Committee on Women in Medicine and Science (COWIMS)
Alyssa Mixon, DO, Susan Pollart, MD, Kate McManus, MD, Dean Melina Kibbe, MD, and Kathryn Xixis, MD
COWIMS Mission
The UVA Committee on Women in Medicine & Science (COWIMS) promotes and enables the representation, development, and contributions of all individuals.
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Who We Are
Dr. Kate McManus, Chair of COWIMS
“I have a longstanding passion and interest in helping to achieve gender equity in medicine and science and in empowering women in these fields. Women in medicine and science who are empowered, encouraged, and valued improves the retention of key talent who are essential to making UVA a Great and Good university. I look forward to the opportunity to enthusiastically contribute my passion and expertise to drive significant progress towards achieving the committee’s strategic goals.” ~Kate McManus, MD
Dr. McManus joined the University of Virginia Health System and School of Medicine (SOM) in 2010, completed her Internal Medicine residency, and served as a chief resident year and Infectious Diseases fellowship at UVA. She joined the Department of Medicine (DOM) faculty as an inaugural iTHRIV Faculty Scholar in July 2017. Dr. McManus has been an active member of the SOM DOM Women in Internal Medicine Network (WIMN) group since its inception in 2015 and has served as a co-chair of the group since 2019. We are grateful for the leadership experience on behalf of women faculty that Dr. McManus brings to this position and know her experience as a faculty member active in all mission areas will greatly benefit our faculty members.
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- Kendall Bromley, Co-president coWIMS
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- Katie Kraichely, Medical Scientist Training Program; AFFIRM Co-president
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- Caroline Riedstra, Co-president coWIMS
Advocacy
Awards
Professional Development
Data Analytics
Programming/Events
Media
COWIMS: NEWS
The Committee on Women in Medicine and Science is thrilled to offer a Leadership Development Travel Award, in the amount of $1,000, for up to three women faculty who are accepted to participate in the AAMC’s Early-Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar.
Please see the announcement for details about the seminar and eligibility here (women faculty with a minimum of two years of experience as an Assistant Professor by July 2024 (hired before July 2022) and less than eight years’ experience in academic medicine and science.
To apply for this award: please email a PDF copy of your AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development Seminar application and your CV at the time of your seminar application to Ashley Ayers.
If you are selected to participate in the seminar and selected to receive the Leadership Development Travel Award, COWIMS requests that you prepare a summary describing what you learned while participating in the Seminar, and present it to the SOM community. COWIMS will send additional details, upon notifying you of your receipt of this award.
If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Kate McManus, Chair of the Committee on Women in Medicine and Science.
Upcoming Events
100 Years of Women in Medicine and Science at UVA
Thursday, April 25
5:00-6:30pm
Colonnade Club
(Pavilion VII, Lawn)
Hors d’oeuvres and refreshments will be provided.
COWIMS Woman of the Month Series
The COWIMS Woman of the Month feature is a once monthly series designed to highlight a woman in our community.
In celebration of Public Health Month this April, The Committee on Women in Medicine and Science (COWIMS), takes great pride in recognizing Rupa Valdez, PhD, for her contributions to global and population health.
Dr. Rupa Valdez is a Professor at the University of Virginia with joint appointments in the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She is also a core faculty member of Global Studies and the Disability Studies Initiative.
Dr. Valdez merges the disciplines of human factors engineering, health informatics, and cultural anthropology to understand and support the ways in which people manage health at home and in the community. Her research and teaching focus on health disparity populations, including populations that are racial/ethnic minorities, are of low socioeconomic status and are living with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities.
In the realm of public health, addressing disparities in healthcare access and outcomes among health disparity populations is a critical endeavor. We extend our gratitude to Dr. Valdez for her dedication and significant strides in improving healthcare access and outcomes for those who need it most.
