Climbing through Medicine's Glass Ceiling

Earlier this year, I was named the first female dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, an event that National Public Radio summed up in the headline: “Andrews Makes History at Duke Med School.” Why should the appointment of a woman dean still be big news in 2007? Perhaps because, with a few localized exceptions, there has been little change since the 1970s in the barriers to women's full participation in academic medicine.I happen to believe strongly that diversifying all levels of academic medicine is not only politically correct, it is also the way to make our institutions . . .