At Michigan Medicine, four of the last eight fellows trained have been women. It’s an exciting time to be a woman in transplant surgery.”
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“Now I have multiple mentors in transplant who I look up to and learn from. “I have gone through a lot of training with women surgeons, including women transplant surgeons leading surgical divisions and national societies,” Sonnenberg said. “Our team is working to promote the idea that having a life outside the hospital isn’t impossible for a surgeon.”Īnd that view is starting to spread - at Michigan Medicine and beyond, as Sonnenberg can attest. If men can do that, so can women,” Barrett said. “My male colleagues are all committed to their families. “I specifically was told it wouldn’t allow me to raise a family and do the other things that society views to be a woman’s role.”īut having a family and being a surgeon aren’t mutually exclusive. “A lot of women are discouraged from pursuing transplant surgery because of the lifestyle,” Barrett said.
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Then she had to deal with expectations and negative reactions from peers and leaders at every step of her training. She was assisted by fellow Liza Sonnenberg, M.D.įor Barrett, getting to the point where she would lead a liver transplantation was a long-time coming.įirst, she had to overcome the striking numbers: Only 12% of transplant surgeons in the United States are women. The procedure - which took place this time past winter - was led by Meredith Barrett, M.D., a clinical lecturer in transplant surgery. ‘Women are discouraged from pursuing transplant surgery’
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There were surgeons, fellows, anesthesiologists, scrub nurses and more crowded into the operating room, prepping the patient and carrying out the hours-long procedure.Ī closer look revealed something historic for Michigan Medicine - it was a liver transplant surgery led by a team made up entirely of women, a first since the institution began performing such transplants in 1985. At first glance, it looked just like another liver transplant surgery at Michigan Medicine.