Becker's Hospital Review

26 WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP POPULATION HEALTH 4 women leaders on succeeding in healthcare By Lauren Jensik T he following healthcare leaders shared their advice for women seeking success in the industry in late 2021. Here is what they had to say: Denise Basow, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Offi- cer of Ochsner Health (New Orleans): My observation is that overall, women tend to lack confidence. We tend to be hard on ourselves and see our deficiencies before we feel good about our strengths. I'm not sure if that's unique to IT, but maybe it's even more prevalent in IT, where historically there have been fewer women. I spend a lot of time giving pep talks to women, and I much less frequently need to do that with men. So my best advice is to just have confidence in yourself. I've talked to so many women with fantastic resumes who've been saying, 'Well, I don't think I'm ready for that next move because I'm lacking a certain skill.' And I think I'm living proof that you don't have to know everything. When you go into a new role you have to work hard, be cu- rious, collaborative, willing to learn and just have the confidence that you can fill in the gaps. If I could impart that message to more women, I think that would be a positive thing. Madeline Bell, BSN. CEO of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: I would tell women, and I do tell women, to not leave healthcare. So many women are leaving the workforce right now, healthcare in partic- ular. And I would tell them that there's lots of opportunity and flexibil- ity in a career in healthcare no matter what it is. You can be on the pro- vider side, you can be on the insurance side, you can work for pharma, life sciences, health policy. ere are just so many opportunities. [My advice is] to not limit yourself in your current career, but to think more broadly about healthcare, and because healthcare is so dominated by women and many consumer decisions about healthcare are made by women, having women leaders in healthcare is really important. Yolanda Coleman, PhD, RN. Chief Nursing Officer for Weiss Memo- rial Hospital (Chicago): I would say you have to be passionate about your leadership role. You should have a desire to be a positive mentor. You should always exhibit a conscious concern for patient care, contin- ually focus on quality and safety, have a commitment and dedication to the profession and also maintain the highest level of competency, and you need to be proactive in an ever-changing and hectic environment. Prathibha Varkey, MD. President of Mayo Clinic Health System (Rochester, Minn.): Close to 70 percent of individuals who make de- cisions about healthcare for families are women, and about a similar proportion of the workforce in healthcare are women, but there con- tinues to be a significant discrepancy in terms of women in senior roles nationally. My advice to aspiring women leaders: Approach opportunities with grit and courage; be fearless in execution and persistent despite evolving challenges. ere is so much opportunity to transform healthcare right now. We ourselves, as healthcare institutions, have learned so much and grown so much over the last couple of years, and we really need diversity in terms of thought perspective in leadership, in driving healthcare and healthcare agendas forward. And I think women and diversity in leadership will take us much further in terms of these opportunities. n A look at 3 women honored on Forbes '30 Under 30' in healthcare list By Georgina Gonzalez T welve women under 30 years old in healthcare made Forbes magazine's 2022 "30 Under 30" list for their contributions in saving lives and creating a more equitable future. Here's a look at three of them. 1. Stephanie Wisner. Ms. Wisner co-founded startup Cen- tivax, a company that develops treatments for COVID-19, influenza and other infectious diseases. It uses immuno- engineering and has a contract with the U.S. Navy. 2. LaShyra Nolen. Ms. Nolen is a health equity and social justice advocate working to remedy the racial injustice and lack of access to healthcare she grew up around. She's an appointed member of the White House Health Equity Leadership Roundtable. 3. Shriya Srinivasan, PhD. Dr. Srinivasan uses brain-com- puter interfaces and tissue engineering to improve the use of prostheses, allowing patients to receive sensory feedback from them. About 30 amputation patients are using prostheses that she designed. n Older women driving 'Great Retirement' in the US By Georgina Gonzalez D uring the "Great Retirement" that has manifest- ed since the COVID-19 pandemic began, women are more likely to be retired than their male peers, according to data from the Institute for Economic Equity published Jan. 4. As of October 2021, there were 7 percent more retirees in the U.S. than in January 2020, representing 3.3 million people. The increase in retirees lie mostly in those older than 65, especially those ages 65-74. Women were more likely to be retired than their male counterparts, around 11 percent more likely for those in the 65-74 age group and 5 percent more likely in people 75 and older, according to the data. Married people were also more likely to be retired than their unmarried counterparts. A large share of the older women who retired worked in trade, retail, leisure and hospitality, an author of the study told Fortune, as they possibly were worried about COVID-19 exposure. Black, Hispanic and Native American workers were also less likely to be retired compared with white workers of similar age. n

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