Meet an APA Awardee: Linda Chaudron, M.D., M.S.

At the start of her Alexandra Symonds Award Lecture yesterday, Linda Chaudron, M.D., M.S., noted that “a lot has changed in my 30-year career, but one thing that hasn’t is the underrepresentation of women in positions of power.”

To be fair, Chaudron noted that there has been incremental progress in appointing women to high-level positions in medicine and medical education such as deans, department chairs, and chief medical officers since Alexandra Symonds, M.D., co-founded the Association of Women Psychiatrists in 1983.

Still, recent data show that only 27% of full professors in medical schools are women, while fewer than 25% of permanent department chairs and deans are women (though psychiatry is above average, with women holding nearly 40% of full professorships and one-in three department chairs).

And, unlike a significant barrier for increasing C-suite representation among minority physicians, the pipeline is quite robust as women are well-represented at the assistant- and associate-professor levels, Chaudron said. Even when she was a medical student in the early 1990s, almost half her class was women, and she didn’t initially see gender as a significant barrier to her education.

That perception changed a bit during her second year of medical school when she wanted to organize a conference at which women in medicine would share their career stories—but found herself initially rebuffed by male leadership. But with some confidence, perseverance, and flexibility—traits that Chaudron said female mentors instilled in her over the years—she raised the money needed to schedule the event, and set out on her own leadership path.

Chaudron is currently vice president of medical education at Maine Health, an integrated health system serving patients in Maine and New Hampshire that includes Maine Medical Center. Previously she held multiple leadership roles at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry—where, incidentally, she went to medical school.

During her talk, Chaudron discussed some of the evolving challenges for women looking at leadership roles. She noted that medical schools, for example, used to be siloed and independent. “The expected competencies for leadership were pedagogical—do you conduct productive research, do you publish frequently, can you get grants,” she said. Today, key barometers are whether one has a strategic vision, how well they are at fundraising and diplomacy, and whether they can take a calculated risk.

“I didn’t go into medicine to be part of a corporation,” she said, but acknowledged that is today’s reality.

Chaudron said that it’s valuable for women looking to advance in medicine to learn skills relevant to business, law, and human resources. They don’t have to be part of a full degree program, and might simply come via a course that offers a certificate; these are still skills that can be put on a CV. Chaudron also suggested looking for a “near peer” mentor, noting that people instinctively want guidance from someone with deep experience, but advice from someone just three to five years ahead on a career path can be genuinely insightful. ■