(From left) Eryn Thiele, MD, and Susan Walters, MD
This summer, two UVA School of Medicine faculty members attended the highly selective AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar (EWIM): Eryn Thiele, MD, and Susan Walters, MD, assistant professors in the Department of Anesthesiology.
Dr. Thiele and Dr. Walters received a Leadership Development Travel Award from the Committee on Women in Medicine and Science (COWIMS) to support their attendance at this important seminar that provides women at the assistant professor level with foundational leadership knowledge and skills enabling them to achieve their career goals, advance, and thrive as successful leaders in academic medicine and science. COWIMS is glad to be able to support these faculty members on their career path, and we are always excited by the energy and new skills that attendees bring back to grounds.
The attendees reflected on their experience attending the seminar. Dr. Eryn Thiele shared “Each of the talks and speakers were truly fantastic. They were obviously carefully curated and had a passion for mentoring women in medicine. They were compassionate, insightful, and charismatic. I took skills away that serve me as I interact with colleagues but also skills I can pass on and impart as I teach resident physicians and medical students.”
Dr. Susan Walters described the benefits as well stating, “I learned new tools for communication and feedback when leading others whose personalities, strengths, and weaknesses differ from my own that I have already started to implement in my leadership activities at UVA. In such an open and honest setting of like-minded women, it was reassuring that the female leaders of academic medicine are highly engaged and the future of female leadership is bright.” She also shared that the seminar built upon her skills learned as part of the School of Medicine’s Early Career Faculty Mentoring Program and Junior Faculty Development Program.
Dr. Thiele and Dr. Walters’ travel expenses were also supported through funding available from the Department of Anesthesiology and from the UVA HR Education Benefit.
Susan Pollart, MD, senior associate dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development is an EWIM veteran, and has taught continuously in the program since 2006. Dr. Pollart is thrilled by the participation of UVA SOM faculty in EWIM, noting the important role that EWIM and similar programs play in expanding the professional network for women faculty members and facilitating faculty engagement and vitality.
COWIMS offers a Leadership Development Travel Awards to support assistant professor faculty members to attend the AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar and associate professor faculty members to attend the AAMC Mid-Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar.
The next Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminars will be held in February 2025 (applications open in early October 2024) and July 2025 (applications open in February 2025). The AAMC Mid-Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar is held annually in December. Applications for the 2025 Seminar will open in August 2025. Contact Kate McManus, MD, the chair of COWIMS, with questions about these seminars or the travel award.
Previous UVA faculty attendees have generously offered to share their successful applications with colleagues. Stay tuned for a Spring 2025 virtual session where the UVA faculty attendees share information about the application process and key lessons learned. This COWIMS event is designed for people who are considering any of the AAMC conferences for women faculty and mentors/sponsors and want to know more about the application process and the benefits of attending these conferences.
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Filed Under: Faculty