"The March 8 UC Davis Women in Medicine and Health Sciences event was an excellent way to celebrate International Women’s Day and recognize the extraordinary contributions of our women faculty,” said Dr. Allison Brashear, dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine. “WIMHS offers invaluable career development programs and opportunities for women faculty to become part of a robust professional network of mentors and sponsors and create diverse pathways for the next generation of women leaders in medicine.”Allison Brashear, M.D., MBA, Dean, UC Davis School of Medicine

By Melissa D. Bauman, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Director, Women in Medicine and Health Sciences (WIMHS)
UC Davis MIND Institute
University of California, Davis School of Medicine

WIMHS (Women in Medicine and Health Sciences) is pleased to participate in Women’s History Month celebrations this year, including our own virtual “WIMHS Spring Welcome” hosted last week.  Our WIMHS Welcome was scheduled on Monday, March 8th in honor of International Women’s Day, recognized as a global event celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.  We decided that this was the perfect date to schedule our signature annual event that had been postponed in the fall due to COVID. 

The WIMHS Welcome provides an opportunity for newly hired women faculty to meet and interact with leadership, while we celebrate promotions and other achievements.  This year, the program pivoted to a virtual format that was co-hosted by WIMHS Director, Dr. Melissa Bauman and Pamela Wu, Director of Communications and Media Relations.   

Dr. Bauman’s opening remarks acknowledged the 20th year anniversary of WIMHS program that was co-founded in 2000 by Drs. Lydia Howell and Amparo Villablanca.  A 20-year celebration marking the unique longevity of our program will be scheduled for a future date.  Dr. Bauman also provided an update of the new WIMHS Departmental Liaison Program developed to better support women’s careers in academic health across the 19 clinical and 7 academic departments at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. WIMHS Departmental Liaisons (DL) receive a small annual stipend to carry out department-level WIMHS initiatives and serve as a resource for supporting women’s careers in their specialty.  Please contact us at HS-WIMHS@ucdavis.edu if you are interested in learning more about this program. 

We appreciate the ongoing institutional support for our WIMHS program, and were thrilled to have several members of UC Davis Leadership in attendance: 

  • Dr. Renetta Tull – UC Davis Vice Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion  
  • Dr. Allison Brashear – Dean, School of Medicine, UC Davis Health 
  • Dr. Colleen Clancy – Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Personnel, UC Davis School of Medicine
  • Dr. Ruth Shim – Associate Dean for Diverse and Inclusive Education, UC Davis School of Medicine
  • Dr. Lydia Howell – Chair, Pathology, UC Davis School of Medicine
  • Dr. Amy Brook-Kayal- Chair, Neurology, UC Davis School of Medicine
  • Dr. Elizabeth Morris – Chair Radiology, UC Davis School of Medicine

Dean Brashear inspired the group to identify new opportunities to serve as sponsors and highlighted the recruitments of new chairs, Dr. Amy Brooks-Kayal and Dr. Elizabeth Morris as evidence of continued advancement for women in STEMM leadership.

The formal presentation included a welcome of newly hired and newly promoted faculty, including the UC Davis Health annual pinning ceremony where women who are hired or promoted to full professor receive a pin in numerical order. Twenty-four individuals received their pins this year, thus reaching a grand total of 261 women full professor at UC Davis Health.

At the conclusion of the formal presentations, several WIMHS DLs hosted break out rooms focused on new faculty, parenting/caregiving, single women, intersectionality, and how to become more involved in WIMHS.  We congratulate all our friends and colleagues recognized in the celebration and look forward to celebrating in person next year when we welcome women faculty newly hired or newly promoted in 2021!