I want to use this platform to tell a personal story of professional gaslighting that *almost* drove me out of medicine. #ShareTheMicNowMed .@AmmahStarr thread/
I joined Mount Sinai as faculty after completing an HIV/research fellowship. I worked in the @ArnholdInst, and had the pleasure of leading a team tasked with optimizing how health systems delivered ambulatory care to patients in NY and globally. 2/
I worked my tail off. Weekends, evenings, early mornings- I wasn’t ever NOT working. Because at that time, I believed in the myth that hard work alone equals academic success. Through Harvard undergrad, med, + public health school, head down and hard work was my recipe. 3/
Yet Sinai would disabuse me of that belief. My director, a minority man, who I once considered a friend, bred and contributed to a horridly toxic culture, one where women were called “bitches” and “cunts” and staff were terrorized to the point of tears, many quitting. 4/
By the time I left global health, after 12+ years of working to achieve my dream of becoming a doc and working in global health, I felt defeated. I felt small and I started to believe what my boss and Sinai’s gaslighting wanted me to believe-- that I had little to offer. 5/
In one of the hardest decisions of my life, I joined 7 other individuals in filing a gender, race and age discrimination lawsuit against Mount Sinai, it’s current dean, and my former boss. Read more about it here- tinyurl.com/y99rockr 6/
We got incredible support from alumni, students, staff and faculty. People all over, including patients, were like "hell yea, your boss, the dean, the institution has some real work to do." Aja Newman's story is just one example of the toxic culture: thecut.com/2019/10/mount-… 7/
Though we were to right to demand justice, I thought my professional life was over. Yes, some things have changed: I don’t believe academia is the only way to succeed; I know now that HR will NOT protect you; I lost friends who were never really friends. But I found my voice. 8/
I share this story to say to Black and Brown women in medicine who are doubting themselves that you are not the problem. You work hard enough. Your work is good enough. You are not crazy. Yes, you are being targeted and even maligned. And yes you should fight. You must. 9/
If that fight keeps you in academia, great; if not, move on with your head held high. I now run a team of 20+ designers, epidemiologists, + analysts at Premier Inc, a healthcare improvement organization, as their Chief Clinical Transformation Officer. 10/
In 2020, @modrnhealthcr named me as a Minority Leader to watch. These accolades do not validate me, but I share them to say that you CAN survive and thrive, even after a professional setback. 11/
For more on our case, follow @EquityNowSinai as we call on Sinai to do better. To treat its patients and staff with the the respect we deserve. 12/
These are the brave friends and colleagues who helped me find my voice and reminded me that I myself am worth fighting for, just as hard as I advocate for my patients. Thank you for holding me up! /end @em_bruze @AJoyMisiti @AnuAnandaraja @AnnOlivarius @DrHollyAtkinson
thanks to these ladies for lifting us up @DrAyanaJordan @arghavan_salles @ADocNamedDani
@drjessigold @pedsmd2b @FutureDocs
@DrKerryMitchell @RoxanaDaneshjou @drjaysheree
@RUBraveEnough @fstanfordmd
@JulieSilverMD @AmyOxentenkoMD @drmoniquehassan
@RFentonMD @rocketgirlmd
@drjessigold @pedsmd2b @FutureDocs
@DrKerryMitchell @RoxanaDaneshjou @drjaysheree
@RUBraveEnough @fstanfordmd
@JulieSilverMD @AmyOxentenkoMD @drmoniquehassan
@RFentonMD @rocketgirlmd
