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The First Woman of Surgery in My Life–Anne Barnes, MD

By Linda | May 17, 2012

Breezing through my medical school. alumni bulletin, I came face to face with the brief memorial announcement of the passing of the first woman surgeon I ever met, Dr. Anne Barnes. Every first year student at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania spoke almost reverently of Dr. Barnes. Her power to teach and inspire was so much larger than her petite frame, ready smile, and quiet voice.

We met Dr. Barnes in the first weeks of gross anatomy. She was a general surgeon who came with her lab coat over her scrubs to teach the first year students surgical anatomy. Clinical correlations of the basic sciences was a regular part of our curriculum. The most important piece of information I took away from that course was how to establish an emergency airway.

That meant we had to know where find the cricoid cartilage in the neck. The cricoid cartilage is the hard “bump” in the neck. Well, just above that is a membrane called the crico-thyroid membrane. (Stay with me, this might save someone’s life, even yours, someday.) Read More »

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Happy Mother’s Day? For Some, Not For All.

By Linda | May 14, 2012

Mother’s Day is not happy for everyone. Thankfully, I am blessed. I have with three nice (grown up) kids, all independent and successful. At least two are in meaningful relationships with nice people. They even take the time and make the effort to recognize Mother’s Day. A beautiful bouquet of my favorite flowers that have the most wonderful aroma which fills the house. And I am grateful that they all call and spend time answering my sometimes inane questions, and listen to whatever it is I am doing. So I count my blessings.

What about those whose mother’s are no longer alive? And what about those who don’t have children of their own either out of choice or from biological or social necessity? And what about the children whose mothers are alive but sadly no longer available to them because of a falling out or have succumbed to the ravages of dementia or drugs and alcohol? Read More »

Posted in My Family/My DNA | Tagged gratitude, happiness, mother's day | Leave a comment

Experts Academy 2012–I’m A Creator! An Adventure in Mission, Messaging and Creating

By Linda | May 9, 2012

Santa Clara, CA, May, 2012

Making an impact beyond the people you touch in everyday life is challenging to say the least. But the rewards far outweigh the challenge. In academic medicine my mission was to touch lives of those I didn’t meet through research and teaching. My message: keep asking and answering questions for the benefit of medical science and our patients. My creation: the large body of work found in the articles and books I have published.

While I still keep a toe hold in the academic world, my creative energies have been re-directed. I now help women physicians overcome unexpected career obstacles and deal with unpleasant medical politics so they can get the jobs they want, the pay they deserve and not become prisoners of their careers. (Great elevator speech, yes?)

Posted in Adventures in Advocacy, Travels with Linda | Leave a comment

On the Way to San Jose: Up in the Air Sharing a Potpourri of My Week

By Linda | May 5, 2012

My life of late has been anything but dull. Last week was very busy in the office and this week I had three great days seeing patients and operating. In between, I had a quiet weekend on call—in 96 hours of carrying my pager, wearing it to bed in vibrate mode so as not to wake up hubby. I received only 7 calls and none in the middle of the night! You cannot imagine how good that felt.

Two conference calls: finance committee for the American Medical Women’s Association—don’t know what made me say yes. And the ad hoc Search Committee for the Director for Practice Affairs of the American Academy of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery. We made our short list for interviews, created a list of questions. The conversations on both calls were quite lively. I think by now I wouldn’t be so amazed at how differently different people think.

Two coaching calls with women physician clients. One, an emergency, is going through post-traumatic stress and needs some help with filtering and getting back her confidence—boy do I remember when I was in that phase not too long ago. The other building a great practice and getting help in re-positioning herself. Both are challenging and rewarding as they are doing well.

My emotions went from Death Valley to Mount Everest while getting ready to do my soft launch for Women MD Resources. Trying to finish my free tool kits. Having terrible trouble getting them from Camtasia (a video creation program using my power point) to Screencast and then to my website. Spent hours with tech support and still no go. Then today, I called again and “Parker” figured it out and helped me through. My burden is lifted. I feel liberated. It will get done. We will launch in May. Our next products are in planning, development and production. (And I am hopeful that this weekend at Expert’s Academy will finalize my strategy.)

