About the Michigan Women's Surgical Collaborative

Who We Are

Tremendous gaps exist in achievement between men and women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) careers. With women comprising approximately 50 percent of the faculty in academic medicine, there does not appear to be waning talent, drive, or commitment to help others. However, there is a noticeable disparity in representation among women in leadership roles, accounting for not even 5 percent at the chair, dean, and CEO level. Women are not being offered opportunities for advancement fast enough to meet the current and future needs in health care and academic medicine. 

Surgery is no exception. And, at the University of Michigan, we recognize that without adequate opportunity for highly skilled and experienced women to advance, we are not only perpetuating a long-standing challenge, but given a lack of diverse perspective, we are also missing opportunities to improve patient care. 

The Michigan Women’s Surgical Collaborative (MWSC) at U-M is working to better understand this disparity at the organizational level and inspire real change in the field of surgery that can have broader implications among all STEM fields. 

MWSC was established in 2016 to address issues facing women in academic surgery by creating a more equitable climate that will help harness the intellectual capital of women surgeons  at the University of Michigan. We are composed of a diverse group of academic surgeons across promotion ranks, tracks and surgical disciplines and are dedicated to support gender equity. Our mission is to develop, disseminate and implement strategies that promote the academic advancement of all surgeons[KM3]  and achieve diversity, equity and inclusion across surgical disciplines. Based on the concept of collaborative quality improvement, we aim to identify factors that facilitate and impede the success of women in academic practice in order to enhance a culture that supports all faculty to develop and reach their career goals. Our long-term goal is to create a national consortium of academic partners dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion of all faculty members in surgery.

MWSC Leadership