Spotlight on Johns Hopkins

Hopkins Celebrates 100 Women Promoted to Professor

Hopkins faculty celebrating 100 Women Professors

The celebration may have been dubbed “100 Women Professors,” but between its conception in 2001, when that milestone seemed within reach, and its birth in 2005, nearly three dozen more women at the School of Medicine were promoted to full professor—bringing the grand total to 115.

That’s something to celebrate, because as recently as 1979 only seven women had been promoted to professor. That paucity is an indication of the long struggle for acceptance and recognition faced by generations of talented women scientists and clinicians.

On Nov. 1, the School celebrated their achievements with a daylong symposium and gala dinner.  Those in attendance included Janice Clements, Kathleen Sanders and the woman who started it all—Mary Elizabeth Garrett.  
 
Janice Clements, vice dean for faculty, welcomed more than 900 registrants to the day’s events. “One woman,” she said, “can change history,” and Baltimore philanthropist Mary Elizabeth Garrett, who provided the funding to establish the School on the condition that female students be admitted on the same terms as men, was such a woman.

Garrett’s legacy was very much in evidence at the meeting as a parade of distinguished women took the podium. Special guests included broadcaster Cokie Roberts, JAMA editor Catherine DeAngelis, and 2004 Nobel laureate Linda Buck.

A few speakers reminded the audience that Hopkins, like other academic institutions, still has work to do in equalizing pay and making working conditions more female friendly. “It’s not a joy every day,” admitted Julie Freischlag, director of the Department of Surgery. “Sometimes, it’s a struggle.” That seemed to sum up the experience of those who fought for the opportunities enjoyed by the young women in the audience.
 
Cathy DeAngelis was such a fighter. Promoted to professor of pediatrics in 1985, she was only the 12th woman to achieve the rank in the School’s 92 years of existence. She went on to break open the bottleneck.

DeAngelis offered three pieces of advice: Choose your battles. Don’t climb over people. Use your innate skills and beliefs to solve problems. “I decided long ago that the only things that can make a difference to me are my family and my knowledge. No one can take them away from me but God.”