As part of its celebration honoring 50 Years of Medicine at Brown, the Warren Alpert Medical School the opening of the #WallsDoTalk exhibit, which aims to visually spotlight women in the medical field who are often forgotten when professionals are highlighted on physical spaces in medical schools.
in 2017 by Julie Silver, associate professor and associate chair in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School, the #WallsDoTalk project aims to empower medical students to be conscious of potential stereotypes in their physical learning environments while also combating gender inequity within the medical industry at large, according to the .
The #WallsDoTalk challenge invited students to design alternative walls of honor 鈥� physical spaces in medical schools that uplift prominent figures within the industry 鈥� which predominantly featured women; a stark contrast to the common images of men that typically decorate the walls of these institutions. Out of the submissions, nine were selected to be on display at Warren Alpert as a way to challenge students鈥� conceptions of what an inclusive environment can be.
The opened at the University March 7 in honor of International Women鈥檚 Day. The opening featured three speakers 鈥� Silver, Simone Thavaseelan, associate professor of surgery and Cynthia Peng, resident in psychiatry at Brigham and Women鈥檚 Hospital.
The event opened with Silver, who introduced #WallsDoTalk and explained its influence on her medical career. She highlighted how the project 鈥渇ocuses a lot on the invisibility of women and people from underrepresented groups鈥� in the medical field.
Silver said that there is a 鈥済lass ceiling in the medical community,鈥� and encouraged exhibit attendees to engage in further conversations about how women can break it.
Silver touched on several challenges women in medicine face, including the , differences in and from medical academia. She added that 鈥渨e need to change the culture of academic medicine,鈥� and the #WallsDoTalk exhibit is an important first step towards amending such 鈥渟tructural discrimination.鈥�
Peng compared her experiences in the medical field to a sort of pyramid: There鈥檚 a 鈥渟ense of climbing the ladder of the hierarchy of the ivory tower in the medical community.鈥�
She proposed a redesigned stratum in which 鈥渁ll participants have the opportunity to be a bass or a flier, supporting other women in medicine.鈥�
Thavaseelan, a urologist, also discussed the different experiences for men and women practicing in the medical field. According to Thavaseelan, 鈥渨omen in urology (more often) practice in academic medical centers (and) are less likely to be employed in private practice settings, which may influence some of the salary gap.鈥�
鈥淭he women in my field, following Dr. Silver鈥檚 footsteps, have added to the literature and data about these disparities,鈥� Thavaseelan said. 鈥淭hey do this on their own time so that you can have the data to walk in the door to create change.鈥�
Thavaseelan acknowledged the potential for women to act as catalysts for change within the medical field, but noted that they first must 鈥渇igure out (their) 鈥榳hy鈥欌�� 鈥� what personally motivates them to pursue a career within this industry.聽
鈥淚 invite you to think about your 鈥榳hy,鈥欌�� Thavaseelan said. 鈥淏ecause although the backlash is severe, the potential opportunity for change is great.鈥�
