Charged: Stories from the Women Leading Health Care

Dr. Sareh Parangi is one of the first women to become a full professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. However, she understands that a career in surgery can present many challenges to young women. In this episode of the Charged podcast, Dr. Parangi discusses the seriousness of gender disparities that come with a career in surgery and why she has become an advocate to help female surgeons overcome barriers to do what they love, while also raising a family.

Biophysicist Dr. Sylvie Breton has dedicated her career to studying the kidneys and the male reproductive tract, and her discoveries have the potential to change medicine. She has identified a method for predicting the onset of acute kidney disorder, which affects more than four million people yearly and is called the “silent killer.” She talks about why she enjoys research so much, and how each new discovery spurs her on to the next.

Gun violence kills more than 35,000 Americans annually, yet funding for research is limited and most doctors are not taught how to approach the topic with patients. For Dr. Chana Sacks, gun violence became a personal reality when her cousin’s seven-year-old son Daniel was killed at Sandy Hook. This tragedy spurred her to establish the Mass General Gun Violence Prevention Coalition. She discusses why she has become a vocal advocate for research and why she views gun violence as a solvable problem.

Since beginning her career in the mid-1990s, infectious disease chief Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky has witnessed the transformation of the landscape for HIV and AIDS. Though new drugs have improved the outlook, the challenges of accessing and maintaining care persist. Dr. Walensky discusses how she works to expand access to care for HIV patients through research and a willingness to understand patients' struggles.

As an obesity medicine specialist, Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford understands the implicit and explicit biases that her patients face. As a black female doctor, she’s also familiar with the biases she faces each day. But a recent Delta flight was a poignant reminder of these biases when flight attendants questioned her credentials as a doctor as she provided care to a fellow passenger. Dr. Stanford discusses this experience and why she's speaking out against biases and promoting diversity in medicine.

25 years ago, psychiatrists believed that bipolar disorder only affected adults, and it was controversial to suggest otherwise. However, thanks to the pioneer work of Janet Wozniak, MD, we now know that bipolar disorder affects children. Dr. Wozniak discusses her drive to help children struggling with bipolar disorder by intervening early to diagnose and find treatments.

Gaurdia Banister, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, emphasizes the importance of increasing diversity in nursing. She believes that having more people of color in nursing will give voice to a diverse patient population and foster culturally sensitive care that will make the hospital environment welcoming to everyone.

For years, ALS appeared to be an uncurable disease, but when others lost hope, Dr. Merit E. Cudkowicz saw the challenges of curing ALS as opportunities for scientific collaboration. She spends her days leading clinical trials and working with patients to find effective treatments. By revolutionizing ALS clinical trials, she has inspired hope that we can find a cure.

Childhood obesity is on the rise among low-income racial and ethnic minorities. Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, is focused on preventing and treating childhood obesity along with reducing healthcare disparities that contribute to its rise. She discusses the importance of supporting underserved families and making them aware of ways to establish healthy habits for children.

Ann L. Prestipino, MPH, has spent her whole career at Mass General, starting as the assistant to the director of operations 38 years ago. Today, Ann serves as one of 15 senior VPs. In this role, she manages a large portfolio of centers and departments. She also leads emergency preparedness and served as the incident commander for both the Boston Marathon bombing and the Rhode Island Station Nightclub fire. Hear how she built a long, successful career with continued growth, all within the same institution.

Sue Slaugenhaupt, PhD, is the inaugural scientific director of Mass General’s Research Institute. She began at Mass General in the early 1990s and has spent her whole career focused on understanding two rare diseases: familial dysautonomia (FD) and mucolipidosis type IV (ML4). She tackled the challenges of building a thriving scientific career at the same time she was building her family. She discusses how she is now working to pay it forward and change the culture of scientific research for the better.

Cathy E. Minehan is chair of Mass General’s Board of Trustees. Her long career in at Federal Reserve Bank included many firsts—she was the first woman to become the 1st vice president of any reserve bank, the first woman to become president of the Boston bank and only the second female president in the whole federal bank system. She discusses the importance of being your own advocate, how she broke gender barriers and how her banking success has led to a fulfilling second career as a board member.

Allison Bryant, MD, MPH, spends her days caring for women with high-risk pregnancies and advocating for not just safety and quality of care, but also the equity of care. Dr. Bryant explains how we might go about improving equity in health care and why it’s important for us all to examine our own biases.

Before becoming a neurosurgeon, Pamela Jones, MD, trained as a writer, and spent her free time in ballet. You might be surprised by how training as a journalist and a ballerina has helped her become a better surgeon.

Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH, is the deputy director of the Disparities Solutions Center at Mass General. Beginning with the Peace Corps after college, Aswita has devoted her career to lifting disenfranchised groups. Hear how she’s also charted her own path to success and leadership along the way.