SUMMARIES > PANEL: “THE WAYS WE LEAD”

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MODERATOR
JOAN Y. REEDE, MD, MPH, MS
Dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
PANELISTS
CLARICE D. REID, MD, FAAP Former Director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Division of Blood Diseases and Resources of the National Institutes of Health.

TUEI DOONG, MA
Deputy Director, Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service, Office of Minority Health, Rockville, MD

RENETIA MARTIN, MSW
Director, Women’s Health Collaborative, Oakland, CA
ELENA RIOS, MD, MSPH
President, National Hispanic Medical Association, Washington, DC

The servant leadership model that Dr. Hayes discussed was embraced by the panel. Dr. Martin spoke of the need for women to create a sense of community that can work towards everyone's goals. "Be passionate about serving," said Dr. Reid. Said Captain Doong, "...what servant leaders do, putting people first, and leading from the heart... is so consistent with what a lot of women are... women tend to empower others."

Handling power defines a leader, and handling it badly is one of the quickest ways to lose respect and support, said Capt. Doong. People who take power, "without the support of their peers or the people who work with them," lose it. "When you [are] more coercive versus more facilitative, you will lose that respect, and that's what I've seen ... at the Public Health Service," said Captain Doong.

Leadership often requires guts and risk. As director of the sickle cell disease program at NIH, Dr. Reid was stunned when an internationally renowned hematologist chairing an advisory committee meeting on the subject panned the program the day after a review committee had reported on its efficiency and importance. "I was in shock, but I found myself as if a forklift was lifting me up out of my seat..." After she contradicted everything he'd said, the advisory committee chair told her things had changed since the previous night. Later, she called her husband and told him "NIH is history," but she was soon promoted to run NIH's heart, lung and blood institute.

Panelists had advice for preparing for leadership. "Multitasking is a part of our life," said Dr. Reid. "Learn early."

"...Get yourself organized," said Saskia Estupinan-Day, a member of the audience. She says she tells her children that if they wanted something done, to put it on her palm pilot.

Be on top of your work, said Dr. Reid, who almost flunked out of medical school after she grew complacent.

Get male mentors said a member of the audience.

Maintain a sense of humor, said Dr. Reid. Choose your battles wisely.

Reid urged women to find support for the practical matters in life from family or friends. Two audience members urged women to pay for help with cooking and cleaning.

But empowerment should extend to support people, said a couple of audience members. "In every situation in which I've had someone working for me, I have done something to try and help them meet their goals," said one. The suggestion was made that clinics should be open after hours to accommodate working women. Women's health, said Dr. Martin, is about collaboration across populations, across race, across ethnicity, and across ... differences in professional growth."