UC Davis School of Medicine Women in Medicine and Science (WIMS) is in alliance with WIMS in medical schools throughout the nation through its interactions with the AAMC Group on Women in Medicine and Science (GWIMS). We partner with the medical student group with a similar mission, American Women’s Medical Association (AMWA.)

The mission of the UC Davis School of Medicine Women in Medicine and Science is to ensure the full participation and success of women in all roles within academic medicine.

Promote policies, practices, and programs that advance women’s participation and success by:

• Advocating for women’s advancement and leadership in education, research, clinical practice, and administration
• Promoting sustainable strategies to enhance an institutional climate of inclusion, equity and opportunity
• Collecting, analyzing, and applying data to inform institutional and individual decisions and actions
• Developing and disseminating initiatives, resources, and mentoring and professional career development programs
• Recognizing women’s accomplishments
• Creating opportunities for networking,
• Working with AAMC and other medical schools to advance women in medicine and science nationally

Networking and enhancing institutional climate for inclusion:
Each year we host a early welcome event for new women faculty with other members of WIMS and the school of medicine leadership. This is a social networking event where each new woman faculty is introduced and has an opportunity to meet other women and the school of medicine leadership in a relaxed setting.

Mentoring and professional career development programs:

• Feb 7, 2008 - Salary Negotiations workshop. Speakers/facilitators: Jesse Joad, Ann Bonham, Linda Worley, Laurel Beckett, Lydia Howell, Klea Bertakis, Ellen Gold
• Feb 22, 2009 - Career Advancement Workshop. Speaker: Gail Robinson.
• Universal mentoring program for all assistant professors provides all women with a Career Mentor with assistance in finding other mentors (senior women, research) if desired.

Recognizing women’s accomplishments:
WIMS created a book: Under the Plane Tree, “Celebrating Our Founding Women in Medicine”. In this book, women who joined our faculty at UC Davis School of Medicine’s inception in 1969 until 1990, were featured and provided vignettes from their careers in academic medicine to inspire future women in medicine and science. The book was conceived to honor and recognize the Founding women of the school of medicine. A recognition event that included a generation of panelist discussed the status of women at UC Davis School of Medicine over the decades. This event included faculty, residents, and student supporters of WIMS/AMWA and the school of medicine leadership including the wife of the SOM Founding Dean.

Advocating for women’s advancement and leadership:

• Faculty: Through Faculty Development, each female Assistant Professor is assigned a mentor who uses a structured process to organize the mentoring relationship and functions. Women faculty are encouraged to attend Faculty Development events such as Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator, Crucial Conversations, Leadership Styles and Negotiation Skills. They are also encouraged to participate in the year-long Mid-Career Leadership program. UC Davis School of Medicine sponsors at least one woman yearly to attend the AAMC early- and mid-career faculty development conferences and the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM) program. UC Davis has 8 faculty members who have participated in the ELAM program.
  
• Students: Women faculty mentor and encourage medical students to develop their careers in medicine. They meet regularly for interactive discussions with the student AMWA group.

Working with the AAMC:
The four members of the executive leadership of WIMS (Jesse Joad, Andreea Seritan, Lydia Howell, and Amparo Villablanca) are the UC Davis School of Medicine’s Women Liaison Officers for the AAMC. In this role they provide school of medicine benchmarking statistics to the AAMC, contribute to the newly forming AAMC GWIMS, and provide a link between our school of medicine and AAMC activities for women.