Women Leaders Loom Large at Global Health Day
Trailblazing, multitalented and courageous. That’s how leadership in global health looks today, according to Dr. Wendy Lai, who gave the keynote at the University of Toronto's annual Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Global Health Day this spring.
Many of the leaders who embody those qualities are women, Lai also noted.
She would know. Lai is the president of Doctors Without Borders Canada and has trained medical residents in Ethiopia, treated survivors of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo and helped earthquake victims in Haiti, during some of her global health missions.
Lai is also an emergency physician at Humber River Hospital and a graduate of the Family Medicine residency program at U of T. In her address at the event, which focused on women and girls in global health and marked graduation for the 2019 class of the PGME Global Health Education Initiative, Lai brought home a personal and strong message: Cut your own path.
She spoke of her interest in social justice during high school, when she thought her path would lead to law or journalism, and her realization that she could address injustice through medicine and global health. And she talked of rejecting the “white coat” culture of medicine that fosters a system of control, seeking instead role models authentic to themselves.
Lai also spoke of redefining femininity by choosing elements of gendered roles for her own, noting that she still wears with pride a moniker given by a classmate in medical school: “Radical Feminist Betty Crocker.”
Lai’s message resonated with Antonia Sappong, a recent graduate of U of T’s Family Medicine residency program who is still honing a career focus. “I liked the theme of finding yourself, of knowing who you are,” said Sappong. “Fitting together my interests in a time-limited residency training has been challenging, and I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Sappong has done teacher training and taught chemistry, volunteered for NGOs in Africa and South America, and is now doing locums around Ontario, filling in where clinical needs arise. She said it was re-assuring to hear Lai stress the importance of experience in various work cultures and clinics for young physicians, so they can better understand what they want to do.
The day also featured roundtable discussions on health in Indigenous communities and the Rohingya refugee crisis, among other topics.
A roundtable on financial literacy focused on menstrual hygiene management among girls and women in low-income countries. “I was surprised to learn about some of the cultural barriers women face in accessing hygiene products for menstruation,” said Dr. Lulú Espinosa, an Anesthesia fellow who moderated the roundtable. “These products address a basic need, but many families don’t see them that way.”
Dr. Tanzila Basrin was a planning committee member for the event who moderated roundtables on grand challenges in global health, and intimate partner and sexual violence. She said the latter talk, led by University Professor Donna Stewart, was particularly eye-opening. “Dr. Stewart was very cognizant of the fact that this kind of violence happens to both genders, and we heard some compelling stats on violence among same-sex partners and related stigma,” said Basrin.
Stewart also spoke about intimate partner violence in different parts of the world, including South Asia and Saudi Arabia. “We heard that perceptions of violence and abuse vary in terms of acceptability from country to country, which is both interesting and challenging,” said Basrin.
All presenters and moderators were women. Emerita Professor Catharine Whiteside provided opening comment, noting that solving global health challenges requires leaders with a desire and ability to work together in public and private collaborations. Whiteside was Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at U of T from 2006 to 2014 and is now executive director of Diabetes Action Canada.
The day ended with refreshments and networking. “Our resident planning committee works hard to make this day substantial and meaningful,” said Judy Kopelow, manager of PGME global health programming and strategic initiatives. “I’m grateful that our speakers shared their experiences as women, not only as physicians and professionals. I think that’s really important.”
