Welcome
NANETS is pleased to announce the formation of the Women in NETs initiative. This is a collaboration of the Membership & Diversity Committee and the Mentoring & Early Career Development Committee.
NANETS Welcomes Dr. Anees Chagpar as the speaker for 2023 Women In NETs Luncheon
12:30 - 1:20 pm EDT, on Friday, October 6 at the
NET Medical Symposium in Montreal.
Dr. Anees Chagpar will be the keynote speaker for the second annual Women in NETs Luncheon, held at the 2023 NET Medical Symposium in Montreal.Dr. Chapgar is a full Professor in the Department of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Born and raised in Canada, she completed her BSc in Honors Biochemistry and MD with Honors in Research at the University of Alberta, and her general surgery residency training and MSc at the University of Saskatchewan. (Read full profile here.)
The Inaugural Women in NETs Program was held
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
featuring an inspiring presentation
by Pamela L. Kunz, MD, Yale School of Medicine
Finding my voice and becoming an advocate for gender equity in medicine
After viewing, please take a quick survey
Resources
Click above to see the resources Dr. Kunz mentioned in her talk.
Announcements and Updates
Careers in Medicine are Disproportionally Difficult for Women and Minorities: We Must Create a Sense of Community and Representation
November 3, 2021
Jaydira Del Rivero, MD, and Fatima Karzai, MD
In their recent editorial published in the ASCO Daily News, co-authors Jaydira del Rivero, MD, PhD, and Fatima Karzai, MD, draw attention to the continued disparities and lack of inclusivity for women and minorities in the field of medicine.
The article raises important questions that need to be addressed in order for the medical profession to successfully eradicate unconscious biases and foster a more equitable environment. We wanted to hear more from Drs. del Rivero and Karzai on the topic. So NANETS interiewed them, and here's some of what they had to say:
Q: Why do you think it is taking so long for the medical profession to address gender and racial disparities and unconscious biases?
Dr. Karzai: "One of the first things we need to acknowledge is that a lot of people don't consider this an issue. Recently, with social movements, social media - and the COVID 19 pandemic - these issues have come to the surface more. And we really need to focus on underrepresented minorities and women in academia. I think that, in the past, these issues were in people's minds, but not seriously acted upon."
Dr. del Rivero: "We've known about these issues for years, but we've failed to acknowledge them. I think, with the recent violence, followed by the pandemic...we are now acknowledging these issues, and we need to find solutions to see how we can improve the situation. And, this is just my opinon, but I feel that, in order to make changes, there have to be programs in every institution and we need to be held accountable. But we also need to make sure leadership is held accountable and that we have transparency. Once we know we have these things in place, we can then feel like, 'Ok, we have a responsiblity to make those changes.' Expanding diversity and inclusion programs must be supported and implemented. Sometimes one of the setbacks is a lack of resources...this is another thing we address in our editorial."
Q: What can institutions do - in the short term - to counteract the negative impact COVID -19 has had on the careers and advancement of women and minorities in the medical profession?
Dr. Karzai: First, I think there need to be programs that actually ensure women and minorities have the opportunitiy to become part of leadership and other high profile jobs, in order for us to see them on a level that perhaps is not present in medicine currently. The other thing is providing some type of support for women and minorities during these times to be able to publish, to have some type of avaiablity or extra time to pursue tenure or promotions...there has to be some type of timeline that is extended and gives people more opportunities to expand their careers.A lot of what we've written about and noticed is that women and underrepresented minorities have many roles, in both the home and in academic institutions. So, there really is a paucity of time. We need to address other social issues, too, like childcare."
Dr. del Rivero: During the pandemic, a lot of the household responsibilities fell to women...which was very stressful and definitely impacted all women in general, who wanted to pursue a career in science. I think that having programs implemented for those types of situations will be important going forward. Also, in terms of having successful grants - and extending those grants - this is something we need to pay a lot more attention to. Having programs in place that can help in those situations is very important. This is also important at the levels of leadership and mentorship, having programs and courses...I think that is where change needs to start."
We will share a video of the full interview on NANETS' website and on social media in the coming week. We invite you to tune in and share your thoughts with us on this topic through social media. We'd love to hear what types of programs and initiatves are being implemented at your institution to combat racial, gender and cultural inequities in the medical field. Watch the entire interview here.
Read the ASCO Editorial