Last month, Indiana University School of Medicine Faculty Affairs and Professional Development invited the IU School of Medicine community to share stories of the women in medicine who inspire them for any number of reasons. Here, we share the responses we received.
This Women in Medicine Month, we acknowledge, celebrate and honor the significant contributions female physicians, researchers and health care professionals make to the advancement of medicine and healthcare. Thank you for all you do.
Entries appear as they were submitted, with only minor edits.
Honoring Megan Crittendon, MD
Assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine
Division Chief, IU Health Physicians Emergency Medicine
"Megan is an outstanding physician and leader. She has a unique ability to relate to everyone regardless of if you are a C-suite executive or part of the housekeeping dept. She is funny, authentic and smart. She always has a smile on her face, and incredible amount of energy to get things done. She speaks up and elevates professional women around her. I am so proud to set beside her as a woman leader. Not only is she an excellent female leader, but she has balanced her professional rise with raising two incredible kids as a single mom."
Honored by Jenny Gojmerac-Owens, NP
Relationship to honoree: Work colleague
Photo credit: IU Health
Honoring Laurie Gutmann, MD
Chair, Department of Neurology
Professor or neurology
"Dr. Laurie Gutmann is a notable figure in medicine here at IUSM as she embodies the virtues: Lead, Inspire, and Impact.
"Lead: Dr. Gutmann is the Chair of the Department of Neurology and TriChair of the Neurosciences Institute. She has been tasked by the National Institutes of Health as a grant reviewer and writes for the American Board of Psychology and Neurology(an accreditation examination board for neurologist and psychologist). Dr. Gutmann serves on multiple committees within the university, her community, as well as within the field of Neurology. Her impressive leadership is complemented by her abilities to inspire and impact those around her. A leader, without those qualities, would just be a person in power. I will described how Dr. Gutmann Inspires and Impacts below.
"Inspire: I have known Dr. Gutmann for nearly a decade (since before her time at IUSM). She and I served together on what was my first national committee as part of the American Academy of Neurology’s Conference Subcommittee. New to the committee and the most junior person (I was a fellow), I worried about how my contributions to the team would be received. I immediately took to her openness and welcoming encouragement. Dr. Gutmann empowered me then and now, as my chair. She recently encouraged me to join IUSM/IUH and promoted my nomination for distinction as a Master Clinician, thus ensuring my role as the Director for the Center for Neuro-Oncology. When I landed, she quickly identified an executive coach for me to support not only my growth, but to encourage me to help grow those whom I would be tasked to lead, inspire, and impact! It is not hard to appreciate how she promotes growth for those who serve within the Neurosciences Institute with agility and sponsorship for leading roles.
"Impact: Dr. Gutmann’s impact is what rings most loudly. As a stated introvert, Dr. Gutmann allows her actions and impact to speak more readily. Her thoughtful guidance has bolstered the careers of multiple enthusiastic learners, professionals, and peers within the school of medicine and the IU medical centers. Dr. Gutmann and her team had the (timely) foresight to grow the impact of neuro-oncology as a bridging subspecialty for the Cancer and Neurosciences Institutes by proposing the development of the Neuro-Oncology Center of Excellence. In doing so, we have been able to add to the complexity of brain tumor cases seen, expand the reach of neuro-oncology by adding two additional hospital locations where we serve, and reduced the time to be seen for these patients with improved support! We are serving our learners and our state through neurology initiatives.
"Dr. Gutmann’s impact on me and others has been to inspire leadership, confidence, and team building. This makes her a stalwart member of the IUSM family and worthy of this recognition!"
Honored by Na Tosha Gatson, MD, PhD, FAAN
Relationship to honoree: Direct report, departmental faculty
Honoring Caitlin Bernard, MD
Assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology
Marguerite K. Shepard Scholar in obstetrics and gynecology
"We are all under increased pressure as we try to provide appropriate healthcare for women in today’s environment. Dr Caitlin Bernard was singled out last spring for her care of a patient, which negatively impacted her career as an OB/GYN physician. Caitlin inspires me every day. I would not have had the courage to stand up to such overwhelming forces as she did for all of us."
Honored by Jody Ghosh, MD
Relationship to honoree: "I’m a female emergency physician at IU Arnett Hospital in Lafayette. I read about Caitlin in the press and was amazed to find out that she is an IU physician! I do not know her personally, but I have donated to her cause because I am proud of her standing up for all of us."
Honoring Ashley McGinn, PhD
Assistant professor of clinical pediatrics
"Dr. McGinn is a clinical psychologist at Riley Developmental Medicine who recently joined in 2022. In addition to her excellent clinical work, in the short time she has been with the division so far, she has contributed greatly to the division and the field as a whole. She leads the Patient Education Task Force, which is a new group that focuses on developing patient education materials that are patient/family-centered and culturally and linguistically appropriate. Materials so far have included handouts for various diagnoses and in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Haitian-Creole, and Burmese). She is also working on developing videos to bridge the health literacy gap. She is a strong leader, organized and motivating. She helps the group move forward and is always looking for new ways to improve patient education. She is an inspiration to trainees."
Honored by Asna Asrar, MD
Relationship to honoree: Colleague at Riley Developmental Medicine, departmental-behavioral pediatrics fellow
Photo credit: Riley Children's Health
As our final story for Women in Medicine Month, we share an inspirational personal account of a woman in medicine who felt the familiar tug of impostor syndrome — but upon reflection discovered that her own story is significant, valuable and worthy of sharing. We hope all women in medicine will feel encouraged to own their stories and share them with others. Your story matters.
