¡°Celebrating and promoting women in academic medicine¡± was organised by the British Medical Association and held at BMA House on 17 October.

After a ¡°speed mentoring¡± opening session, Parveen Kumar, professor of medicine and education at Queen Mary University of London, described ¡°what helped me find my way to success¡±.

Although she regretted that she had ¡°lost my younger years, working even harder to prove I was as good as any man¡±, she also offered a number of pointers: ¡°Don¡¯t ask anyone to do what you wouldn¡¯t do¡±; ¡°Avoid confrontation unless absolutely necessary¡±; and ¡°Choose your path¡­ look 10 years ahead¡±.

Delegates raised questions from the floor about ¡°the very gendered definitions of success¡±; the part-time women doctors who in effect pay to go to work, since childcare costs absorb their whole salary; and the case for making payment to nannies tax-deductible professional expenses.

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Along with a presentation on the value of the Athena SWAN Charter in promoting the cause of women within academic medicine, smaller discussion groups offered opportunities for sharing experiences and suggestions. A group of mainly hospital trainees considered the particular issues relating to ¡°academic women and hospital medicine¡±.

¡°Academic medicine will always have two masters,¡± a moderator explained, ¡°neither of which will cut you any slack.¡± But since the key metrics were papers and grants, researchers enjoyed a certain ¡°autonomy over diaries¡± denied to full-time clinicians, and this could be ¡°liberating when it comes to juggling¡±. A consultant argued that it was essential to fight for blocks of ¡°protected time¡± where they could focus on their science, which was often easier if they could secure independent sources of funding.

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Meanwhile, those starting careers were advised to be ¡°pleasantly inflexible¡± in response to unreasonable demands and to ensure that academic representatives on hospital trusts¡¯ local negotiating committees took account of their concerns. They should also carve out for themselves a small, self-contained area of real clinical expertise ¨C the only people who managed to oversee large research projects while also doing general medicine were men with stay-at-home wives, the event heard.

matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com