2005-Fall.Pdf

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO MEDICAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION MAGAZINE Winter 2005 MAAMATTERS Dr. Patricia White & Dr. Shannon Wires Women in the balance Finding ways to combine passions Also Inside: Remembering a friendship • Convocation 2005 • MedLife thanks you PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE D r. Suan-Seh Foo (Class of 1990) An honour, an obligation – A proud tradition We have a duty to ourselves to uphold what is best – a duty to our patients, a duty to the profession, a duty to our alma mater. alumni, we share a common his- to introduce the interim Dean of AS tory. Continuity and collegiality Medicine, Dr. Catharine Whiteside from are part of the MAA tradition and the fun- the Class of 1975. She will be our hon- damental thread that binds our genera- orary president, and I would like to assure tions together. They are the foundation her of our support. Dr. Flavio Habal from upon which we build and the sure plat- the Class of 1977 is the MAA’s new treas- form that allows us to spring forward to urer. It is important to me that we recog- the future. nize our past treasurer, Dr. Steven Tishler. So we are really not alone, unless we Steven has put a tremendous amount of choose to be. We are part of something work into husbanding our investments, greater – greater than ourselves. It is both overseeing expenditures in the office and a joyous and a humbling realization. It is ensuring that we do not become generous not without obligation. We have a duty to beyond our means. Thank you, Dr. ourselves to uphold what is best: to our Tishler. patients, to the profession, to our family I would also like to thank the medical and friends, to our alma mater, to our fel- Class of 1998 and Dr. Grant Lum (Class low man, the society around us, the of 1992) for their extraordinary generosity Dominion of Canada and beyond. For in setting up funds through the MAA for what we have received that is good and matching through the OSOTF matching wonderful and privileged, we must give fund. It is also my great pleasure to con- back. Anything less would diminish us. gratulate and applaud Drs. Jay Keystone The inevitability of change requires the (Class of 1969) and Tom Patterson (Class anchoring of stable references; the MAA is of 1956) for being granted University of one of these references. Yet it’s a living tradi- Toronto Arbor Awards for outstanding tion. Dr. David Naylor (Class of 1978), our volunteerism. These two members of our past Dean, has now assumed his new role as board have set fine examples for all of us. President of this great university. And in closing, I would like to thank Drs. Congratulations, Dr. Naylor! I Barney Giblon (Class of would like to thank Dr. 1957) and Victor Kurdyak Naylor for being a pivotal (Class of 1960), for their dean in his relationship with invaluable support. I also rec- the MAA. His support for the ognize, with appreciation, our PHO MAA has been unwavering. administrator, Ruth Gillings, T O: Recently, there have been for her tremendous and KEVIN KELL many comings and dedicated contribution to goings. It is my pleasure the MAA. I Y 2 University of Toronto • Winter 2005 DEAN’S MESSAGE D r. Catharine Whiteside (Class of 1975) Women in medicine A Conversation with Catharine Whiteside, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Matters asked Dr. Cathy Family and Community Medicine, is cur- MAA Whiteside, Interim Dean rently president of the Canadian College of of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice- Family Physicians. At the recent annual Provost, Relations with Health Care meeting of the Royal College of Physicians Institutions, to comment on our theme and Surgeons of Canada, three women of women in medicine. physicians—Kathy Siminovitch, Sarita Verma, and Sheila Singh—won national What was your experience as a woman awards. This is all very positive. training in the Faculty of Medicine at U of T more than two decades ago? Do women lead differently from men? My undergraduate MD class was 12 per I believe that excellence in leadership is cent women. I had few female academic role essentially gender neutral. The important models, but I was strongly supported by the characteristics—recognizing talent, getting all-male academic leadership. They gave me the right people to do the right things, good advice and made sure that I had oppor- and working as part of a team—are tunities to succeed. With their encourage- neither male nor female. Ultimately, ment, I became one of the first post-graduate leadership is not about the individual; trainees to complete a PhD at the U of T, it’s about what you can contribute to and was then hired on as a clinician-scientist. the organization as a