Promoting Female Leadership in Healthcare: An Interview with Dr. Lara Khoury, Co-Chair of the Female Physician Leadership Committee

Main Article Content

Anna Liu
Gaeun Rhee

Abstract

Dr. Lara Khoury, MD, FRCPC, is an assistant professor and geriatrician at The Ottawa Hospital (TOH). She holds numerous leadership positions, including the post-graduate Program Director of the Geriatrics Program of the University of Ottawa and the Medical Director of TOH Inpatient Geriatric Service. Currently, she is also a Co-Chair of the Female Physician Leadership Committee at TOH. In order to remove barriers faced by female physicians wishing to take on leadership roles at TOH, a number of aspiring and passionate female doctors, including Dr. Khoury, came together to form the Female Physician Leadership Committee. With the full support of TOH’s senior management team, the committee has implemented several initiatives to encourage more female physicians to take on leadership roles. The committee’s role is imperative as there has been an increasing awareness of the gender imbalance at TOH over the past years. According to a survey conducted by TOH in 2011, only 30 percent of the hospital’s physicians are female, while less than 20% of them are division heads, and less than 8% of them are department heads [1]. Today, the numbers do not look very different. To gain further insight into the importance of female leadership in medicine and her extensive leadership involvement, we would like to share our interview with Dr. Khoury. 

Résumé

Dre Lara Khoury, MD, FRCPC, est professeure adjointe et gériatre à L’Hôpital d’Ottawa (L’HO). Elle occupe de nombreux postes de direction, y compris le poste de directrice des programmes poste-diplômés du programme de gériatrie de l’Université d’Ottawa et le poste de directrice médicale du Service de gériatrie de l’Hôpital d’Ottawa. Elle est actuellement co-présidente du Comité de leadership des femmes médecins de L’HO. Afin d’éliminer les obstacles auxquels sont confrontées les femmes médecins souhaitant assumer des rôles de leadership à L’HO, un certain nombre de femmes médecins aspirantes et passionnées, incluant Dre Khoury, se sont réunies pour former le Comité de direction des femmes médecins. Avec le plein appui de l’équipe de la haute direction de L’HO, le comité a mis en œuvre plusieurs initiatives pour encourager plus de femmes médecins à assumer des rôles de leadership. Le rôle du comité est impératif, suite à la sensibilisation accrue au déséquilibre entre les sexes à L’HO au cours des dernières années. Selon une enquête menée par l’Hôpital en 2011, seulement 30% des médecins de l’hôpital sont des femmes, alors que moins de 20% d’entre eux sont chefs de division et moins de 8% sont des chefs de service [1]. Aujourd’hui, les chiffres ne sont pas très différents. Pour mieux comprendre l’importance du leadership féminin en médecine et son implication considérable dans le leadership, nous aimerions partager notre interview avec la Dre Khoury. 

Article Details

Section
Interview

References

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