Maida Parkins, MD, a plastic surgeon at Delafield, Wis.-based Quintessa Aesthetic Center, said women are still greatly underrepresented in the field of surgery in a blog post on Quintessa's website.
Here are four things to know:
1. Only 1 in 5 plastic surgeons are female, according to a 2017 study published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery-Global Open.
"I know there are a lot more women coming into the field of medicine, but in surgery women are still underrepresented," Dr. Parkins said in the blog post.
2. Aesthetic Everything named Dr. Parkins one of the Top 10 Plastic Surgeons in Middle America in October, and she was one of only three women on the list. Dr. Parkins was also the only woman named to the publication's Top 8 Breast Surgeons in America list.
3. Dr. Parkins said some of her patients travel up to six hours to see her, in part because she is a woman.
"Women are looking for female surgeons," she said. "Many patients find me online because they are looking for a woman. But you can't just be a woman. You have to be a woman who can execute the traits that they're looking for and who listens to what the patients want."
4. Dr. Parkins received her medical degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Champaign-Urbana and completed a six-year residency in plastic and reconstructive surgery at Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She was the fourth female plastic surgery resident to graduate from the program. The next most recent female resident graduated nearly 20 years before Dr. Parkins.