"Women are the best candidates for this subspecialty" - An interview with Roxana Mehran
Let's focus on Dr Mehran's professional background and daily life and how she approaches her job as a woman.
Know that you are strong, brilliant, worthy, and that this sub-specialty needs your talents.
Why are there still so relatively few women interventional cardiologists?
Interventional cardiology is one of the most intriguing and exciting subspecialties of cardiology with access to cutting edge research, tools and brilliant colleagues all fully committed to science and innovation.
Unfortunately, the field has been male-dominated from its inception, and not family friendly. Some of this old-fashioned attitude has persisted in our current times.
But we are starting to break the glass ceiling in the cath labs and many women are now choosing cardiology and hopefully interventional cardiology. Now we must be sure that talented women are given the opportunity to shine in IC and be promoted to leadership positions which will help recruit more women to this wonderful subspecialty.
Roxana Mehran
Do you think that working conditions (e.g. exposure to radiation) may be an impediment on women embarking on this career path?
Although many have postulated that this is the case, I would say that now we have ample evidence that safe radiation practices can mitigate the risk to the fetus. I still believe that this is a myth.
Women are less attracted to interventional cardiology because there continues to be bias regarding their reproductive years in the lab.
We have seen reports of women being asked about their personal history of family planning, which is completely unacceptable and should never be a reason to choose a candidate for a program.
What made you choose this specialty?
I find the field incredibly diverse, allowing one to practice clinically, use scientific evidence, and deliver life-saving and quality of life improvement therapies to the patients. It doesn’t get any better than that!
What is the main obstacle you have encountered to become an interventional cardiologist? How did you manage to overcome this?
The main obstacle was to be seen and heard by my colleagues as a serious clinician scientist, and operator in the lab. I ignored all of this, and pursued my goals by working hard and pushing forward. I never let any negative comments, disparities, harassment, etc., get me down.
I now have committed myself to be sure that we change this narrative to a friendly, kind environment for women in IC, and that we as a field ensure zero tolerance for any kind of mistreatment and inherent bias toward women. The professional organizations are now paying closer attention to these issues, as is the non-profit organization I founded, 'Women as One'.
From your point of view, what are the main assets you may have as a woman, compared with your male colleagues?
I believe that women are agile, brilliant, multi-taskers (home and work balance), incredibly capable, detail-oriented, and tolerant. These are accolades that are seminal for interventional cardiology. Therefore, in my mind, women are the best candidates for this subspecialty.
Do you feel your patients have a different attitude to you because you are a woman? Do you feel your colleagues treat you differently because you are a woman?
YES, and YESSSSS. But I do think that the environment is improving.
Patients are now more accustomed to seeing women cardiologists and understanding that their care is well delivered by women.
We still have work to do with our colleagues. These issues are primarily driven by unconscious biases for which there is a growing number of mechanisms useful to combat them.
Consistent bias training and education are a start, and developing interventions to prevent bias from influencing decision making is also critical. We are all biased at the end of the day, so accepting that and learning how we might overcome our biases as a field, that's where we need to go next.
What advice can you provide to young women fellows wishing to pursue a career in interventional cardiology?
Follow your dreams, never give up, work hard, and stay positive. Be tolerant, but never accept mistreatment. Know that you are strong, brilliant, worthy and that this sub-specialty needs your talents.
