Let’s get one factor straight. There’s at all times been ladies in drugs. So long as people have been round, ladies have performed a key position in therapeutic, mending, and caring for the sick. That girls have taken on medical titles and roles beforehand reserved for males is much less a mirrored image of girls’s skill to ship healthcare than an instance of tenacity not giving into entrenched insurance policies of bias.
At UVA Well being, we have fun all of the methods by which ladies have labored to make drugs obtainable, inexpensive, accessible, and equitable. We acknowledge the trailblazers who pushed the boundaries of acceptability in addition to the ladies who, nonetheless at present, try to ship inclusive care and create areas within the medical system that function with parity and equity.
Yearly, our writing workforce will get to speak to ladies in drugs doing unbelievable issues to enhance the lives and wellbeing of individuals all through Virginia and past.
This is a number of of our latest favorites.
Serving to Infants Sleep Throughout the Nation
Rachel Moon, MD, is a UVA Well being Youngsters’s pediatrician and a protected sleep knowledgeable. Moon helped write the American Academy of Pediatrics’ up to date suggestions for lowering sudden toddler loss of life syndrome (SIDS). With greater than a decade of finding out each the causes and prevention of SIDS, few individuals are extra knowledgeable on the significance of protected sleep.
Turning the Genetic Keys
Chelsea Chambers, MS, CGC, helps individuals untangle their genetic histories. She’s a genetic counselor at UVA Well being with a particular focus in neurogenetics.
Her work performs a key position in serving to sufferers discover out the easiest way to forestall or plan for critical inherited sickness. She solutions to sufferers’ frequent questions on neurogenetics, genetic counseling, and testing for neurological circumstances.
Measuring Care to Guarantee Equality
Bizz Glover co-chairs UVA Well being’s LGBTQ & Transgender Advisory Committee. She was additionally a part of a management workforce that helped UVA Well being College Medical Heart earn a “Chief” rating of 100 within the 2024 Healthcare Equality Index (HEI). This index charges over 2,200 healthcare services on how effectively their insurance policies and practices assist LGBTQ+ sufferers, guests, and workers. Her dedication to rising inclusion for each affected person ensures that individuals who have usually confronted discrimination and denial of companies get the compassionate care they deserve.
A Uncommon Skilled for a Too-Widespread Downside
Day by day within the U.S., 4-5 youngsters die from abuse and neglect. Regardless of the variety of youngsters affected, pediatricians who focus on youngster abuse are uncommon. In Virginia, there are 3.
Jennifer Andrews, DO, is 1 of these 3. In her extremely specialised position as a toddler abuse pediatrician, Andrews search for indicators of abuse in forensic exams, consults with medical doctors who desire a second opinion, and helps advocate for methods to forestall youngster abuse. Her presence at UVA Well being Youngsters’s means children all through the area have somebody with the precise coaching and data to validate, heal, and shield them once they want it most.
Making a Lifetime Influence Throughout Disparities
Wendy Cohn, MEd, PhD, is UVA Well being Most cancers Heart’s affiliate director for neighborhood outreach and engagement. She leads a workforce that works to forestall and cut back most cancers within the areas UVA Well being serves. Current efforts have prolonged to rural areas of Virginia that lack entry to the type of knowledgeable healthcare situated in cities. Cohn’s management will proceed to influence the lives of untold numbers of individuals for years to come back.