Book Title: What We Bring to the Practice of Medicine: Perspectives From Women Physicians
Editors: Kimberly Greene-Liebowitz, Dana Corriel
Publications Details: The Kent State University Press, 2023, 192 pp., $29.95, paperback
Written by women physicians, What We Bring to the Practice of Medicine is a collection of essays that provides role models, guidance, and inspiration for women considering a career in medicine. Pointing out that the body of literature from female physician writers dates back nearly 2,000 years, the editors then detail the history of women in medicine. The earliest record of the enrollment of women in medical school dates back to Heliopolis in Egypt in 1500 BCE, and medical recipes and remedies attributed to women appear in books written by male authors from this same period. While other surviving documents allude to manuscripts written by women, the oldest still in existence, On Diseases and Cures of Women, was written by Metrodora and dates back to the second century CE.
The editors go on to underscore that the overarching concerns of female practitioners have not changed over time, including clinical practice, the physician-patient relationship, career advancement, domestic responsibilities, work-life balance, bias and harassment, and barriers to success. What follows this well-researched and documented introductory history are collections of essays that delve further into these issues, providing inspiration, joy, hope, and a sense of solidarity.
Grouped into such themes as overcoming odds, compassion, humor, courage, surprise, sadness and grief, life balance, and inspiration, essays from more than 30 essayists are curated from a broad range of medical disciplines, ancestries, and backgrounds. Each entry is written in beautiful, meaningful prose and brings depth and insight to the topic considered. For example, in the poignant essay “If You Like Pina Coladas,” Julia Michie Bruckner describes pretending to be on an imaginary tropical vacation with a teenaged patient with sickle cell anemia, comforting the young girl’s spirit when she couldn’t cure her disease.
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