Author: c22sf

The author(s)

Sydney Feldman

Guest(s)

Dr. Stacey Rosen

Listen to the podcast

Podcast Overview

According to Duke Health “One in five women say they have felt that a health care provider has ignored or dismissed their symptoms, and 17% say they feel they have been treated differently because of their gender.”1 This statistic alone provides reasoning into the need for exploring possible causes for reported acts of discrimination and the gender gap existing in medical institutions.2 

In this first episode, I am joined by Dr. Stacey Rosen, vice president at the Katz Institute for Women’s Health at North Shore – LIJ Health System. Dr. Rosen, a practicing cardiologist and echocardiographer, has devoted her career to increasing awareness of women’s health issues, in particular heart disease, throughout her community and beyond. 

Our conversation is focused on gender disparities, in particular the treatment of female patients in medical settings. We discuss how patients are treated based on complaints of pain, the historically prevailing “male-model” of medical research, and how biases (particularly gender biases) contribute to the patient experience. We also discuss how medical care and the gender gap has changed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The author(s)

Sydney Feldman

Guest(s)

Dr. Robert Roswell

Listen to the podcast

Podcast Overview

Disparities and inequities in healthcare are widespread, affecting physicians just as much as patients. In a survey funded by the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and co-authored by a group of researchers and doctors from Washington, Florida, and New Jersey, findings show that 23% of physicians who participated in the survey reported that patients refused to receive care due to the attending physician’s race.3
When Dr. Tamika Cross, a female Black physician, was victim to discrimination aboard a Delta Airlines flight, her Facebook post (linked here) led to comments and shares of other physicians echoing similar experiences of discrimination due to race, age, or gender. Recognizing that Dr. Cross’s experience was not an isolated incident led me to wonder how common physician discrimination is in the US healthcare system.

In this second podcast episode, I am joined by Dr. Robert Roswell, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Barbara & Donald Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University, an associate professor of cardiology and science education, and a practicing cardiologist. Dr. Roswell also speaks in the third episode, focusing on diversity in medical school admissions.

Our conversation focuses on the experience of physicians—specifically the experience of physicians belonging to minority groups—and the ways in which the administrators of health systems have begun to establish resources, regulations, and protocols to help mitigate discrimination directed towards physicians of specific demographics.

The author(s)

Sydney Feldman

Guest(s)

Dr. Robert Roswell

Listen to the podcast

Podcast Overview

Historically, medical school admissions have been centered on a few pillars of “academic success”: MCAT scores, GPAs, and interviews. However, this long-standing tradition is beginning to change—removing the emphasis on these pillars of success that disadvantage those without access, and instead reframing the process to be centered on “humanism.”4

In this third podcast episode, I am joined once again by Dr. Robert Roswell, Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Barbara & Donald Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra University, an associate professor of cardiology and science education, and a practicing cardiologist. Dr. Roswell also spoke with me in the second episode, focusing on physician discrimination.

Our conversation focuses on the evolving medical school admissions process, some of the ways that institutions are restructuring the applicant review process to make it more accessible, and the implementation of tools to remove implicit biases from admissions.