Friday Jan 10, 2025

Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Medicine to Flourish (And Exciting Announcements!)

Women in medicine face stark inequities, from pay gaps to higher burnout rates. But what does it take to truly support us? In this episode, I share personal stories and hard truths about the systemic challenges we encounter every day. Why are female physicians expected to shoulder more emotional labor, yet still struggle to break through leadership barriers?

I also explore the unique strengths we bring to medicine—empathy, communication, and better patient outcomes—and share how these qualities make such a difference in patient care. Along the way, I’ll talk about my decision to focus my Catalyst Studio mentorship exclusively on women and why I’m transitioning my practice to virtual care to help more women thrive. This is about creating a space where we can flourish, both inside and outside the exam room. Let’s challenge the status quo together!

Quotes

“Women are at risk for suicide over 400 times compared to their male counterparts. And in this study from the American Medical Association from 2023, 54.5% of women physicians reported symptoms of burnout, which are much more than their male counterparts. It’s critical that we need to support this.” (05:58 | Dr. Lara Salyer)
“Female physicians tend to spend more time with their patients and are more likely to engage in empathetic and collaborative decision-making. This makes patients feel more supported, and they actually understood the plans, which meant they were more adherent… We also, as women, have lower mortality and readmission rates in comparison to our male counterparts. This was a study done by UCLA Health, which showed that we could lower mortality costs compared to our male doctors. So we should be supporting women physicians.” (08:39 | Dr. Lara Salyer)
“It’s a bittersweet change. And that’s how you know you’re doing something good. There’s always got to be a little bit of fear in that first step of that staircase. But I’ve done this before. I have opened up a whole new clinic, changed my whole life around, and I’m doing it again, and now with a deeper purpose that I feel extremely passionate about—helping all women practitioners flourish inside and outside the exam room.” (15:54 | Dr. Lara Salyer)
“Magic happens when you work with women who start to understand that you can bend time when you have the advantage of flow neuroscience. And when you align your values, and you learn how to make better, clearer decisions, your behavior changes, and you literally can catalyze a whole new culture of transformation. So, keep on hanging out with me here, and enjoy the changes that are going to be happening in 2025.” (17:33 | Dr. Lara Salyer)

Links

Book a Brainstorm Session: https://drlarasalyer.as.me/discovery

Make your next event unforgettable with my speaking services: https://drlarasalyer.com/speaking-events/

Free Micropractice Assessment: https://3nb09zv7070.typeform.com/to/P56ItjWi?typeform-source=drlarasalyer.com

Citations from the episode:

AAMC news

https://www.aamc.org/news/women-medicine-make-gains-obstacles-remain

American Medical Association

https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/physician-health/despite-drop-burnout-women-physicians-still-feeling-burden

American Medical Association

https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/despite-advances-gender-disparities-persist-medicine

Dr. Sue Mitra MD, FACP in Brevard County