doing what they love.

Cristina Cusin, MD, has dedicated her career to working with patients with the most severe forms of depression. She is interested in ketamine, a drug traditionally used as an anesthetic that has shown promise for treatment-resistant depression. Dr. Cusin talks about what first drew her to this field, how she hopes to provide relief for her patients and why it’s important to support them in rebuilding their lives when they find a depression treatment that works.

True innovation comes from seeing the world differently. In nursing, something as simple as using tape to modify equipment can drives innovation in patient care. Hiyam Nadel, MBA, RN, BSN, a mentor for nurse-entrepreneurs at Massachusetts General Hospital, wants to solve problems, improve patient care and advance new ideas. She discusses the pursuit of innovation within nursing and how it’s creating exciting opportunities to improve the quality of patient care.

Dr. Noopur Raje came to the Mass General Cancer Center with the dream of starting a program for multiple myeloma research. Over the years, she has expanded understanding of multiple myeloma, is finding ways to target the bone marrow microenvironment that promotes myeloma cell growth and hopes to develop novel treatments to cure the disease. In this episode, Noopur discusses how she has seen new drugs increase the lifespan of patients with multiple myeloma and why it is important to be willing to take risks.

While completing her master’s in criminal justice at Northeastern University, Bonnie Michelman, MBA, CPP, CHPA, became fascinated by the security industry. Over the years, she has worked hard within the industry, earning her extensive leadership experience, particularly within healthcare. In this episode, Bonnie discusses the importance of increasing diversity to enrich the functionality of the security industry.

When Dr. Vicki Jackson was an internal medicine resident, one particular patient showed her the transformative role that empathy can play in a patient’s life and care. This experience sparked her interest in palliative care and providing specialized support for people with serious illness. In this episode, she discusses her passion for the field and her experience helping patients navigate the uncertainty inherent infacing serious illness.

March is Women’s History Month. In honor of the month, we are celebrating the women behind the innovations in health care at Mass General. We recognize their success stories, their strength in overcoming adversity and what keeps them charged to achieve their goals. In this special episode, we ask our guests from throughout the hospital to share stories about what drove them to pursue a career in medicine and what keeps them motivated to drive forward.