Honoring Kari Lemme, MD, FAAP, FAAEM
Assistant professor of clinical emergency medicine
Assistant professor of clinical pediatrics
"Several years ago, I attended a Women in EM (Emergency Medicine) meeting. The agenda of the meeting was to share individual PAR statements. The acronym stands for Problem-Action- Result. A PAR statement is a method of self-promotion to highlight one’s own accomplishments and impact. As I sat in the meeting, I hoped and prayed I would not be called upon for my PAR statement as I heard my female colleagues describe some of the phenomenal work they had done making advancements and improvements within our division and in our health care system.
"One of the women talked about Impostor Syndrome, and not having heard that term before, I could not have summarized the definition better with the emotions I was feeling in my chair. The Impostor Phenomenon was first described in the 1970s by Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes. It is a state of mind where one feels they do not belong, to the degree they may doubt their own accomplishments and live in fear of being exposed as a fraud. I was sitting in room full of some of the most accomplished women I know, who do marvelous and innovative work that makes a difference in medicine. These are women I truly admire for their work. To measure up with what I had done felt quite intimidating. I finished residency many years ago. I have worked both in community and academic emergency medicine. I have always worked 'part time' to balance career and family. My focus has been patient care, teaching residents and students, and being a team player. However, my PAR statement scenarios felt to be on limited reserve. What problems had I solved? What major contributions have I made? Was I an impostor?
"My mind could only think of one problem. The problem began in the middle of the night on June 9, 2016, when our house burned down, and we lost everything in it. We spent the ensuing weeks, months, and year and a half that followed consumed by this. We consoled and comforted our 4 children-attempting to normalize the very abnormal thing that happened to us. We sifted through the remains of our charred house and counted all the items we lost. We moved 4 times, each with a few more belongings about ourselves. We battled bed bugs at one rental house and lice at another. Our two-physician family qualified for free and reduced lunches in our school district, and a transportation allowance because we were considered homeless. We had to put our beloved black lab of 15 years to sleep. We spent COUNTLESS hours on the phone talking to adjusters, contractors, fire investigators, attorneys, disaster restoration companies, and insurance agents. Eric Church’s country hit, 'Record Year' lived on repeat in my music queue and became my anthem as my headphones could provide glimpses of brief escape from the stress of reality. We tried gracefully to plan our next steps usually for the next few days, only to have it shift, or change, or need approval. I cried on my drive to work almost every shift. I felt an air of doom and depression with all the unknowns we were facing. One day at work, a close friend and colleague who sensed my downward spiral reminded me that it was all 'okay,' things would get better, and cheerfully told me, 'You’ve got this.' She was right. I just needed to believe it and embrace it, so I did. Eventually, we struck our groove and rebuilt and replaced what we lost, and a year and a half later moved back 'home.' Years have passed since that time in my life and thankfully, it is a scar that healed well.
"How does that relate to PAR? Well, the problem was a personal tragedy. The action was supporting my mental health, supporting my husband and children’s welfare, and continuing to work and contribute and be an emergency medicine physician in the face of the chaos we are facing at home. Despite feelings of being overwhelmed, depression, and hopelessness, I carried on. I thought about quitting work. Wouldn’t it be easier to eliminate the stress of patient care in the ED? But something within me would not allow that. I had worked to get where I was my whole life and count it still an honor to be a physician. I adopted a task-oriented mindset with eternal optimism that there was always a solution. I continued to work my emergency department shifts, and contribute to teaching via lectures, sim labs, journal clubs and resident evaluations. I re-certified my EM boards during that time as well. I had to put on a brave face at work and leave behind my personal problems to focus on the patients in front of me, often with problems far worse than my own, and sometimes far more menial. I had to displace and re-focus.
"The result is tenacity. I have learned that I have resiliency that just takes time and patience, and belief in oneself to keep moving forward. Tenacity will get you through the toughest of emergency department (ED) shifts. I have learned about perspective and what really matters. I learned that 'stuff is just stuff' and can be replaced, but the important things like family cannot. My personal tragedy left me with my family intact and had an endpoint. For so many of my courageous patients and their families, they cannot say the same from their ED visit or their disease. That is perspective. I became more aware of my interactions with others, taking time for others, getting to know people better. I spend more time at the bedside and enjoy the human connection and reassurance that I can provide. I learned how a reciprocating smile is powerful. I would like to think I made a few people's day better after they leave the ED. I accepted help from others. I found inner patience and calm that I never had before. My type A personality learned to adopt flexibility. These things all translate well into a busy pediatric ED where there is much anxiety, fear, hopelessness, and angst. I connect better now with parents and patients. Perhaps stepping into a chaotic life situation helps you sympathize better with others in their personal tragedy-be it big or small. Unlike my colleagues at that meeting, there is not a metric to measure my result. But I have learned that you can get through about anything that comes your way, whether it is a busy work week, a pediatric code, a difficult parent, ten people simultaneously checking into triage at 4:00 am, or your house burning down in the middle of the night.
"There are times when we all can lose track of the tasks we have accomplished. I imagine we all have felt like imposters at some point in time. However, as physicians, we are always DOING. Some things may be more measurable than others. There are many a PAR in our day-to-day lives. If I were to relive that meeting, I would hope to be called upon and I would proudly share my PAR."
Written by Kari Lemme, MD
Photo credit: IU Health
