All female UCSF heart transplantation team makes history

SAN FRANCISCO -- Dr. Laura Scrimgeour had never met a female cardiothoracic surgeon until she met Dr. Amy Fiedler.

While more than 50 percent of all medical school students are women, the gender gap remains in some of the top specialties. For instance, only 8 percent of thoracic surgeons are women and even fewer are women of color.

 "I think it's a real problem for women in medicine in all fields, but particularly in surgery," Scrimgeour said.

Scrimgeour is a fellow working under Fiedler at UCSF medical center and they are among just a handful of women in their field.

"I get mistaken for a nurse," Fiedler said. "I get mistaken for a physical therapist, one time for food service. I mean, pretty much anything other than being the cardiac surgeon."

A recent study shows that women were 32 percent more likely to die if treated by a male surgeon rather than a female one while men were also less likely to die in the hands of female surgeons.

"Even just to have one person to look up to makes can make all the difference for some people," Scrimgeour said.

They say getting more women in leadership at hospitals can lead to better family leave policies and more opportunities for female physicians. Patients can also help by requesting female doctors.

"We're thinking about and trying to figure out how we can get more women, get more people of color, get more diversity at the higher ends of academic leadership," Fiedler said.

"So we need more women," Dr. Charlene Blake added. "We need more black and brown people to come into medicine"

Blake was the cardiac anesthesiologist on the UCSF team that made history in December -- believed to be the first all-female heart transplant team.

The team consisted of Fiedler, Scrimgeour, Blake, Dr. Jaqueline Measer, perfusionist Ashley Risso and registered nurse Ruiza Coronel,

Fiedler gathered the team and snapped a photo on her iPhone. She posted the group photo to her Twitter account with the caption, "Honestly, pretty darn cool to do a heart transplant with an all-woman team. Never thought I'd see the day. The future is bright!!!"

"I had to look around the room," Blake said, "I was like, 'Oh, we're all women here. This is incredible.' I haven't seen this before."

Fiedler said it was an extremely talented team.  

"Every single person in that room that day that we did that heart transplant deserved to be there," she said. (Everyone) is a high performer and was providing the absolute best care to that patient. And I think that's really inspiring."