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Editorial
. 2023 Aug 21:25:e47784.
doi: 10.2196/47784.

The Careers and Professional Well-Being of Women Oncologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responding for Tomorrow

Shivani Majmudar #  1 , Stephanie L Graff #  2 , Marah Kays  3 , Beatriz X Braz  4   5 , Laurie Matt-Amaral  6 , Merry J Markham  7 , Ishwaria M Subbiah  8 , Emily Bergsland  9 , Shikha Jain  10
Affiliations
Editorial

The Careers and Professional Well-Being of Women Oncologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Responding for Tomorrow

Shivani Majmudar et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated gender inequity in medicine, with women physicians reporting greater household responsibilities than their men counterparts and steeper barriers to career advancement. The pandemic highlighted the systemic assumptions and challenges faced by women physicians, which we anticipate is also true in our field of oncology. Prior literature suggests that women physicians were tasked with increased personal and professional responsibilities without compensation for their additional work, as well as derailments in career progression and significant burnout. Our aims are to highlight areas of opportunity to optimize the workplace experience of the oncology workforce and to invest in the professional well-being and sustainability of women oncologists as a step toward global workplace equity and future pandemic preparedness.

Keywords: COVID-19; burnout; gender equity; gender inequity; health care; mental health; oncologist; oncology; well-being; women; women physician.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: SLG is a consultant at Pfizer, Daiichi Sankyo, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Genentech, SeaGen, Novartis, and Menarini. She owns stock in HCA Healthcare and receives travel support from Paxman. SJ is a guest coeditor of the Women in Medicine and Science theme issue in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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