Letter From a Female Surgeon

Thank you for creating this podcast. I appreciated the stories told throughout the series. While I realize the majority of stories were from women in medicine, I noticed that there were very few stories from surgeons – and no stories from female surgeons.

In the final episode when you discussed that some people cannot afford to be vulnerable, that is a female surgeon. I am a 4th year surgery resident and I feel shame everyday. I cannot talk to my co-residents about it. There are very few female faculty at our department.

It's continually isolating to never hear from surgeons, for us to never be vulnerable, to admit that we feel shame, that we need support.

This was just a continued thought I had throughout the podcast. I kept waiting to hear from a female surgeon, and it never happened. And we all know that a male surgeon will never admit to feeling shame. These are some of my thoughts. Thank you again.