Here are 10 women to know who have taken on leadership roles, won awards and more throughout their careers.
1. Gladys Ayala, MD, serves as dean and chief academic officer of NYU Long Island School of Medicine in Mineola, N.Y. During her time as vice dean, she led the school's strategic planning process. She has also taught as a professor of medicine at the school and has been a medical educator since 1994. Before coming to NYU Long Island, she was vice chancellor for university student affairs and interim vice dean at New York Medical College's School of Medicine in Valhalla.
2. Wendy Chung, MD, PhD, serves as chief of pediatrics for Boston Children's Hospital, the Mary Ellen Avery Professor at Harvard Medical School, also in Boston, and president of the Children's Hospital Pediatric Associates. Dr. Chung previously led the Chung Laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center, also in New York City, and has more than 20 years of experience in clinical and molecular genetics.
3. Tanuja Damani, MD, serves as chief of the division of general surgery at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Dr. Damani specializes in advanced robotic and foregut surgery, working in the field for more than 15 years. She launched the institution's inaugural minimally invasive and robotic surgery fellowship and is an advocate for women in surgery.
4. Margaret Dimond, PhD, serves as president of Sparrow Health Hospital in Lansing, Mich. — the first woman to hold the role. Dr. Dimond has held leadership positions including president and CEO of Ascension Crittenton Hospital in Rochester, Mich., and assistant dean for East Lansing-based Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and Physician Practice Plan and was a founding member of the Michigan State University Women’s Leadership Institute.
5. Debra Houry, MD, serves as chief medical officer for the CDC. Dr. Houry joined the agency in 2014 after practicing as an emergency physician for more than 20 years. She has dedicated her career to prescription drug monitoring and fighting the opioid epidemic, and she received the American Medical Association's award for outstanding government service in February.
6. Sharon Inouye, MD, serves as editor-in-chief of JAMA Internal Medicine. Dr. Inouye serves as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Aging Brain Center at the Marcus Institute for Aging Research, both based in Boston.
7. Heidi Miller, MD, serves as chief medical officer of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. She has previously served as the medical director for the St. Louis Regional Health Commission and the St. Louis Integrated Health Network. She was also a primary care provider at Family Care Health Centers in St. Louis.
8. Megan Ranney, MD, serves as deputy dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, R.I., and is taking on the role of dean of the Yale School of Public Health in New Haven, Conn., in July. She was founding director of the Brown Lifespan Center for Digital Health.
9. Michele Sinopoli, MD, serves as chief medical officer for Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's Massachusetts market. Dr. Sinopoli previously served as chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Mass. Under her leadership, the department was the first in Central Massachusetts to be recognized as a designated birth facility through the World Health Organization's Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.
10. Elsie Taveras, MD, is the chief community health and health equity officer for Boston-based Mass General Brigham health system. She serves on the Boston Public Health Commission's Board of Health. She is also a recipient of the Public Health Leadership in Medicine Award from the Massachusetts Association of Public Health.