Nearing the Clinical End: A Female Perspective

Abstract

“Where to start?” is a ubiquitous and rather annoying question when asked to give opinions about oneself. “Should I tell you my life story?” “Do you want to hear how I could have done it differently?” “Shall I tell you my regrets or my successes?” “Does the information I tell you ultimately make a difference in your life choices and your personal odyssey?” The questions could go on, but I’ll choose to give you my truths from a retrospect of 28 years of professional life, 30 years of married life, and 60 years of “being female.” In my opinion, none of these questions is more important or dominates the other – my professional life, my married life, my years as a mother of three children, and my life as a woman make up who am I. I could not imagine becoming me or being me – having one without the other.

“Medicine is so broad a field, so closely interwoven with general interests…that it must be regarded as one of those great departments of work in which the cooperation of men and women is needed to fulfill all its requirements”.

Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, a leading public health activist who graduated first in her class and became the first woman in the world to receive a medical degree in 1849 in the USA