Heisler authors paper, earns Best Diversity Paper Award

Huge congratulations to Christine Heisler, MD, of the UW Ob-Gyn Division of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery! Heisler authored a paper in a recent edition of the American Journal of Surgery – the paper was presented at the 2020 Association of Women Surgeons Annual Conference, where it won the Best Diversity Paper award!

“Leading from Behind: Paucity of gender equity statements and policies among professional surgical societies” examined publicly available policies and statements addressing gender equity, harassment, pay equity, discrimination, and more in eight surgical specialties:

“Addressing the multitude of gender inequities requires recognition of the problems, analysis of underlying mechanisms responsible for and propagating the problems, and proactive measures to overcome them. One step in this process involves professional surgical societies publicly acknowledging the issues for which position statements may be developed. Statements and policies reflect the leadership’s awareness of these problems and the steps taken for correction. Statements provide a framework that guides the specialty with expectations of performance and behavior that upholds a set of core values. Moreover, these statements and policies should have actionable consequences for deviations in professionalism and metrics to capture meaningful improvements in gender equity.”

Heisler’s publication received an invited commentary in the American Journal of Surgery as well. You can read Heisler’s publication here, and the invited commentary here. Incredible work, Dr. Heisler!