And then the piece (pee-ess) de resistance. The intro video for my website. One minute and 36 seconds to introduce WMDR with me as the “star.” At the first viewing I fell in love with the producer. Yeah Sarah! My heart soared. I loved it so much. (I hope you will, too.) Funny and edgy and different. I asked them to do something really different. And they did. Way beyond my expectations! Thank you Sarah and Terry at Full Circle studios.

Last Thursday night we stopped in at the Israel Independence Day community dinner and Israeli music and dance. Then on a smaller but no less noisy scale, we enjoyed a Shabbat dinner at our favorite Chabad Rabbi-cum otolaryngology resident-married to a great artist and parents of 5 kids (so far.) A bit of pandemonium peppered with words of Torah wisdom and thoughts about medicine in Buffalo in the 21^st century.

In between we got serious about our big birthday trip, cycling in Italy. Our present to each other. Good thing my Brazilian Butt Lift workout is beginning to show some results, because those cycling shorts are quite closely fitting. Yes, it is true. In my basement. I dance with the crazy Brazilian guy with the weird accent. And I try not to think that my bum bum will never look like those of the very young and svelte women in his studio and on the beach.

Tennis lesson followed by a great match with Dominica. She would have creamed me if not for her bronchitis, but we both had fun. Oh, and let me not forget a really great movie—The Footnote. A must see if you like movies about complex relationships and how they are affected by chance occurrences and serendipity. Very clever, very deep. Hebrew with subtitles.

So as you can see, my life last week has been a pot pourri of ups and downs. Not usually so busy. So now you know why it took a long plane ride to find the time to post. On my way to San Jose for 3 ½ days at Expert’s Academy. Meeting Karen Skoog, my dear friend from Portland, another wannabe “expert.” Keep reading and I will fill you in next week.

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When Friends Disagree—How Safe Is Your Circle?

By Linda | May 2, 2012

From sewing circles to quilting bees, consciousness raising meetings to book clubs, women continue to meet to exchange ideas and support one another in our pursuit of……? When I heard Gloria (Steinem that is) talk about our need to communicate with other women, I was in a roomful of like minded women physicians—we all were devoted to making medicine a better place for the woman physician and women patients.

Having said that, I know that not everyone agreed with the uncompromisingly strong pro-choice stance Steinem makes. But still we all realized that our shared concerns, our shared interests, and in the end, our shared successes (no matter which ones you choose to pursue) were strengthened by sometimes agreeing to disagree while coming together whenever we could, when we agreed.

So back to the more intimate situations when women gather. Take my Busy Women’s Book Club. Sunday night we met for our annual movie and dinner. The best ever vegetarian, kosher, gluten free dinner ever! Fabulous hors d’oeuvres by Karen with potato/carrot/zucchini ? latkes dipped in guacamole and blueberry salsa. Ellen G.’s sweet and sour soup with tofu and fungus (had another more palatable name like elephant ears, I think). Judge Lisa’s greek salad made after a 9 hour drive up from New York that day. Susan made a quinoa salad, always well received. Ellen S. an artful bowl of grilled veggies—loved those brussel sprouts. Vickie with a bean/wild rice/dried sun tomatoes main dish. My contribution—eggplant lasagna (truth be told Sonia made it but I chose the recipe J). And Antoinette took the prize with the most delicious ever flourless chocolate cake with whipped cream for dessert after the movie. We missed Eileen and Stephanie. Read More »

Posted in Anger Management, The Confessional | 2 Comments

Male Heads, Female Winners–A Prestigious Medical Society Recognizes the Talent of Its Future!

By Linda | April 24, 2012

San Diego, California, April 20, 2012.

Friday morning session of the Triological Society. Entry by election with credentials and a thesis. Still very few women, but growing slowly.

I walk in a bit late, still jet lagged. The program looks promising, the room less so. I am greeted by a sea of most male heads and dark business suits. Many bald and even more grey. An occasional coiffed head dots the landscape with a bright color rarely seen. By now, I think I should be used to it. I am not.

The speaker is giving the “Ogura Lecture”–an honor bestowed upon an esteemed member. Dr. Netterville, from Vanderbilt, did an outstanding job. Hmm, I wonder, has a women ever given the Ogura Lecture? And I wonder what Dr. Joe Ogura would think about that? (I did not know Dr. Ogura personally and never met the man. I have no idea about his gender politics.) My mind wandered as I looked for a seat to hear the first papers of the morning. Read More »

Posted in Adventures in Advocacy, The Confessional, Travels with Linda | Leave a comment

Important Public Announcement: Did You Know April Is Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month?