whole. How have things changed in the past 20 years? As the first woman Dean at the Faculty of We have made great strides. This year, the Medicine, do you see yourself as a role model? entrance class for undergraduate medicine is Yes, I do. Although I’m sometimes taken 60 per cent women. The Faculty is also pro- aback when young women say they’d like moting gender balance and diversity in to emulate my success, it’s a responsibility recruiting new faculty. I take very seriously. I would be delighted Women are not just becoming MDs; they if my career path, which has brought me are becoming recognized leaders in clinical deep personal satisfaction, encourages care, research and education. For example, other women to pursue a career in aca- Louise Nasmith, head of our Department of demic health leadership. I Dr. Catharine Whiteside has achieved outstanding success as a Director MD/PhD program, Coordinator of Graduate Studies PHO T clinician, researcher and academic administrator in the Faculty of Institute of Medical Science, Director of the JDF/MRC Diabetic O: MA Medicine. She completed her BSc MD, clinical training, and PhD Nephropathy Group, Director of the Clinician Scientist Training CDONELL PHO at the University of Toronto, becoming a faculty member in 1985. Program Department of Medicine, and since 2000, Associate Her research interests focus on the cellular and molecular Dean, Graduate and Inter-Faculty Affairs. She became Interim T biology underlying glomerular kidney disease, especially associated Dean in June 2005. OGRAPHY with diabetes.Within the Faculty, she has served as Associate Medical Alumni Association 3 DR.PATRICIA WHITE Women in the balance Female physicians find innovative ways to combine their passions Patricia White began her day like any working Back then, Dr. White was one of about 15 women in her gradu- mom: performing that precarious high-wire act of ating class of 115 students. Look at the 2005 Convocation photo DR. propelling her children out the door, while getting in this issue of MAA Matters and you’ll see 99 female and 90 male ready for her part-time counselling job at the Addiction Research faces. Dr. Wendy Levinson, who is chair, Department of Medicine Foundation. Dr. White was coming to the realization that psychia- at U of T and the first woman to hold that position, says that the try was meant to be her life’s work, while at the same time she was growing feminization of medicine has many implications not only equally passionate about her commitment to her husband and three for patient care and the health care system, but also for the field children. The Toronto physician was facing the same challenge that itself. “In terms of our profession, women have broken new millions of today’s working women face every day. What’s interesting ground in encouraging better work-family balance,” she says. “But is that Dr. White graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty it isn’t just women — there’s been a societal shift too that’s sig- of Medicine in 1947. nalling that both men and women want to combine career and 4 University of Toronto • Winter 2005 PHO T OS: LEFT AND CENTRE: KEVIN KELL Y, RIGHT : DARR OL HOFMEISTER DR.SHANNON WIRES DR.NEETY PANU n the balance e ways to combine their passions family, without sacrificing completely toward their profession.” the U of T Faculty of Medicine are known for. Recently, we talked That attitude is confirmed by Michelle Zeller, 24, Karen to three grads who offer ample proof that women are achieving Hershenfield, 23, and Sara Cohen-Gelfand, 27, who were the 2004 success by deftly balancing their professional and personal lives. co-chairs of the Faculty of Medicine’s Women in Medicine group. DR.PATRICIA WHITE (CLASS OF 1947) The group offers female medical students informal support and men- D r. Patricia White laughingly recites the lyrics to a song familiar to toring opportunities. Michelle, a third-year student, says that the medical students of her day: Medicine or a man, /You can’t have them Faculty is sending a family/lifestyle-friendly message for all students both, so they tell us./Medicine or a man,/Whichever you choose, you’ll in its classes. “While some areas of medicine are changing faster than be jealous./ For if you choose a man,/You’ll spend all your life washing others, students are encouraged to pursue any area of medicine based dishes,/And if not, you’ll be taught /Through the years all you’ve got/ on interest and skill rather than gender,” she says. Are your frustrated maidenly wishes. Pursuing their interests and using their skills are what women in The 81-year-old psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, who practises Medical Alumni Association 5 Dr.

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