Women and Leadership

Opportunities for Development of Women Leaders

Joy McCann Professorship

In June 2005 the University of Massachusetts Medical School received an endowment from the Joy McCann Foundation to establish a Joy McCann Professorship for Women in Medicine. The purpose of the Professorship is to identify and reward female faculty leadership in medical education, research, patient care and community service. The Professor will also have demonstrated outstanding mentoring and leadership. The recipient shall hold this Professorship for 3 years.  It is accompanied by a salary stipend of approximately $25,000 per year.   The explicit intent of the Joy McCann Foundation is that this stipend is to be used to encourage, inspire and reward the recipient. 

Our first recipient was Dr. Linda Weinreb.  Nominations for our second Joy McCann professor are currently under review.  The term will start in June 2008.

Criteria for the Joy McCann Professorship Award:

The successful candidate:

1. Will be a fulltime female academic physician (MD) and faculty member of the UMMS and/or the UMMHC, with at least 5 years of fulltime service as an academic physician.
2. Will have documented evidence of providing mentoring and leadership in the medical profession.
3. Will have served as a mentor and role model to other faculty in teaching, research and/or clinical care.
4. Will have served as an effective advisor to medical students and/or residents.
5. Will have demonstrated leadership at the local or national level.
6. Will use the Professorship to promote the success of women faculty, residents and students.

Nomination Process: Nominees for the Joy McCann Professorship will be solicited from UMASS/UMMHC faculty, medical students and residents. The call for nominations will be broad-based and will be advertised by various methods in order to reach students, residents, and faculty. 

Nomination Format: Members of the UMMS/UMMHC community are invited to submit nominations. The nominations should be a written, one-page letter describing the nominee’s teaching, service, clinical care and mentoring skills. Nominations may be submitted electronically, by mail, or by FAX to The Office of Faculty Affairs, UMass Medical School.

• The guidelines from the Joy McCann Foundation strictly prohibit interested candidates from nominating themselves.
• Nominations were due January 30, 2008.

Nominations Review Process: 

1. The Steering Committee comprises leadership from the Women’s Faculty Committee, Faculty Administration, students from the undergraduate Medical School, and residents from several Graduate Medical training programs. The Steering Committee will request a letter of recommendation for each nominee from their Chair or Division Chief. The Steering Committee will review all nominees and select no more than 10 candidates for a thorough review.
2. These candidates will be asked to provide three (3) additional letters of support, their CV and a statement of their vision for using the Professorship. The Steering Committee in collaboration with the Women’s Faculty Committee will review the submitted materials and then select 3 candidates for personal interview.
3. The 3 selected candidates will be individually interviewed by the Steering Committee. Important components of this interview will include documentation of the candidate’s leadership and mentoring successes and assessment of each candidate’s vision regarding how becoming the Joy McCann Professor would allow her to promote the success of women medical students, residents and faculty on this campus.
4. After deliberation and review of all the written and oral materials, the Steering Committee will rank the 3 candidates and submit the ranked slate to the Dean.

Award Decision:

The Dean of the Medical School will choose one of the candidates as the Joy McCann Professor. After the recipient of the Joy McCann Professorship has been announced, the Steering Committee will be discharged. As outlined in the guidelines, the Joy McCann Professorship will be awarded for a three-year term with the option to reapply for a second three-year term. At the appropriate time, another Steering Committee will be created to issue a new call for nominations. 

Professorship Responsibilities:

In addition to promoting the success of women faculty, residents and medical students, during her 3 year tenure, the Joyce McCann Professor will be expected to:

1. Become an active member of the Women’s Faculty Committee
2. Report annually on progress to the Women’s Faculty Committee
3. Report annually on progress to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
4. Report annually on progress to the Joy McCann Professorship Program

AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Seminar

The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) offers a seminar for Early Career Women Faculty.  This four-day professional development seminar is designed for women assistant professors and focuses on academic medicine career building, skills in curriculum vitae development and basic management skills. Attendees are encouraged to develop their social network through the career mapping sessions. The seminar is targeted primarily at physicians. CME credit is offered.  

Seminar objectives:

• To assist participants in creating an agenda for working toward professional development goals;
• To provide participants with insights into the realities of building a career in academic medicine, into key ways in which academic medicine is changing, and into leadership qualities demanded by these realities and changes;
• To help participants to expand their network of colleagues and role models and to bring new energy to their networking; and
• To assist participants in identifying the skill areas on which they most need to work and give them a start in developing them.

Next meeting: July 12-15, 2008, Washington, DC. Enrollment is now open and the application deadline of Friday, March 7, 2008.  The full program and application materials are available now on the AAMC meetings website: http://www.aamc.org/meetings/wim/ewim/2008/start.htm

AAMC Mid Career Women Faculty Seminar

The Association of American Medical Colleges' (AAMC) offers a seminar for Mid-Career Women Faculty.   This four-day professional development seminar is designed for women associate or full professors with clear potential for advancement to departmental and institutional leadership. CME credit is offered.

Seminar objectives:

• Develop career plans to advance along a path to leadership;
• Enhance skill in communication, especially with public audiences and media;
• Improve knowledge of institutional finance and departmental budgeting processes;
• Strengthen selected skills such as negotiation, conflict, personnel and time management; and
• Expand networks of mentors and colleagues in academic medicine

Next meeting: to be announced.

Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine_SM Program for Women 

The Office of Faculty Affairs and the Women's Faculty Committee are seeking nominates for senior women faculty to apply for the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) Program for Women 2008-2009 Class.  The Women's Faculty Committee will forward its recommendation to the Dean of the appropriate school for their support of the faculty's application. 

The ELAM Program is a year-long, time intensive opportunity for senior women to progress into leadership positions.  If you have questions about it, please go to their website at http://www.drexelmed.edu/elam/home.html, or contact Dr. Michele Pugnaire who is an ELAM alum, or the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Committees and Programs

Women's Faculty Committee

The purpose of the Women's Faculty Committee is to serve in an advisory capacity to the Chancellor regarding issues relevant to women faculty, with the support of the Offices of Faculty Affairs and Diversity and Equal Opportunity. The committee has direct input in the following areas: 

 The Women's Faculty Committee 2007 Outstanding Achievements Award Recipients are:

• Sarah Stone Excellence in Education Award
  Linda A. Pape, MD, Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Medicine
• Outstanding Community Service Award
  Suzanne Cashman, ScD, Associate Professor of Family Medicine & Community Health 
• Women in Science and Health Achievements Award
  Lori Pbert, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Preventive & Behavioral Medicine 
• Excellence in Clinical Services Award
  Sarah Cheeseman, MD, Professor of Medicine, Infectious Disease & Immunology
• Outstanding Mentoring Award
  Judith K. Ockene, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Preventive & Behavioral Medicine

Women's Leadership Working Group of the Women's Faculty Committee

Women’s Leadership Working Group assesses existing national norms for women in academic medical schools, assesses UMMS and UMass Memorial Health Care (UMMHC) needs, and reviews the UMMS data on rank and tenure and leadership positions for both male and female faculty members.  In September, the WFC co-chairs presented their findings to the UMMS/UMMHC Leadership Council, along with strategies to enhance the efforts made to increase the number of women in tenured positions, at senior academic rank and in institutional leadership roles.