Becker's Hospital Review

33 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP Women's research activity takes a hit By Molly Gamble W omen shoulder more household labor than men, and it shows in how much work fe- male researchers have been able to complete during the coronavirus pandemic, according to analysis reviewed in Nature. Analysis suggests one way in which the pandemic is dispro- portionately hurting the productivity of female STEM re- searchers: ey have posted fewer preprints than their male peers, according to Nature. A preprint is a full dra research paper that is shared publicly before peer review. ese early findings are consistent with other research on the division of labor among academics. Nature cites ev- idence showing male academics are more likely to have a partner who does not work outside the home. Female academics are more likely to have a partner who is also an academic, but even in those dual-academic households, evidence shows women perform more household labor than men. Megan Frederickson, PhD, an associate professor of ecol- ogy and evolutionary biology for University of Toledo, initiated her analysis on preprints while socially isolat- ed with her 6-year-old child. Her examination of sub- missions to two preprint servers — arXiv and bioRxiv — across disciplines found the rate at which women pub- lished preprints has fallen relative to the rate at which men did during the pandemic. For one server, arXiv, the number of preprints with male authors submitted in late March and early April 2020 grew at nearly twice the rate as the number of submitted pre- prints with female authors compared to the same dates in 2019. Dr. Frederickson notes that pandemic lockdowns have so far been relatively short compared with the usual research timeline, meaning the long-term implications of compro- mised productivity for women's careers are unclear. "How long this effect will persist and what its downstream consequences might be for journal publications and aca- demic careers are open questions," she wrote. For leaders who oversee or work with scientists and re- searchers, Dr. Frederickson said her early findings sug- gest a need for greater nuance when discussing and measuring productivity. "Down the line, it's going to be important for hiring deci- sions, promotion decisions and decisions about salary to not focus too much on productivity during this period, be- cause it will be so different among people who have had dif- ferent experiences in this pandemic," Dr. Frederickson told Becker's Hospital Review. "ere are so many variables that affect how scientists are working, many of which are harder to measure, like who is a parent, who isn't a parent, who is grieving, who is taking care of their parents and more." n Top 10 specialties with highest percentage of female physicians By Anuja Vaidya O bstetrics and gyne- cology and pediatrics have the highest per- centages of female physicians compared to other medical specialties, according to a Medscape survey. Medscape, a medical news website, surveyed 17,461 U.S. physicians in more than 30 specialties from Oct. 4, 2019, through Feb. 10. Here are 10 medical special- ties with the highest percent- age of female physicians: • Obstetrics and gynecology: 58 percent • Pediatrics: 58 percent • Rheumatology: 54 percent • Dermatology: 49 percent • Diabetes and endocrinolo- gy: 45 percent • Family medicine: 43 percent • Psychiatry: 43 percent • Pathology: 40 percent • Internal medicine: 36 per- cent • Infectious diseases: 36 percent n Florida hospital CEO manages from 'arm's length' as cancer diagnosis leaves her immunocompromised By Morgan Haefner G risel Fernandez-Bravo, DNP, CEO of Memorial Hospital Miramar (Fla.), has had to find new ways to manage op- erations after treatment for her cancer diagnosis left her immunocompromised and susceptible to COVID-19. In 2018, Dr. Fernandez-Bravo was diagnosed with smoldering multiple myeloma. She is enrolled in a clinical trial at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center and LeBow Institute for My- eloma Therapeutics at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center in Boston. Dr. Fernandez-Bravo is used to commuting between Massachu- setts and Florida for treatment, though now she drives instead of flying due to COVID-19. Because of her immunocompromised state, she has addressed supply concerns and worked on creating emergency evaluation tents at her hospital without being on-site. Dr. Fernandez-Bravo, who describes herself as a hands-on leader, still answers around-the-clock phone calls and videoconferenc- ing, managing her hospital from what she told Dana-Farber Can- cer Institute is "an arm's length." "I'm lucky because I have an amazing team who can be the boots on the ground for me," Dr. Fernandez-Bravo said. "It's been diffi- cult to be away, but I am grateful I can continue to work, even if it's at an arm's length." n

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