Years of medical service in the Memphis community made them doctors, nurses and educators, but first, they were women.
Anita Vaughn, administrator and CEO of the Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, moderated yesterday's event at the Ned R. McWherter Library, dubbed "Healing the Community: The Impact of Women in Healthcare."
Vaughn and other community professionals discussed ways women overcame inequality in the field, started healthcare movements and increased the quality of life for the underprivileged.
"Today we have prominent women with us who have succeeded in the workplace, where once they would have been considered unsuitable," she said, citing sectors such as administration, education, oncology, private and public practice, nursing, pediatrics and hospice care. "These women have influenced and enhanced the practice of medicine."
Most medical schools consist of half men and half women - a giant leap from more than a century ago, when Elizabeth Blackwell became the first female doctor in the U.S., said Marcia Bowden, doctor of internal medicine and owner of Bowden Internal Medicine.
"We are making great strides in medicine, policies and everything," she said. "In the next 20 years I can see us cheering for a woman as president."
Angela Watson, doctor of internal medicine at Complete Healthcare Center, said that although women have moved forward in the medical field, some patients still visualize doctors as men in white coats.
"You'll walk into a patient's room, introduce yourself (as a doctor), and they'll be on the phone and say, 'My nurse just walked in,'" Watson said. "One lady told me, 'Go get the real doctor.'"
Watson said it is important for women in healthcare to try to overcome sexism in the medical field to achieve success and happiness with their careers.
"The thing we as women have to understand is that not much has changed," she said. "We have to make the change in ourselves and be consistent, because the only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."
Linda Lazar, professor of pediatrics at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, said focusing on treating patients instead of feeling pressured to compete with male doctors is of the utmost importance for women in the medical community.
"When taking care of human beings, you have to make sure that you're always better than you were the day before," she said. "I don't worry about being better than a man."
Panel members also discussed how women have made a positive impact locally by imploring innovative ways to approach patient treatments, communication and teamwork.
Dean of University Libraries at The U of M Sylverna Ford said she enjoyed learning about how the seven discussion participants worked, both past and present, to make changes within the Memphis healthcare community.
"One of the things that impressed me was all the different efforts underway to address issues in the Memphis area," she said.