By Linda | April 19, 2012

I didn’t. And I should. Why? Because I am in the business of preventing esophageal cancer by controlling acid reflux disease in kids. The picture you see is what an esophagus (the swallowing tube) looks like before it becomes a cancer. This is very rare in children, but not so rare in adults. Looks pretty awful, doesn’t it?

I am sure many of you didn’t know that little kids spitting up, or little boys burping, “you know the way little boys do,” or some kids who have a wet barky cough all the time or won’t sleep but an hour at a time for months or years on end or a runny nose non-stop (practically from birth) even with many courses of antibiotics, really have acid and other nasty stomach contents coming up and causing all sorts of these problems. It’s the airway problems, such as refractory asthma or airway narrowing, that can be really worrisome. And these are the airway problems that affect a large portion of the patients whom I treat. Read More »

Posted in Ask Linda, On the Job, Worthy Causes | 2 Comments

April 17, 2012–Equal Pay Day Again. Ho Hum. What Would Gloria Steinem Say?

By Linda | April 17, 2012

Juxtapose: I woke up this morning and NPR did not even mention that today was Equal Pay Day–the day when US women finally have earned the same amount as men in 2011–they had to work 3.5 months longer to do it. WITH: Dancing with Gloria Steinem on Saturday night.

Last Saturday night the legendary Gloria Steinem spoke to 300 plus women physicians and medical students at the gala dinner of the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Medical Women’s Association. She spoke about the serious plight of one of the world’s biggest businesses, the slave trade and human trafficking in women and children. At once sobering, and then again a wake up call. There is more to do. Women in the comfortable US need to be ever vigilant in bringing forward not only an awareness of the world wide horrors promulgated against women, but also the promotion of a basic paradigm shift in the way women are treated in all arenas. We cannot afford to disenfranchise, subjugate or waste the talents of half the population of the world.

With her formal presentation over, I quickly jumped to the mike. “Gloria,” I said, “how do we bring the message to the upcoming generations? How would you, a woman of the media, campaign the medical students and educate them on the fact that gender issues are (unfortunately) relevant to them?” And she answered, “You are doing it right here, right now. Keep talking. Keep up the conversation.”

And so I do. At the risk of repeating myself over and over.

The coincidence of equal pay day with an historical visit from Ms. Steinem on our 97th annual meeting of the American Medical Women’s Association should not go unnoticed. While it would seem that these two “injustices” (pay gaps and human trafficking) are disproportionate in their seriousness, I hope you will come to agree with me that their importance is equally worthy of serious attention and quite related. Read More »

Posted in Accidental Crusader, Adventures in Advocacy, Anger Management, Flashbacks, Travels with Linda, Women at Work, Worthy Causes | Tagged Equal Pay, Gloria Steinem | Leave a comment

Miami 2012: 97th American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) Meeting

By Linda | April 16, 2012

The best times are those that are totally unexpected. And nothing could have been more unexpected than day 1 of the 97th Annual AMWA meeting. More than 300 attendees enjoying a riveting program that held the interest of a most diverse group of women physicians, from surgeons to psychiatrists, from first year medical students to retired pathologists. This all started with the four women in the picture 97 years ago.

The program began with a history of the organization, delivered by past president Eliza Chin, MD, and is detailed in a previous post. Setting the stage of our legacy and our destiny was inspirational.

My roles? Here goes. Read More »

Posted in Adventures in Advocacy, Women at Work, Worthy Causes | 4 Comments

Healthcare Delivery Models Are Changing–A New Model As Practiced by “Dr. John”

By Linda | April 9, 2012

Parents of patients can be the best part of my practice. Some are courageous, some are just fun. Others are a challenge (which I usually like), and others teach me a lot.

But there is only one Dr. John Sterba, MD, PhD, FACEP (Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians). He brings his practice to his patients.

Board certified in emergency and urgent care medicine, his office is his fully equipped automobile trunk with the “tools of the trade.” Children and adults, home bound or not, he travels the greater East Aurora area and meets you at your office, your home, your hotel room, the nursing home or wherever. No waiting times (for you, and hopefully not for him either) and the convenience and privacy of the place of your choosing. Read More »

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