Six medical schools have recently declared their support for TIME’S UP Healthcare, a new affiliate of the TIME’S UP Foundation that will focus on ensuring safe and equitable workplaces for women in the health care industry. The participating institutions are the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University, the Drexel University College of Medicine, the Mayo Clinic, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Health, and Yale School of Medicine.
TIME’S UP Healthcare aims to drive new policies and decisions that result in more balanced, diverse, and accountable leadership; address workplace discrimination, harassment, and abuse; and create equitable and safe work cultures within all facets of the health care industry.
“At the Warren Alpert Medical School, we know that improving the climate for women and underrepresented minorities in academic medicine will translate to improvements in patient care, medical education and research,” said Dr. Katherine Sharkey, assistant dean for women in medicine and science at Brown University, and an associate professor of medicine and psychiatry and human behavior. “We are committed to efforts that address the systemic changes needed to improve the culture and climate for women in medicine, including the important work of TIME’S UP Healthcare.”
In line with TIME’S UP mission, the participating institutions will establish a variety of educational and research initiatives aimed at addressing gender inequality. These include a range of professional development programs such as leadership training, wellness efforts, and networking opportunities.
“Women make up 80 percent of health care workers, but only 11 percent of health care CEOs,” said Esther Choo, a founding member of TIME’S UP Healthcare and an adjunct professor of emergency medicine at Brown University. “We are well represented in this workforce, but not in positions of power. TIME’S UP’s mission resonates deeply with our industry, and we are honored to join the expansive and diverse TIME’S UP network to collectively transform outdated systems of power in our workforces.”