The Women's Surgical Collaborative is a faculty group that was formed to recruit, promote and retain talented women surgeons across all divisions. Women-centered faculty collaboratives are being created at health systems across the nation to foster cultures that actively support female surgeons as they work to achieve their career goals and pursue formidable positions with greater confidence.

Women's Surgical Collaborative Team

For many years, women have been underrepresented in the field of surgery. However, at Phoenix Children’s, we are proud of the fact that our number of female surgeons is steadily increasing.

Nationwide, as of 2016, there were only 20 female chairs of departments of surgery in the United States. Across the United States, women accounted for 8% of professors, 13% of associate professors, and 26% of assistant professors of surgery1. Here at Phoenix Children’s, 53% of our physicians are women and women comprise 32% of all division chiefs and 27% of surgical division chiefs.

We need to continue to offer women the opportunities for advancement to meet the current and future needs in health care and academic medicine.

Our Mission

In an effort to combat the ongoing need for gender parity in medicine, in 2021, women surgeons from across the surgical department created the Phoenix Children’s Women’s Surgical Collaborative (WSC) modeled after several other successful programs in the nation with a mission to:

  • Endorse and encourage the building of an inclusive, diverse workforce by advancing women surgeons' professional careers
  • Prepare each surgeon to achieve the highest level of excellence in clinical practice, research, leadership, and education
  • Advance women surgeons' careers through mentorship, advocacy, professional development, and networking
  • Promote women by creating opportunity, equality, and education
  • Recruit and retain motivated and talented women surgeons, physicians and scientists who will contribute to building a collaborative, nationally recognized physician team at Phoenix Children's
  • Develop skills and strategies to be progressive leaders in academic medicine on regional, national, and international levels
  • Collaborate with all physicians, as well as hospital leadership and special interest groups on local, regional, and national levels

Phoenix Children’s Women’s Surgical Collaborative places an emphasis on advancing female surgeons and creating a culture where female surgeons feel heard and supported and have the same opportunities for advancement as their male counterparts. The WSC was developed to disseminate and implement strategies that promote the academic advancement of female surgeons to achieve diversity, equity and inclusion across all surgical disciplines. 

Having diverse teams makes a difference for patients and hospitals. According to a 2019 review from the National Medical Association1, healthcare studies showed patients generally fare better when care was provided by more diverse teams, and financial performance also improved with increased diversity.2  A 2022 JAMA study in adults showed better outcomes for female patients when they were cared for by female surgeons compared to male surgeons.3

While institutions may not intend for their cultures or policies to inhibit the career development of women, studies have shown that the traditional male surgical culture and unconscious biases negatively affect the experiences of female surgeons.

According to a July 2018 study in the International Journal of Surgery: Global Health1, gendered stereotypes and social perceptions about women’s abilities play a role in pushing women away from surgical specialties including:

  • The difficulty of balancing family caregiving with a demanding career
  • Lack of adequate female role models
  • Inequality including a significant pay gap and lack of promotion as compared to male counterparts
  • Not fitting the typical surgeon profile in personality, physical stature or strength
Gender Inequality in Surgery chart

At Phoenix Children’s, it is our mission to break down these barriers. The unification of women surgeons in groups like the Women’s Surgical Collaborative is a step in the right direction to promote the positive perception of women surgeons throughout society. Our goal is to actively address unconscious bias and help identify strategies and programs that further the mission of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Our Women's Surgical Collaborative (WSC) has already made notable progress since its inception in 2021:

  • WSC is the first true DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiative at Phoenix Children’s.
  • The team held a 6-week group coaching program for its members.
  • Exit interviews have been completed for all recent former female surgeon faculty members.
  • All new female surgeons are welcomed to the group with a formal dinner.
  • Senior WSC members continue to mentor junior faculty, for example, with academic promotion.
  • WSC inspired a group of female anesthesiologists at Phoenix Children’s to form their own group.
  • WSC continues to be involved in general recruitment efforts for the surgical departments.
  • Erin Garvey, MD, a founding member of WSC, has created the Lactation Advocacy Champions Program.
     
    • The Lactation Advocacy Champions was an initiative born out of collaboration with a multidisciplinary lactation workgroup, the Women’s Surgical Collaborative and the Wellbeing Directors at Phoenix Children’s. The goal is to provide resources and support to enable all lactating employees at Phoenix Children’s to meet or exceed their breastfeeding goals. The project began with trainees in mind as Graduate Medical Education passed a Lactation Policy for trainees in the fall of 2022 thanks to the efforts of Dr. Kristi Samaddar, the Associate Program Director for the Pediatrics Residency.
    • The Lactation Advocacy Champions (LACs) are familiar with the four-page GME Lactation Policy and all of the lactation resources at Phoenix Children’s. The LACs serve as a source of support for the trainees and help them to craft their lactation accommodation plan upon their return from parental leave.
    • Currently, 25 of 36 divisions have a LAC representative to help, not only the trainees in that division, but any employee in the division who needs support with lactation at work. We recognize not all Phoenix Children’s employees are housed within a division, and we are committed to providing our services to everyone within the Phoenix Children’s Family.
    • Dr. Erin Garvey gave a Surgery Grand Rounds about the Lactation Advocacy Champions program on December 5, 2023, to increase awareness about the initiative. The Grand Rounds was very well received and has received feedback from several trainees that they were grateful to be connected to their LAC when returning to work, benefitting immensely from the resources shared.

Support Our Mission

If you are interested in supporting our important mission, tax-deductible donations can be made via our Heart Fund called the Women's Surgical Collaborative Fund.

Donate

Events

The members of the collaborative participate in networking events and DEI-associated research. Research includes employee satisfaction, parental leave policies for surgeons, and lactation support nationwide. The Women’s Surgical Collaborative is committed to supporting DEI events at the hospital as well as in the community and enjoyed participating in the Phoenix Pride Run in March 2022.

Women’s Surgical Collaborative hosts Surgery Grand Rounds annually. Stay tuned for our 2025 Grand Rounds speaker.

 

 

Prior speakers include:

  • 2024: Dr. Leah Brown, Orthopedic Surgery (Sports Medicine, Knee, Shoulder and Elbow)
  • 2023: Dr. Diana Farmer, Pediatric Surgery (Fetal and Neonatal Surgery)

Resources

  1. de Costa, Josephine BA/LLB; Chen-Xu, José BSc, MD; Bentounsi, Zineb MD; Vervoort, Dominique MD. Women in surgery: challenges and opportunities, International Journal of Surgery: Global Health: July 2018 - Volume 1 - Issue 1 - p e02 doi: 10.1097/GH9.0000000000000002
  2. Gomez LE, Bernet P. Diversity improves performance and outcomes. J Natl Med Assoc. 2019 Aug;111(4):383-392. doi: 10.1016/j.jnma.2019.01.006. Epub 2019 Feb 11. PMID: 30765101.
  3. Wallis CJF, Jerath A, Coburn. Association of Surgeon-Patient Sex Concordance With Postoperative Outcomes. JAMA Surg. 2022;157(2):146-156.