This month, women’s history was celebrated bringing attention to the remarkable role that women play in society. Here at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, our Women’s Initiatives Task Force supports and fosters women all throughout the year.
They kicked off 2023 with women issues at the forefront with a symposium on gender in science and academia on January 18. This was the first in what they hope to be a yearly summit to generate conversations surrounding gender in science and academia. The day included inspirational talks about career growth and sex differences in cancer. Speakers represented the full academic medicine spectrum from MD/PhD student and research specialist to professor and associate vice chancellor. The event ended with a book reading from the internationally renowned author, Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, leaving the audience with a profound reflection on silence. View the agenda.
Also this month, two members of the task force and our cancer center shared their experience as female researchers in cancer in Q&As available here.
When asked how the field of cancer research has changed for women, Olivera Finn, PhD, responded, “There are increasingly more women in cancer research and their contributions are better recognized. More women in the field provides for a more supportive and a richer mentoring environment.”
Kelly Bailey, MD, PhD, noted that “Mentorship never stops,” and she “had the pleasure of working with fantastic female scientist and clinician-scientists from the start of [her] research career. She “strives to ‘pay it forward’ and be a good mentor to others.”
We are grateful for the contributions of all our UPMC Hillman Cancer Center members and staff. Everyone of us has an integral role in achieving our mission to provide exceptional patient care as a world leader in understanding, preventing, and treating cancer through the integration of scientific discovery, clinical excellence, and community partnerships, while training the next generation of cancer experts.