These Women Have Risen as Leaders of Otolaryngology Associations

In addition, sponsorship can help to foster a more inclusive and equitable work environment by providing opportunities and support for underrepresented groups. “I credit the sponsorship system with opening doors for me in academia,” said Kathleen C. Sie, director of the Childhood Communication Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital and professor in the department of otolaryngology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “You need a sponsor to nominate you for positions on the Medical Board for Otolaryngology, as an oral examiner, and then up the ranks. We reached a critical mass of women in 2014, when Gaelyn Garrett and I were elected to the board. It was the first year that there were two women on the board. In 2022, we now have six women out of a total of 18 members, or one-third of the members. We understand that active sponsorship is required to achieve equity—of any type.”

“I learned humility from the giants at Johns Hopkins University who took the time to sponsor me,” said Cherie-Ann Nathan, MD, the Jack Pou Endowed Professor and chair of the department of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Louisiana State University Health–Shreveport, “Michael E. Johns II, who was the chair of the department of otolaryngology, wrote a letter of recommendation and encouraged me to apply for a residency even though the chance of an FMG [foreign medical school graduate] matching in otolaryngology was slim. Having seen how those simple acts of sponsorship propelled my career has instilled in me the desire to give back in a similar manner to our faculty, residents and medical students, and friends and colleagues in otolaryngology.”

Having a critical mass of women in otolaryngology “is extremely important in sponsorship,” said Dr. Nathan, who talks more about sponsorship than about mentorships in her leadership lectures. “Sponsorship is the part of being chair of the department that I enjoy the most,” she said. “When leadership positions open up in these organizations as president, you get asked, ‘Who do you want to nominate?’ And I think this is where the critical mass matters because sponsorship is so important for advancement of womens careers.”

Harold C Pillsbury, MD, was Gaelyn Garrett, MD’s advisor from her first day in medical school at the University of North Carolina in 1984 through her residency in 1994. “During medical school, he’s the one that would reach out and say, hey, have you done this? How are your grades? Do you have a research job lined up for the summer? Do you have a research project lined up?” said Dr. Garrett, who is the Guy M. Maness Chair of laryngology and voice in the department of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville “You would sit there in his office and he would pick up the phone and call colleagues around the country, and literally by the end of all those phone calls, you would have a position.”