Celebration for School of Medicine Founding Women
School of Medicine's "Founding Women" honored
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| Attending the reception honoring the School of Medicine's Founding Women were, from left, Mary H. Tupper, Ellen Gold, Mary Metcalf, Robin Hansen, Lydia Howell, Sally DeNardo, Judy Turgeon, Marlene Mirassou, Penny Knapp, Amparo Villablanca, Sally Gray, Ruth Lawrence, Ann Bonham, Karen Lindfors, Nancy Joye, Jesse Joad and Hanne Jensen. |
When the UC Davis School of Medicine was established 40 years ago, women physicians were a rarity, with fewer than 8 percent of all doctors in the United States being women. The School of Medicine's founding faculty reflected that ratio in 1968, when 10 percent of its members were women.
The women physicians who were part of the school's founding faculty were honored on Wednesday evening at a reception hosted by Women in Medicine. In conjunction with the UC Davis Centennial, the group celebrated the "School of Medicine Founding Women," women faculty who started their careers at the School of Medicine between 1969 and 1990.
Attended by past and present women faculty and medical students, the event provided the founding women with an opportunity to share their memories and advice for current and future generations of women physicians.
"We all stand on the foundation built by these women," said Claire Pomeroy, Vice Chancellor for Human Health Sciences and dean of the School of Medicine.
Andreea Seritan, assistant clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a member of the Women in Medicine Executive Committee, said, "It was a great privilege for us to gather and celebrate our school's founding women faculty during the Centennial year. We honor all those who came before us, and wish to learn from their experience, which paved the way for women faculty today."
The Founding Women present at the event were: Hanne M. Jensen, Sally J. DeNardo, Sarah D. Gray, Ruth Lawrence, Mary Beth Metcalf, Judith Turgeon, Nancy Ree Joye, Klea Bertakis, Penny K. Knapp, Marlene M. Mirassou, Karen K. Lindfors, Robin Hansen, Lydia Pleotis Howell, Ellen B. Gold, Ann Bonham, Jesse Joad, Amparo C. Villablanca. Villablanca also hosted a panel discussion at the reception.
Today, women comprise 31 percent of the School of Medicine faculty, and more than half of the students are women. In fact, this year, 57 percent of the school's incoming class members are women, almost 10 percentage points higher than the national average.
