In honor of National Women Physicians Day, Becker’s spoke with Anumeha Singh, MD, chief of emergency medicine at Hartford (Conn.) Hospital, and Serpil Erzurum, MD, executive vice president and chief research and academic officer at Cleveland Clinic.
National Women Physicians Day, observed annually on Feb. 3, marks the birthday of Elizabeth Blackwell, MD, the first American woman to earn a medical degree. According to the American Medical Association, the day honors the pioneering achievements and ongoing contributions of female physicians.
Dr. Singh and Dr. Erzurum connected with Becker’s to discuss their journeys into medicine, how being a woman in the field shaped their leadership and their advice for the next generation of female physicians.
For Dr. Singh, medicine was a natural fit from the start.
“Medicine came pretty naturally to me because my parents were physicians,” she said. “I grew up in the environment and I saw how satisfied they were with their life — not necessarily for anything other than the job satisfaction they were getting from truly being a positive influence on their patients and contributing to the wellness of the communities we lived in.”
Dr. Singh graduated from Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College in India and completed her residency at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. She is board-certified in emergency medicine and has roughly two decades of experience in the specialty.
As with healthcare in general, she was drawn to emergency medicine.
“I’m calm in chaos, and I kind of enjoy chaos. So emergency medicine attracted me because of the controlled chaos you see in EDs every day,” Dr. Singh said. “It gives you the gratification of walking into the lives of people on what they consider to be one of their bad days and being able to do something good — touch them in a helpful way, where, if nothing else, they can understand and connect with you, trust that you are there to help them.”
For Dr. Erzurum, a love of learning and early academic encouragement led her to medicine.
“In school, I enjoyed the sciences and I really liked learning, and I was encouraged by some advisers in high school because I got into medical school — a six-year program right from high school,” she recalled.
“I remember thinking, ‘What should I do with my life?’ My mother was so proud of me. She wanted me to go to college because she didn’t. She only had an eighth-grade education, but she was self-educated through reading and learning about a lot of things — a very smart woman.
“So I said, ‘Mom, the guidance counselor thinks I should apply to this new school, and I would become a doctor.’ And she thought that was terrific. She was so happy. That’s a great memory for me.”
Dr. Singh noted that her experiences have included balancing work and personal family life. She said she and her husband, who is also a physician, work as a team to achieve this balance.
“It has always been an equal distribution of work for us, which has been a huge part of why I succeeded in whichever way I did,” she said.
“Having said that, it comes with interesting guilt and interesting feelings of: Are you doing justice to both roles? And it might not come from any specific interaction, but, interestingly enough, our society is still at the point where they see women in the family as the primary caregivers, primarily responsible for the kids.”
‘Why don’t we do it this way?’
Dr. Erzurum reflected on her early career during residency and training, when she often questioned medical practices. She graduated from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, now known as Northeast Ohio Medical University in Rootstown, and completed residency training in internal medicine at Houston-based Baylor College of Medicine. She completed a fellowship at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, now part of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, and postdoctoral training at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in Bethesda, Md.
“I was curious about what we were doing and why. Why do we do that? Why don’t we do it this way? What medication? Isn’t there better medicine than this?” she said. “And so, because there were no answers — I went to school in the late 1970s and graduated medical school in 1983 — I realized, wow, we do research to do better care. We innovate, we do things better.”
She said her mentors supported her in her questioning approach, and she was ultimately drawn to research.
“When I was a resident — an intern — it was the HIV pandemic,” Dr. Erzurum said. “We had people coming in — a dozen a night. They would be admitted, and they would all die. So these are the kinds of memories where you think, ‘It shouldn’t be like this.’ And research was so fulfilling to me. I went to the National Institutes of Health to do more research and learn more.”
Her family background also shaped her experiences. She said she has organizational skills, which she received from her mother.
“We had a pretty big family, and I was her oldest daughter. So we needed to be organized — what we were going to do for dinner, taking care of the little babies, my dad, my brothers. It was a big family, and she ran that ship,” Dr. Erzurum said.
“She made dinner for us, dessert on a very small budget every week, sat us all down, and we were also well clothed going to school. Everything was tidy and neat.
“And so, for me, I like to have things organized and working together as a team — like a family.”
Joy in mentorship
As for the most rewarding moments of their careers, Drs. Singh and Erzurum mentioned patients and mentorship opportunities.
Dr. Singh said her most rewarding moments are being able to save a life or console a patient in a moment of grief.
“Having said that, one interesting moment — which was not directly related to patient care — comes to mind. When I was appointed the chief of my department, a couple of my case managers and social workers approached me — all ladies — and they said, ‘We never thought we’d see this day when we’d have a woman chief,'” she said.
“And that made me feel so good. Nothing special that I had done. Nothing special, really. But it just made me feel good that my female colleagues were happy to see a female in this position, and they were excited about it. It just made me feel very supported, as if my team was cheering me on.”
Dr. Erzurum said her greatest moments are when she mentors others.
“So many people have helped me in my career. I used to wonder, why is this person spending time? Why are they helping me?” she said.
“And I just had a meeting with a mentee — a young woman — and she told me, ‘You help me so much. I’m taking up your time. You’re so busy.’
“And I stopped her, and I said, ‘When I was young, sitting with my mentor, I felt the same way.’ But I told her, ‘The greatest joy I get in my life is when you succeed.’ The fact that you support this person, guide them, help them think through the problem — and when they are successful, in … getting a paper, a grant, getting into medical school or graduate school, or graduating — those moments are the best.”
‘Treat yourself … with compassion’
Drs. Singh and Erzurum also shared their advice for young women considering a career in medicine today.
Dr. Singh’s advice: “Go for it — as long as you’re going for it for the right reason, which is patient care — that has to be paramount above everything else.
“As women, you will have some doubts at times — the way I do, or the way most of us will — about balancing career and family life, and making sure that your kids are not getting neglected. But always remember and do what you would want your kids to do. Always treat yourself in the same way — with the same compassion, with the same leeway — as you would if this were your child.”
Dr. Erzurum recommended that young women “know what gives you joy on a daily basis.”
“And if you can find the work that gives you joy, then you’re doing the right thing,” she said. “And it has to be personally satisfying. That’s the kind of joy I’m talking about.
“Being a physician — a caregiver, really any caregiver in the health profession — gives you tremendous satisfaction when you can help someone.”
She added that family is also important. “Something one of my mentors told me when I was training and working so hard was: ‘Always remember — family comes first. Take time for your family.’
“And I listened to that good advice.”
