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Global Health Matters >
Colloquium on Career Paths for Women in the Health Sciences: A Global
Perspective
Colloquium on Career Paths for
Women in the Health Sciences: A Global Perspective
Women health scientists in developing countries face an environment
in which pursuit of a research career, career advancement, and re-entry
into the work force after childbirth are stymied by cultural, social,
and economic factors. These may include little government support
for education and research, a cultural bias against women entering
the scientific field, and limited access to international funding
agencies.
 FIC,
along with the Office of Research on Women's Health and the National
Institute on Environmental Health Sciences, hosted a meeting October
17–18 to stimulate discussion about barriers to the advancement
of women scientific leaders and best practices used around the world
to enhance opportunities. More than 14 countries were represented,
including 21 developing country participants.
NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, M.D., and DHHS Director for Women's
Health Wanda Jones opened the colloquium, whose speakers challenged
the audience to think practically about how to engage the best and
brightest women in the biomedical and behavioral research enterprise
in the coming decades.
Participants included Wagida Anwar, Ph.D., Ain Shams University,
Egypt; Seth Ayettey and Isabella Quakyi, University of Ghana; Viji
Ravindrinath, National Brain Research Center, India; Susan Johnson,
Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, Atlanta, Georgia; and Shirley Malcom,
AAAS, who challenged the group with the statement "No country can
afford to waste half of its brain power." Many speakers honored
Ruth Kirschstein, M.D., Senior Advisor to the NIH Director, who
had served as a mentor for many participants and hundreds of others
during her career.
Outcomes and recommendations included the following:
- More data are needed to better understand the status of women
in science in developing countries. Some data exist on women's
status in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
member countries, including the United States and Sweden, but
relatively little other information is available.
- Women need to do a better job of networking, particularly through
informal means.
- Encourage and reward women leaders in academia who serve as
mentors to the younger generation.
- Promote a "women in science" agenda that includes input from
both men and women government policymakers and academic leaders.
- Support career development workshops and training sessions for
women scientists.
- Explore support for family care while women participate in study
sections or other administrative tasks.
FIC will work with NIH partners to explore each recommendation
and identify support for additional work in this area.
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