WiSDoM – Women in Science
Discovery and Medicine is a School of Clinical Sciences committee designed to
promote inclusive gender equity in medicine and research to women of all
backgrounds and career stage.
WiSDoM is chaired by Professor Beverly Vollenhoven and runs several events every year designed to bring together the women of SCS and harbour the sharing of strategies on how to succeed in the face of adversity.
WiSDoM is chaired by Professor Beverly Vollenhoven and runs several events every year designed to bring together the women of SCS and harbour the sharing of strategies on how to succeed in the face of adversity.
Last Thursday, 31 October WiSDoM
ran a dinner event – the first of its kind – at the Monash Club in the company
of Monash University’s Dean of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Professor
Christina Mitchell AO, and over 40 attendees from the school. WiSDoM Chair, Professor
Beverley Vollenhoven, opened the event and welcomed Professor Mitchell to the
stage to reflect on the challenges of her journey as a clinical haematologist and
scientist.
From her first words, Christina set
the tone of the evening as one of humility and honesty. Christina held the
audience captive as she shared her triumphs, her challenges and perhaps most
importantly, how she navigated her way through the inevitable mistakes and
tribulations of a successful research career. “I am a leader of leaders, I am
not the leader” - Christina spoke on
the lessons she has learned as the head of a high-profile research group on how
to successfully guide a group of great minds.
Christina shared the doubts she
has felt through her career and her own experience with the Imposter Syndrome -
the sense that success results from luck or chance rather than skill and the
fear of being “found out” as fraudulent or inadequate. In doing so, Christina
normalised the concept of imposter syndrome for an audience of successful and
emerging scientists, emphasising that doubt is not weakness, but rather a
common experience in any career progression. Christina then reminded us that
the perception of others only holds power while we allow it: “Now, I am not afraid that people will think I am
stupid. Maybe they do think I am stupid. I just don’t care anymore.”
Christina spoke to the ethos of
the event, advising the audience that “the best way to overcome the imposter
syndrome is to do exactly what [we] are doing and form a network of like-minded
women… and men”. This message in particular ignited the intrinsic collegiality
of the women of SCS and prompted much discussion across the evening as new networks
were formed over a delicious dinner.
Finally, in the spirit of
Halloween, Christina asked the audience the most frightening question of all:
“women at the same level, with the same experience and the same skillset do not
get the same grants [as men]. Why is that?”
The ensuing discussion was not critical
but rather followed a hopeful theme of how we, as a community, can inspire
change and bring equity into NHMRC grant distribution. Ultimately Christina
summarised the key message of the evening: “the percentage of women who are
successful should be the same as the percentage of men, at every level”. All
that remains is to initiate the actions that will enable equitable resource
allocation.
It was unanimously agreed that
the Inaugural WiSDoM dinner was a resounding success and we look forward to
future events where we can engage in further discussions on achieving equity in
grant funding and strengthen collaborations between the women at SCS.
Story courtesy: Annie Cox - PhD student, Hudson Institute
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